THumbs Up for the T5B Lounge
Oct 19, 2008, 12:56 pm
#16
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Oct 19, 2008, 1:05 pm
#17
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That's the Seattle solution.
But think of the infrastructure. You would have to have segregated approaches to the T5B platforms on the "inbound" side (T5B->T5A), and segregated exits from the T5A platforms.
And think of the capacity issues. Broadly speaking, the train has to take as many people from T5B to T5A as it takes from T5A to T5B. But if you take out one carriage for a sterile return, then you cram arriving passengers into half the train space. A wonderful way of generating complaints about the warm welcome to the UK.
And, as I say, all this would be for a mere handful of people.
But think of the infrastructure. You would have to have segregated approaches to the T5B platforms on the "inbound" side (T5B->T5A), and segregated exits from the T5A platforms.
And think of the capacity issues. Broadly speaking, the train has to take as many people from T5B to T5A as it takes from T5A to T5B. But if you take out one carriage for a sterile return, then you cram arriving passengers into half the train space. A wonderful way of generating complaints about the warm welcome to the UK.
And, as I say, all this would be for a mere handful of people.
Oct 19, 2008, 1:15 pm
#18
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By the way, the service and internet access at the T5B lounge were exponentially better than at the main terminal, probably because not a lot of people use T5B yet!
Last edited by ACfly; Oct 19, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Oct 19, 2008, 1:51 pm
#19
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Central security, indeed. Just like most other places in the world. It is now quite uncommon for international arriving passengers at any airport not to be segregated from departing passengers.
This was perhaps best demonstrated in the old T1 layout. Although there was no immigration or customs control for arriving passengers either from UK domestic flights or Ireland flights, the terminal was set up so that UK domestic arrivals could go straight to their next flight (either domestic or international), but Ireland arrivals would have to clear security before boarding another aircraft.
You don't need to do this if you have security at the gate. But that must be very much more expensive.
This was perhaps best demonstrated in the old T1 layout. Although there was no immigration or customs control for arriving passengers either from UK domestic flights or Ireland flights, the terminal was set up so that UK domestic arrivals could go straight to their next flight (either domestic or international), but Ireland arrivals would have to clear security before boarding another aircraft.
You don't need to do this if you have security at the gate. But that must be very much more expensive.
Oct 19, 2008, 6:27 pm
#21
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Oct 20, 2008, 12:42 am
#22
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Oct 20, 2008, 1:47 am
#23
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This was almost exactly my experience last Thursday. I arrived from JFK and was transiting to IST. The Galleries First was crowded, and I hadn't really believed that the restroom situation was as dire as it really was. The shower suction was no fun either. I didn't think about trying to trek out to other lounge, but in retrospect I should have.
Oct 20, 2008, 2:02 am
#24
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That's the Seattle solution.
But think of the infrastructure. You would have to have segregated approaches to the T5B platforms on the "inbound" side (T5B->T5A), and segregated exits from the T5A platforms.
And think of the capacity issues. Broadly speaking, the train has to take as many people from T5B to T5A as it takes from T5A to T5B. But if you take out one carriage for a sterile return, then you cram arriving passengers into half the train space. A wonderful way of generating complaints about the warm welcome to the UK.
And, as I say, all this would be for a mere handful of people.
But think of the infrastructure. You would have to have segregated approaches to the T5B platforms on the "inbound" side (T5B->T5A), and segregated exits from the T5A platforms.
And think of the capacity issues. Broadly speaking, the train has to take as many people from T5B to T5A as it takes from T5A to T5B. But if you take out one carriage for a sterile return, then you cram arriving passengers into half the train space. A wonderful way of generating complaints about the warm welcome to the UK.
And, as I say, all this would be for a mere handful of people.
They have a divided train in Tai'pei, as well...seems to work well...
Oct 20, 2008, 2:32 am
#25
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SIN was a joke when they first introduced the liquids rule. You could take all manner of liquids on-board from duty free, but not a simple bottle of water. Now, the duty free stores also sell bottles of water, as they're the only places that have the sealable bags.
Oct 20, 2008, 3:02 am
#27
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Oct 20, 2008, 3:10 am
#28
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(An overnight AF flight, where the crew had vanished soon after serving dinner, refused to answer call bells, and because a trolley of drinks had been left out, saw no need to come through the cabin regularly (or indeed at all). Unfortunately I was in window, and person in aisle was sound asleep - no opportunity to get out without waking her. So liquids were freely available, i just had no way of getting at them. Had my own water which did for some of the trip... )