grahampros

I passed through T-5 this weekend on BA on a trip between VIE and YYZ, and was surprised and annoyed by having to be bussed to/from the terminal on both the inbound and outbound segments. The inbound from VIE was especially annoying as we pulled up to a jet bridge and then had to deplane from the rear (and I was up front in CE) and then bussed to the terminal (with an almost 10 minute trip). Instead of taking 5 minutes to deplane into the terminal, it took 30 minutes.

I’ve never understood why there is so much hard stand boarding and deplaning in Europe in general, but was particularly surprised by this at BA’s T-5. Guess I bought the marketing hype about the terminal. Yeah, I know I’m whining, but it’s just a hassle I’d prefer not deal with, especially on an already relatively long journey.

Guess I’m spoiled by travel in the US ( now there’s a statement I would have never expected I’d type), where it’s a generally a given where you have a proper jet bridge without that the hassle of climbing up and down stairs, exposed to the weather, and hoping on a bus to get to the terminal or plane. Generally rare here, with only a few exceptions.

browserden

5C will fix everything

Parking at a gate and then exiting through the rear... I've only encountered that on bmi in T1 in that case it means that the aircraft has parked at a domestic gate so you need to be bussed to international arrivals.

I thought T5 might have had a more elegant solution to that problem but I guess not.

G-BOAC

Not just BD - same on BA (and AY) at T1 IME sometimes. And the same reason at T5 too. I know from another FTer that an ARN flight today was bussed from a Domestic too. Which is especially annoying as...

Quite right. Shocking they didn't design ahead for this somehow. Bussing from a remote stand is one thing. Poor Domestic/International gate design on the main terminal is another

xxxxx

Terminal 5 is currently made up of A gates and B gates with C gates opening in 2010 so at the moment around 20%-25% of flights are at remote stands. This figure is broadly similar to T1 and T4 with T5 being a rather more pleasant experience with a dedicated coaching gate right at the centre of the terminal next to immigration/flight connections.

I agree that the BA process for coaching isn't the most robust which can lead to long waits at various points in the boarding process.

Not ideal but it will get better with an additional 17 gates coming online in 2010.

TuxTraveller

The first few months it used to happen all the time. The domestic flights would arrive at international gates and then disembark via buses. It has however stopped and from my experience it happens very seldom now. That may just be me being more lucky now a days, but I generally feel the whole T5 experience has become a lot more smooth and much closer to the original marketing pitch.

Unique name?

I keep hearing about the C gates opening in 2010 but I flew out of a B gate (I think 42 or 46?) the other week to JFK and that was a bus to a remote stand. Inbound was a remote stand which also took an age. How many B gates are operating via a bus?

Personally, I've been very impressed with T5. I'm even content to walk from security to the lounge without a murmour but if I feel like I have a 50/50 chance of being on a bus I'm very tempted to spend my money elsewhere until such time as T5 is capable of handling the traffic it was designed to.

HIDDY

I guess your right - However in LHR's defence, in all my times through the place I have to say I can only remember being bussed once.

In my experience it happens in most of the airports in the world large and small old and new. Once in BJS despite most gates being unoccupied we were bussed to a very long line of parked aircraft in the distance. I was wondering which of the Air China 747's would be taking us to LHR but the driver just kept passing them all and finally stopped alongside a Hainan Airlines 737.
The doors opened and half the people piled out and were actually wanting to board the thing.

CDG tops my list of airports where I have been bussed most.

xxxxx

B Gates has 10 jetty served stands with a couple of remote stands.

grahampros

Thanks everyone..the responses helped explain what was going on. We did park at a domestic gate I believe on arrival from VIE. I agree that they could have come up with a better set up so that it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter at most airports here in the US. They either deplane the gate at a different level, or manage it with different doors to the direct your path to immigration and customs. It can be done.

I was surprised because prior to T-5, never bussed on connections at LHR..other than to transfer terminals from AA to BA. It was a complication I was not expecting. I now understand it's still a work in progress.

Still a pain...and something I will keep in mind in future trips. Transit over HEL looks better and better if the schedule options work. That said, I for the most part was very impressed by T-5 other than the bus thing. Great terminal and love the F lounge.

Full Score

Why can't BA emulate Qatar in Doha and, at the end of long haul flights into LHR, provide a separate bus for First/Business passengers when they can't offer a gate with a bridge? After paying for and sitting at the front of a 747/777 for 12 hours it's really frustrating at the end of the journey to have an additional half an hour tacked on to the flight time because of the inadequacies of T5 AND rejoin the herd before reaching Immigration Control.

Why are the British so accepting of such poor treatment? BA advertising would suggest that it's First Class treatment all the way through T5. No such luck.

xxxxx

Watch this space.

browserden

Also why exit from the back?

I was on a Czech Airlines flight LHR-PRG where the aircraft landed in the Schengen section so we needed to be bussed to non-Schenegen. We walked halfway along the airbridge, down the steps and then onto the bus. It seemed odd to most people having to do this (as the reason was not explained) but it certainly beats leaving the aircraft from the rear.

After all aren't C-class pax meant to be able to deplane before Y?

OPebble

That's because the aircraft is parked with door 1 lined up with the bridge and in that position there isn't room to get some steps into position. Hence the rear door.

OPebble

About time!

IB used to do it all the time when they were in MAD T1, 2, 3. One of the crew used to stand at the curtain until the CE PAX had gone down the stairs and got on the bus, which was labelled "Business"

G-BOAC

They don't even need to emulate QR at DOH - emulating themselves would do! There is a Premium bus, then a non-Premium bus. There is also now a Premium line at immigration which was a Godsend when I was over there for few days the other month - there was a massive queue but the pax off the first bus (the premium bus) were ushered in to the fast track. Excellent...