sakari1707

Exiting T3 might be as difficult as from T5. Last year I was booked on a flight from T5, due to delay I was rebooked on a flight from T3. The only way to get out from T5 (be it transfer to another terminal or exit to landside) was to register at a specific service desk and from there they escort you out every hour after security has checked and cleared you (so they gather all exiting pax at one point) - at least then no exceptions even if you were tight with your connection!

TTL

Most likely a deed for a Finnish AY passenger with no issues.

FFlash

It made me a humble-mans treat to watch. Every once in a while we elites should get that shower to remind us of the good sides of being elite. On entering lounge my BP did not work on the automatic gate so I had to turn to the agent. Another guy was there keeping him busy with access and I realized he wanted to buy himself in. Only once I realized what was going on I immediately got a "guilty-feeling" shock of not offering him a gesture of companion entry but it was too late while he was already offering his credit card. Then he said, "how much would it be in points I have some points?" 8500 was the reply and then he said "well maybe I save some points and pay that 25€ instead" and so he did. I thought I would not fork out 25€ but I am used to the little idiot plat world...
Here we go, herrings and mushroom soup again. Not complaining, I quite like it, although repetitive.

flymetoHEL

Where was that implied? As if arrivals come "straight into the arrivals hall"?

Lounges in T3 are not in the "departure hall", they are at the gate piers.
The question is if can you pop in to a lounge *on the way to the exit*. In the past, I don't see why you couldn't if the lounge allows entry. Propably they don't.

ffay005

I don't know what kind of past we're discussing here, but LHR have separated departures and arrivals at least since the 1990s. Domestic UK arrivals (and maybe Ireland?) are an exception, though.

flymetoHEL

This depends on which terminal you are talking about. In what way do you mean arrivals and departures are separated in T3?

I have worked at Heathrow T3, and from my experience arriving and departing passengers walk the same walkways and travelators in T3.
So please enlighten me; arriving on AY in T3, what stops you from going directly to your boarding gate if you're connecting onto, for example JL, which also leaves from T3? What is it that "separates departures an arrivals"?
- I haven't used T3 for some time, I understand they may have put up some walls or such, but before, there was nothing in between the arriving and departing pax.

esledo

UK CAA compliant security check, as has already been mentioned in this thread. Onward boarding pass will also be checked before security.

Chokkoubin

Sorry to pile in here but as a Brit who lives in Finland I'm pretty familiar with T3 - arriving and departing passengers definitely do not mix. This is the case at every Heathrow terminal, and indeed every UK airport.

If you wanted to connect on int-int flights at T3 you'd have to go through flight connections security before you were released back into airside departures, which is where all the lounges are.

EDIT: This is extremely not höpö-höpö but here's the step-by-step guide the LHR website gives for the AY-JL connection in your example:

OH-LGG

Door.

intuition

Side question: Where do they check transfer visas on such transfer? (visa needed for airside transit for e.g. non-EU citizens with permanent residency inside Schengen. Or did they drop that nonsense?)

OH-LGG

Departure gate at HEL.

flymetoHEL

the question is, how would the lounge receptionist, or the gate know if you didn't go through FCC if you already have a boarding pass. The policy is, that you may not enter a lounge before security, but how is this enforced when you have an inter-terminal connection. In T1 they had security booths with attendants that didn't allow anyone back to the departure lounge, but there aren't such guards in T3. Also, I don't see any physical barriers separating arriving passengers (following the signs) from departing passengers.

As the original question relates to passage to lounges, how does one arrive at arrivals or the FCC without walking past them? What the signs say, and weather you're allowed into a lounge are related but separate questions.

The airline I was affiliated with, had a lounge near the main intersection, just outside the departure lounge. It was indeed possible for the passengers to pop into the lounge after there arrival in T3, to be told to follow the signs to Flight Connections as the policy was not to allow passengers into the lounge before security. If the person is connecting onto a different airline, and has a boarding pass, it is beyond me how the lounge can know if the passengers went through security.

intuition

Makes sense. Rake in the cash on pointless visas and let someone else do the work

From what I recall, from years ago, there was a transfer process in LHR that
included a immigrations check.

miamiflyer8

IIRC still the case for UK and IE transfers.

ffay005

FlymetoHEL, if you don't believe us, may I suggest you fly into LHR T3 on an international flight and see for yourself. No point in arguing about something that's a simple fact and can be checked by anyone, anytime.