Heathrow headaches
 

There is an airport worse than Newark, worse even than Dallas/Fort Worth. Spread across four terminals on the outskirts of London, Heathrow, built only 20 years ago to replace the aging Gatwick, has blossomed into a prematurely decrepit labyrinth of mortuary-tiled underground tunnels.
http://www.upside.com/Opinion/3a75c65516a_yahoo.html

The writer has got his/her facts seriously wrong and hasn't got much credibility. Heathrow is older than 20 years old (perhaps the reference was to Terminal 4) and wasn't built to replace Gatwick (Croydon perhaps). LHR (T1-3 and the Queen's Terminal) has been there as least in the '60s (when I first flew in there).

[This message has been edited by terenz (edited 02-07-2001).]

Probably about the same level as JFK..
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

What is the first airport of London then?
LHR or LGW?

[This message has been edited by nlp (edited 02-07-2001).]

I read this article earlier today (when I saw it on my Yahoo) and all I can say is that Upside magazine needs to find a new travel writer who does more than just whine all the time.

This is a joke surely? Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world, and certainly one of the busiest International airports. It started life after the Second World was, but after the original Gatwick. the main London airport was at Croydon, and this closed in the 1950's. Terminal 2 was built in the 50s, Terminal 3 ws built in the early 60s, and Terminal 1 came into being in about 1969, Terminal 4 came about in the eraly 80s. The South Terminal at Gatwick was built in the late 1950s, and the North Terminal was opened a little over 10 years ago. Of far greater concern is that Heathrow is only a two runway field for most of the tme. There is another which is used in cross winds, but it is not long enough for Long Haul take-offs. The notion that it was built as a Gatwick replacement is actually funny.

If Meredith Clayton travels more than 100,000 miles per year you'd think that by now he'd be able to tell a "Heathrow Express" sign (they're even printed on the floors of the terminals!!) from an "Underground" sign.

The "main" London airport is LHR, with Gatwick a not-too close second. LGW used to be the charter "bucket and spade brigade" airport, but that changed over the years as BA bought BCal and Dan Air and established a huge presence there.

The most relaxing airport is Stansted, now home to Ryanair and Go, and normally STN is a 45 minute train ride from Liverpool Street station in the City.

The author appears to be an idiot. If (s)he did take the tube from Heathrow, (s)he didn't get to Paddington, and there are no local overgound trains between the two.

and that bit was just rude.

I will also be interested to see exactly how Sir Dick is going to treble the passenger flow at LHR, in 5 years using a few A380s. But I suppose that bit could have been sarcasm, rather than ignorance.

Scrolling back through his/her earlier articles, they aren't any better.

Well what rubbish we have here. I'm no great lover of LHR but compare it to Amsterdam or Frankfurt or even Dallas where they must employ the rudest staff in the work.

I hope these aren't your view doc.

Ahem!!! I've made faster exit from plane-cab
at JFK than @ LHR. Actually I've stopped using LHR even for London. Fly into Manchester, hang out for a day or so, head to London, or AMS and a puddle-jumper from there ;-)

"...Stilton, anyone?..."

No thanks, not my absolute favorite cheese! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif


I'm just wondering if Meredith reads FT! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Have any of you ever read any of her previous monthly columns in Upside. If not I suggest you go back to the URL and click on her prior "diarriahtribes".

As to this most recent column, I doubt if she ever even took the tube ride she wrote about. The Picadilly line does not even go to Paddington. And a taxi to/from LHR to Central London would be the same time as the tube and 3 times the cost of the Express to Paddington!

Just look over the vitriolic past columns. This 'broad' (and I have carefully thought about resurrecting that chauvanistic term) has never enjoyed much of her travel life. I too am a "company president who travels over 100,000 miles annually". But I am sure glad that when I return home (or she returns home), we do not share a bed.

[This message has been edited by kappa (edited 02-08-2001).]