starflyer

Is LHR one of the last UA destinations still flying full-sized jets? How long until the regional/barbie jets start being the plane of choice for LHR flights too?

UA-NYC

To be fair, they have upgauged the fleet of "TATL RJs" (757s) that used to go EWR-LHR.

IMO Int'l BF routes aren't the key issue with UA.

RRags

Has anyone visited the new arrivals lounge and can report on it?

NewbieRunner

The hours seem to be 05:00 - 14:00 and the lounge is open to UA, AC and SA passengers.

Madone59

What....really?

On another note, I am looking forward to the new GF facilities when I head to LHR in a few months. Looks good UA ^

kirkwoodj

Seems like should be opened later, considering flights at 15:20 to ORD and 16:20 to IAD!

NewbieRunner

My post was in reply to a question about the arrivals lounge. The United Club and the GF Lounge are open 05:00 to 22:00.

kirkwoodj

Oops, thanks! Good to know about the Arrivals lounge then!

Goodtimes321

Pics look very nice. Looks like they were inspired by the Centurion lounge style.

AlreadyThere

The arrivals lounge hours are the same as they were in T1. I have always been annoyed that they wouldn't stay open for the arrival of the second SFO flight at 14:05. Why couldn't they close at 15:00?

1P

I think you have misunderstood me.

T3 had oppressively low ceilings, except in lounges, specifically the Red Carpet Club, where the ceilings were noticeably higher than those in the T1 Star Alliance Lounge.

It looks to me as if the T2 ceilings and United Club ceilings are much higher than both, which is great.

Regarding windows, it depends how you define them. What the T1 *A lounge had was opaque glass with artificial daylighting behind, similar to what you get in the tunnel between concourses B and C at ORD. Not real windows, and no view of the outside world.

When I say 3rd World, I mean much longer hikes without aids like travelators than any American airport I can think of. The walk in T1 was three times as long as that in T3, and now we hear (both in this thread and the other that is currently discussing T2) that it will be even worse in T2. That is not traveller-friendly. I have hated the hike to the gates from the lounge in T1 (in comparison with the easy stroll that T3 used to be, and the equally unpleasant hike from the gates to passport control on the way in. There is absolutely no excuse for building a terminal these days where that is the case.

I also mean those ghastly luggage carts which are clapped out and dirty, have square wheels, dowdy metal, are too small, and give a disgraceful impression to anyone arriving in the country. Why on earth they can't scrap them and replace them with carts based on the US design, which are easier to steer, run smoothly, have room for a decent amount of luggage, look better and last longer, I do not know.

I'll be interested to see the baggage hall in T2 when I fly into it. T3 was reasonably well organized. In T1, there was no display as you entered the hall to tell you which carousel you needed to go to. That infornation was located on a small board halfway into the hall: to get to it, you had to pass two of the carousels — often including the one you wanted, when it would be necessary to go back.

Lavatories in T1 were quite simply inadequate, and badly distributed.

Third World standards = treating pax without due consideration in my book.

NewbieRunner

I haven't been in the T1 *A lounge for some time but there were definitely real windows at one end of the lounge. As you will see below the ceiling of the section with the windows was much higher than the rest of the lounge and the light behind the glass was not artificial.



Here's another photo.

I wouldn't be surprised they blocked off the windows in recent years since they were very close to the construction site of T2. (See the map below. The grey area at the bottom is the check-in hall of T2.)



Yes, the connecting tunnel is rather long but there are travelators. Since there are separate departure and arrival tunnels, travelators only go in one direction. There is a plan to build a transit system connecting T2A, T2B and T2C when the latter is eventually built. A tunnel for the transit system must already exist under the walkways connecting T2A and T2B since there is a blank panel in the elevator below Level -3, which is the walkway tunnel level, suggesting there is a level below.

There is a display panel as you enter the baggage hall. This one is on your left but there may be another one on the right that I didn't notice.



The great thing about the baggage hall is if you don't have any checked baggage you can just walk straight towards the customs and exit. You don't have to walk around baggage carousels. Check page 6 of this map.

From what I've seen as a trial volunteer 2.5 weeks before the terminal opened, T2 is far better than T1 or T3 and of course the old T2.

goriajk

Very nice pictures. Love to visit someday when I go back to London

chitownflyer

Once T2 has all the Star carriers, I am curious to see how the AC, SQ, and LH lounges compare to the new United Club.

smk48

Thanks for all the great reviews and tips.

I'm curious to hear if someone can confirm there is in fact an airside connection between T2 and T1.