Originally Posted by
pennineuk
These T1 flights are being consolidated with the main BA LHR-MAN service that operates from T5 and the new service from the W12 timetable will operate from T5.
I was forever hopeful that with allthe extra slots BA now has, and the chronic lack of space at T5, that the whole BA domestic operation might have been shifted back to the old BMI area at T1.
Am I mad ? Well, not really. You see, although T5 is a grand and impressive building, and it's convenient to have all the connections together, moving the BA domestics out to T5 was a real pain when you live in London, or if you are coming down from Scotland and going into London, especially on a day trip. For a start it's about £6 each way more in a taxi out to T5 that to T1, and you can get snared in significant M25 congestion (especially arrivals in the morning) that was never an issue with terminals in the Central Area. Then there's the longer time taken for processing, the lack of a dedicated domestic departures security that T1 used to have, where everyone seemed toknow the procedure (the T5 security takes ages longer), the confounded T5 Conformance cut-off for security, only half the number of Piccadilly Line Underground trains, etc etc. I reckon T5 adds a good 30 minutes each way to domestic flights. That's an hour out of your day if you are doing a day return, as many are.