I flew out of T5 to Joburg last Tuesday afternoon and back Saturday morning.
Had previously arranged valet parking - this was reasonably signposted and I stopped in the marked bays only to be told I couldn't park there
. Anyway, that was sorted soon enough but not a great start
Went to an automated checkin - all done in 2 mins with no fuss. Had taken hand luggage only due to the anticipated problems. A shortish queue for passport check only to be told I had to go back to a BA desk to get my passport checked (summat to do with visas). Then queued at the "passport check" BA desk, where the BA staff took a quick glance at my passport before sending back to the by now longer passport queue.
No issues at all with security - impressed that we no longer have to remove laptops. (still frustrated with the silly liquids rule but I digress)
Through security to see the BA lounge on my right. However this was the Concorde room (1st Class) and I was only travelling business. The business lounge is on the 3rd floor, directly above. However, to get there, you have walk towards the centre of the terminal to decend from floor 2 (entry level) to floor 1, then walk back to the right side, go back up to 2, then walk across the 1st class lounge lobby, then take another escalator up to floor 3
Signs were not particularly clear and there were loads of confused business class pax wandering around looking for the way in
The flight boarded on time, but we were 30 mins late off stand due to "baggage irregularities". No matter, we made up the time and the in-flight service was as good as ever
Came back 1st Class, again with hand baggage only. Excellent in flight service again. Arrived on stand exactly on time, but then had to wait 20mins for the air bridge to be connected
Got no more then 1/2 way up the airbridge before finding myself in a scrum behind a locked glass door. Took a further 20 minutes before someone came and opened the door.
Longish walk through to passport control, noting en route that half the escalators were already marked off unservicable, but the terminal was quiet and I got through without undue further delay to the baggage hall, by now 50 minutes after the aircraft's arrival.
Having only hand baggage I walltzed through an almost deserted baggage hall, but noted in passing that the baggage info for my flight was showing "wait in hall"
Overall, not a complete disaster by any means, but so far short of what it should have been