Actually 35 minutes is plenty of time. Particularly on a Saturday night at 1900hrs.
I fly frequently and I my problem with T5 is that you get bumped even before you're actually late at the gate. They just assume you will be!
Incidentally in 10 years of travelling (often 2 or 3 flights per week )I have missed 2 flights due to lateness - on neither occasion did that delay the flight. ( hand baggage only)
However you look at this 35 minutes is the extra that has to be added to the journey time. Over a year that's a lot of time I would prefer NOT to spend at T5 airside. I love travelling on business - the answer is to avoid T5 and BA - easy!
The T5 conformance regime is unique in my experience. Essentially you get barred from trying to catch up when you find yourself late - irrespective of how busy security is. Look, 2 hours is find for a long haul flight but as my average flight time is usually 1-1.5 hours adding 35 minutes to the journey is sometimes 50% of flight time. Add in what I would usually allow, say 20 mins safety time pre conformance cut off that's doubling the journey time. For what?
I suspect the reason for conformance isn't really punctuality but to force pax to spend an extra 35 minutes in the shopping arcade BAA call T5. If that wasn't that case they would allow fast track pax to eneter secruity at any time. Conformance applies equally to all pax so if you fast track you simply (in theory) move airside quicker - it doesn't reduce the dead time from secuirty to gate.
I just don't see it as an equitable system for the pax.
Last edited by Munnyspinner; 23rd Mar 2009 at 17:18.