One thing that I think a lot of you are missing is that LHR has come on leaps and bounds recently. Now it's not in the right place and the flight paths are far from ideal if you are lucky enought to live in Hounslow or Slough.....
Anyway my point is that the passenger experience is improving as T5 has been a game changer. It has allowed space to breathe in a refurbished (and occasionally QUIET) T4 where only the arrivals is a let down. Departures is very nice and modern indeed. T2 is gone and being replaced by a new T2 for STAR, up to T5 standards (but with gaterooms, I hate gaterooms.....)
That leaves T3 which is going to be next on the list. I know a lot of you hated LHR in the past but the key pain points, the BA T1 / T4 shuffle are no longer in play. The underground car park check in that was T2 is dust and rubble and the crowded mayhem that was T1 in BA days is now a more relaxed STAR ALLIANCE environment.
So by all means I accept some of the criticism, just be aware that many of the issues that caused so much grief are history.
From the 1990s, domestic from LHR looked like this :
ABZ current BA / BD
BFS dropped by BA taken up by EI
BHX dropped by BD
EDI current BA / BD
EMA dropped by BD
GCI dropped by UK to focus on STN if I recall.
GLA current BA, dropped by BD
INV DA-> BA-> LGW
IOM JE->BA->LGW
JER BA -> LGW
LBA dropped by BD
MAN current BA / BD
MME dropped by BD
NCL current BA
NQY/PLH BC->BA->LGW
It's clear the slots BA got by moving the Brymon, Manx and Dan Air inherited routes to LGW were used for long haul expansion.
EMA, BHX, MME and LBA are unsustainable with the improvements in the railways. Flying to BHX is just not realistic nowadays! It's not the dramatic loss of capacity that some people imply. I suspect PLH would still be open if the LHR link was still an option.
1992 : 16
2012 : 6
Last edited by Skipness One Echo; 17th Feb 2012 at 00:54.