Heathrow Terminal 1 Baggage System

[rog747]

Originally Posted by mikemmb

Hi Rog747, Thanks for popping in, much appreciated.
As you can probably see from the above, I have managed to line up a few of my brain cells and am now fairly certain about the name and location of the small check in system that played a significant part in the onward direction of my working life!
Still not sure of the date when the "T1 Domestic Check In" system was installed (or was it simply an upgrade to an older system?).
My guess is that it I was there in the early 1980's (definitely not pre 79).
A photograph of the "T1 Domestic Check In" from that era would be great, but I have spent some time on the web searching and drawn a blank.
Mike

Ah right OK - well at T1 most check in was done at ''Islands'' positioned along the middle of the departures floor (apart from BA Domestic and Belfast at Gate 49) I was there on and off 74-75 with Northeast, then BMA 77-85
BMA which was all Domestic then was at the far (north) end of T1 by the balcony looking down over the Domestic arrivals area and Dom. baggage carousel and north door exit...
We were Island A.
Opposite us was BA European check-in and they had islands all the way down to the end (International end)
Some BA long haul came to T1 and that was done at the far end.
Aer Lingus were somewhere nearer us - perhaps they were opposite us???

At the far end was enhanced security area for Tel Aviv flights.
At this end were the International Departures doors to go through to Security and the International Deps lounge.
To the left of these doors I seem to recall the out of gauge bag drop...That is all I recall.

I think Cyprus Airways were still checked in by BA post 1974 Tridents, - not sure if they went to T2 when they had the 720B's ?
I dont think South African had come over to T1 in my time. El Al - maybe?

Ticket Desks were on the entrance side of the Terminal.
So BA Domestic check in (not Shuttle) and BA staff travel check in was over by the windows.
BA did then move those desks but I am sorry I cannot recall where to.
The BA Belfast was done at Gate 49 They parked on the Novembers...near Gate 1
the Shuttle Gates were around gate 5 that served all the flights parked on A1 A3 A5 & any on the N's.

Domestic security check was minimal for pax and for us, but more so for the BA Belfast pax at Gate 49 who had to go past a plain clothes SB guy who was at a podium iirc.

Coaching flights was done from Gate 1 as were the domestic coaching arrivals.

BMA used gates and stands B2 B4 A7 A9 B10 and pax would walk over to B12
and coaching of course...but we sometimes parked on N49 and N51 and walked them in I think to Gate 1.
EI used B6 & B8 (so did we on the odd occasion, but it was a sort of Customs cum Special Branch area)

Ticketed pax with HB could go straight to the gate if it was open, and the LMC's even with hold bags could do too (aka Take a Chance, or Runners as we called them)
Close out at check in with hold bags at the desk was at -20 and -10 at the gate...

If we had all the pax on the list sitting at the gate by -20 and the aircraft was ready to be boarded we would rock n roll and get it going - It was a pleasure to see the aircraft actually airborne at 'departure time' - The pax and crews loved it.
We could push off the A or B stands and whizz round to 28R and sneak in at the intersection and be up and away PDQ.

On very busy mornings around the 08.00 peak rush hour BAA apron would park one of the DC-9's arriving say from MME on stand 151 - We would think WTF are they thinking but sometimes we just had to go with it and try and still get it out on time at 08.55 BD332. Other times as it was taxying in a stand change would come up for something much closer to T1.
BAA were not all bad lol.

Fast forward to about 1983/84 by now BMA had taken on BA head to head with GLA EDI and now BFS. We were now not just big - but very big.
It was decided to knock through B2 to B4 and make a new dedicated BMA gate check in at Gate 4 for the businessmen and a lounge for all BMA flights who would then be called to other gates if the aircraft was parked elsewhere. We still had Island A of course.

The Shuttle was a success for BA during a period of internal strife but November 1, 1982 would throw a major spanner in the works. That was the day that British Midland, the only other British airline of size with a presence at Heathrow, began its own ‘Diamond Service’ flights between Heathrow and Glasgow. These used DC-9s six times daily, neatly dovetailed in between the BA shuttle services. They offered lower fares as well as full in-flight service (Hot breakfast and Cornflakes and milk for breakfast).
Midland’s operations would soon extend to Edinburgh and Belfast and the impact on BA’s shuttle was profound.
​BA responded with an advertising campaign that showed a single passenger being flown in comfort on a back-up aircraft and BA used Concorde to show off on the Shuttle.
To pass the advertising standards this needed to have actually happened and apparently it had once, although there were many times when a handful of passengers were all that were onboard anyway. The Shuttle was rebranded on August 30, 1983 as the Super Shuttle on all four routes as a competitive response to British Midland’s entry onto the routes with its Diamond Service. The Super Shuttle competed against BD by moving away from the no frills offering. The revised service offered on-board service. There was a hot breakfast on early morning flights and a free bar and hot beverages on other flights. New aircraft such as the 757 were dedicated to the Shuttle.

There is this old thread too Heathrow Domestic Pier

[mikemmb]

Thanks Rog747, lots to digest in your post so may take me a while, but the amount of detail is much appreciated.

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by rog747

The Shuttle was a success for BA during a period of internal strife but November 1, 1982 would throw a major spanner in the works. That was the day that British Midland, the only other British airline of size with a presence at Heathrow, began its own ‘Diamond Service’ flights between Heathrow and Glasgow. These used DC-9s six times daily, neatly dovetailed in between the BA shuttle services. They offered lower fares as well as full in-flight service (Hot breakfast and Cornflakes and milk for breakfast).
Midland’s operations would soon extend to Edinburgh and Belfast and the impact on BA’s shuttle was profound.
​BA responded with an advertising campaign that showed a single passenger being flown in comfort on a back-up aircraft and BA used Concorde to show off on the Shuttle.
To pass the advertising standards this needed to have actually happened and apparently it had once, although there were many times when a handful of passengers were all that were onboard anyway.

I was a periodic passenger during much of this time, as some of us have discussed previously.

BA did used to stick Concorde onto the Glasgow shuttle a few times, whenever PR thought it worthwhile. The day the BMA Diamond Service to Glasgow started there was a press conference about it at Glasgow airport, which was ruined for BMA when someone shouted that Concorde had just landed and everyone in the room rushed out ... the Concorde sectors were apparently some training/currency details which would have gone to Shannon, their normal point for this, just rearranged into the Shuttle. No advance publicity, but my Glasgow colleague chanced upon one, which dominated our meeting that day in London.

BA had a range of approaches to minimise any wastage of a Shuttle backup. Onetime contact, on the dedicated ops team they had, said the minimum had been 7 in his experience. Certainly, with hourly operation to Glasgow, passengers treated it as pretty much turn up and go, so from backup "Go" to closing the door a good few more turned up. There was a lot of prediction of loads to give an optimum operation and various techniques to minimise wastage, and serious delays due to an aircraft going tech became minimal. It was necessary from time to time to also run an empty aircraft in the opposite direction to maintain the balance at either end.

One day, due to (in part) said contact having been on holiday, a message misunderstanding/blunder in Shuttle Control led to two empty aircraft being dispatched from both Edinburgh and London at the same time, each station having been sent a message that a backup aircraft should be sent to the opposite end. By the time it was realised, the two had passed in mid-flight. I recall this one made it into Roger Bacon in Flight magazine.

[Reverserbucket]

I was with BD in the '90's and remember well the outsized baggage belt and scanner that was located T1 landside at the rear of departures to the right of what was then Burger King. It was housed in a double doored room and was also used for 'special' security (509?) screening in the days prior to more comprehensive checked baggage screening. Check-in were supposed to randomly select about 30% of bags to be screened before being dispatched down the belt to the baggage make-up hall in the basement.

I recall the steel spiral shutes as well on both domestic and international piers but weren't these for drop off at door bags, runners, pushchairs, buggies etc. to drop down to the handlers on the apron from the gate/airbridge? There was also a smallish baggage reclaim carousel located between the CTA/RI and domestic parts of the November/Alpha Piers in the 'Rotunda'.

The T1 baggage system is still very much alive (although significantly more automated than it used to be) despite the terminal being closed, as it serves the new T2; there is a large black 'bridge/tunnel' to the left of T2 at Departures level which descends into the bowels of T1 to, I believe, the same baggage make-up area mentioned earlier. Apparently they couldn't build one beneath the new terminal because of the proximity of the Piccadilly Line (and for the same reason, there's no passenger rail transit between T2 and T2B as there is between T5A/B/C).

[G-ARZG]

Isn't there a provision for a T2 airside transit system when/if T2C sees the light of day?

[GeeRam]

Originally Posted by Reverserbucket

The T1 baggage system is still very much alive (although significantly more automated than it used to be) despite the terminal being closed, as it serves the new T2; there is a large black 'bridge/tunnel' to the left of T2 at Departures level which descends into the bowels of T1 to, I believe, the same baggage make-up area mentioned earlier. Apparently they couldn't build one beneath the new terminal because of the proximity of the Piccadilly Line (and for the same reason, there's no passenger rail transit between T2 and T2B as there is between T5A/B/C).

There's a hug empty baggage hall at apron level in the new T2, plus a big full one on the level above full of new kit.

Yes, the T1 system is still live, and as I mentioned earlier, it has even been added to in the past couple of years with the old T1 airside international departures lounge converted to a baggage hall with new cat bag scanners.

Yes, there was working being done of the below ground T2 baggage extension to T2B/C etc in prep for the demo of T1 at some point, but Covid has put a stop to all that work.
Its why I'm out of a job.