Terminal 5
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Terminal 5
Not really a question - but just wanted to sat how pleasant it is to fly through T5.
Mind you, am now biased as had the chance recently to fly First with BA and so experienced the challenge of deciding which champagne to drink in the Concorde Room...
Must admit, wouldn't pay for it, but those BA miles are a fine idea!
Mind you, am now biased as had the chance recently to fly First with BA and so experienced the challenge of deciding which champagne to drink in the Concorde Room...
Must admit, wouldn't pay for it, but those BA miles are a fine idea!
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Nothing wrong with T5, used it yesterday. Shops are perhaps even bigger rip-offs than anywhere else, it strikes one that if a realistic security risk assessment were carried out by someone who knows how Al Qa'ida operates the security staff would be a much higher potential risk to aviation safety than the passengers, and inward immigration is no worse than any other UK airport and better than a few.
But you simply have to ignore those downsides and it's a nice place to use.
But you simply have to ignore those downsides and it's a nice place to use.
If you aren't going into the Concorde room, the march past the shops to the First lounge is annoyingly long if you are not intending buying any of the overpriced tat. But arrivals is not so good, and the useless idiots who designed the place do not seem to realise that on occasion, people like to wash their face. With only these blasted hot air driers, that's a big problem. The lack of moving walkways for a lot of the arrivals is also an indication of idiocy.
Interesting is the notice in the lifts that if you get stuck for a long time, you should only dial 999 in a medical emergency. Otherwise, there's a number for which YOU pay, and what if you do not have a mobile 'phone or the battery is flat?
I ought to get around to drawing the attention of the HSE to it - plus, when they have a 'shoes off' thing at security, there are no provisions for protecting people from infection. Another HSE thing!
BAA - Bloody Awful Airports.
Interesting is the notice in the lifts that if you get stuck for a long time, you should only dial 999 in a medical emergency. Otherwise, there's a number for which YOU pay, and what if you do not have a mobile 'phone or the battery is flat?
I ought to get around to drawing the attention of the HSE to it - plus, when they have a 'shoes off' thing at security, there are no provisions for protecting people from infection. Another HSE thing!
BAA - Bloody Awful Airports.
Paxing All Over The World
radeng
The lack of moving walkways for a lot of the arrivals is also an indication of saving money at every turn. When the new terminal at LTN was built, they learnt lots of these lessons from BAA.
The lack of moving walkways for a lot of the arrivals is also an indication of idiocy.
Terminal 5 design incompetences - where do I begin ?
I'll just discuss one aspect of the master design, which the architects were responsible for - the architects who won all those design awards for the building (don't be misled by this, by the way - in the architecture profession all the awards for new buildings are lined up among the cognoscenti long before the building is even opened).
Arriving passengers into the remote pier, all heading for the central terminal. Everyone gets off the aircraft. Firstly there is an escalator down. Now escalators are fine for moderate, steady flows, not occasional high capacity rushes like all passengers out of a 747. So there's a big pile up at the top of the escalator to get on it.
Down and down into the basement, and onto the shuttle train. By now the moderate, steady stream is coming down, and all wait for the train, which is a high-capacity, intermittent frequency form of transport, so everyone gets in quickly, then the doors close in the face of those continuing to come down (notably those on short connections it seems), and we are off on a trip which is ludicrously short for a shuttle train's cost of installation, for a range of reasons.
A few seconds later, at the main terminal, all the train doors open and everyone can get out together - to be faced with another set of escalators upwards, and the same crowding problem as when disembarking the aircraft.
So, we have arrived at a high level in the building, are then taken to the bottom level, and almost immediately afterwards transported upwards again, with multiple disruptions to passenger flow along the short way.
Honestly, any first year architectural student would be laughed out of the lecture room by the Professor for such an arrangement.
I'll just discuss one aspect of the master design, which the architects were responsible for - the architects who won all those design awards for the building (don't be misled by this, by the way - in the architecture profession all the awards for new buildings are lined up among the cognoscenti long before the building is even opened).
Arriving passengers into the remote pier, all heading for the central terminal. Everyone gets off the aircraft. Firstly there is an escalator down. Now escalators are fine for moderate, steady flows, not occasional high capacity rushes like all passengers out of a 747. So there's a big pile up at the top of the escalator to get on it.
Down and down into the basement, and onto the shuttle train. By now the moderate, steady stream is coming down, and all wait for the train, which is a high-capacity, intermittent frequency form of transport, so everyone gets in quickly, then the doors close in the face of those continuing to come down (notably those on short connections it seems), and we are off on a trip which is ludicrously short for a shuttle train's cost of installation, for a range of reasons.
A few seconds later, at the main terminal, all the train doors open and everyone can get out together - to be faced with another set of escalators upwards, and the same crowding problem as when disembarking the aircraft.
So, we have arrived at a high level in the building, are then taken to the bottom level, and almost immediately afterwards transported upwards again, with multiple disruptions to passenger flow along the short way.
Honestly, any first year architectural student would be laughed out of the lecture room by the Professor for such an arrangement.
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The UK Government insist on keeping arrivals and departures strictly segregated unlike say primitive foreign places like...er Amsterdam-Schiphol.
Hence there is a lot of going down to go back up again to make sure the two are kept apart. Of course at the end of this pantomime they all get to meet up in the departure lounge....
When Gatwick North was completed Pier 5 was obsolete the day it opened due to these new rules and this is why the later Pier 4 is on two levels and a different design. This is also the reason that the 35 minute conformance rule is crucial. If you are late and get stuck on the B Satellite, there's no way back through the one way system.
If you want the runaround try the B Pier at Manchester. It's good exercise !
Hence there is a lot of going down to go back up again to make sure the two are kept apart. Of course at the end of this pantomime they all get to meet up in the departure lounge....
When Gatwick North was completed Pier 5 was obsolete the day it opened due to these new rules and this is why the later Pier 4 is on two levels and a different design. This is also the reason that the 35 minute conformance rule is crucial. If you are late and get stuck on the B Satellite, there's no way back through the one way system.
If you want the runaround try the B Pier at Manchester. It's good exercise !
Last edited by Skipness One Echo; 28th Mar 2011 at 17:45.
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Nice enough terminal (and the BA lounges knock spots of anything the competition has in Europe or the US - apart from the F terminal in Frankfurt) but it could really do with a window clean. Was in the F lounge last week and they are appallingly bad - I doubt they've seen a mop since the place opened.
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Tom Peters said "Benchmarking is stupid, because you take the industry leader and then spend five years becoming as good as they were five years ago."
That is T5, in my opinion.
Much better than the other London terminals, but not leading edge.
That is T5, in my opinion.
Much better than the other London terminals, but not leading edge.
The Flagship lounge of American in Chicago is (or maybe was - I've not been there for some time) as good as the BA First lounge, but not as good as the Concord Room. About the only good part of American Airlines these days.
If you are coming off the shuttle train at T5, it's often faster to use the lifts.
If you are coming off the shuttle train at T5, it's often faster to use the lifts.
