Jarvy

The last time I flew F was with Swiss from ZRH.

The aircraft was at a midfield stand and I (and 2 other) pax were in the F class lounge in the main terminal.

They took us across in an SUV, so we would not have to use the (very efficient) underground railway.

That's what you expect for a first class fare and Strake has every reason to complain bitterly about being give economy class service for an F fare.

Ok then when T5 is finished this shouldn't be a problem. Is there a special train that goes to B & C(when open) just for first . No? thought not.
Having to get a bus out to any aircraft is not good news for anyone be they in first or down the back.
We all have a choice so if you don't like BA or T5 don't use them. I like T5 and BA, I don't work for either and never have, but sometimes it does go wrong but mostly it goes right.

Rusland17

It isn't at all 'at odds'. In this one-off situation they reacted correctly to the situation which arose. The fact that such situations arise at all, and that they apparently do so with frequency, is an appalling indictment on BA. I stand by my original contention, although perhaps I could have expressed it more clearly.

This is an arrival, not tranist point, as I live 35 mins from LHR. Arrived BA from JNB early September. Landed 06:10 and, as we we were on a westerly approach on 27L (Southern), you can guess that we were on the stand very promptly.

On the BUSSING stand that is. As the bus wended it's way to the main building, I had plenty of time to inspect all the empty stands ... If the a/c was not going to be departing soon enough to warrant being on a proper stand - then just tow it off the stand, once the pax and freight have disembarked/offloaded. This sounds like a BA problem but I was really not impressed but, let me tell you about the departure 12 days earlier ...

Arrived 06:15 and the road signposting was still confusing even though it was my fourth visit there (previous was for others, this my first traverse of the terminal) the bag drop was reasonably painless as the place was not busy.

Security was slow and I was amused by all the mechanical handling of the trays. Great when it works but it will be a real laugh when it breaks down. Having worked in technology for 27 years I know the ONLY route is to Keep It Simple Stupid!

I walked through the arch and the alarm sounded. The attendant said, "It's probably because of the wheelchair." I had seen that a wheelchair was being pushed through a gate right next to the arch. So, it seems that pushing a metal wheelchair through a gate adjacent to the arch - will cause a false alarm on the person walking through, requiring them to be frisked. A) Design it differently. B) Having stuffed up the design, prevent a pax walking through the arch when a wheelchair is being moved through the gate!!!

The shopping area was vast and I had to look to find the way to the gates. Silly but I was expecting it. My flight departing from 'B' and decided to use the escalator as lifts usually have queues and are slow. NOTE: If pax traffic light = Use the lifts. The escalators are deadly slow and have a very long descent. Then there was a wait for a shuttle to 'B'. The distance is not great and travelators would have been much faster than waiting for the train, waiting for it to empty, waiting for everyone to board - for it to travel about 2,000 years. A pointless waste of money in constructing it and waste of time on my journey.

The 'B' was fine and all that I expected of a modern terminal except that ... both this and the main building had loads of wasted vertical space. There was a lot of room for hot air to go up and drift around - but space not being used. Whilst I appreciate that they do not want low ceilings for pax to feel cramped, I do not think that the 'open vista spaces' make the pax feel any different and it costs money to build upwards and money to heat the space.

Overall, my opinion of T5 on doing three 'delivery and meetings' and one departure/return, rates it as Average and VERY Average at that.

You arrived early doors from JNB and saw some empty stands which by the time you were off through customs would have been full with the rather large amount of morning heavy arrivals. It is not unusual for an aircraft that is not going out again immediately to park off stand, leaving an airbridge ready for the hot aircraft behind you. That's actually sensible management of assets in an imperfect Terminal.

The sheer amount of BA tails at T5 whenever I am on a 9am departure shows BA are too big for T5, though that was always going to be the case.

SkipnessExactly, I agree 100%. The Terminal was imperfect before they laid the foundation stone!! I fully understand why we parked at a bussing stand and fully understand that BA (a wonderful airline to actually fly on) and BAA stuffed it up. The history of the past 50 years of EGLL made it inevitable.

It is just highly irritating to experience the Brits getting it wrong all over again!

I don't.

Neither do a lot of others.

The BA financials are not good.

Do you think there might be any correlation?

Skipness both posts a great reality check :D:D:D. I loved the bit about the warm wine and the handbrake turns..... classic!!

I've never been to T5 but I have experienced BA "service" from LGW on a thankfully short sector. Surly CC hurling out soggy bacon bloomers etc. However this was "cattle class" so I guess I shouldn't expect anything more. I had to walk to the plane as well.....no bus at all, first class or otherwise.

When I have experienced 1st on US airways LAX (upgraded so my young child could sit with me instead of the other end of the plane) I got a meal that didn't look if it was thrown together from the dry stores. It was served on bone china and my rather decent wine was from a real glass. It was served by CC whose jobs were not threatened because their company was in a "serious financial position". They therefore had a smile on their face :). I didn't however get a seperate bus to the terminal in Las vegas on disembarking or in LAX on boarding.

I've never experienced BA first so I presume you still get decent food, fine wine, glass and china etc......enjoy it well it lasts!

Willie is taking lessons from MOL on cutting costs, service (frills) and how to treat his staff :eek:!! Anybody watch the 30 minute ad for FR on the BBC last night to see how close he is getting?

A company that is in the position of BA will start cutting back on what they see as unnecessary costs.....that is the seperate bus for F pax for a start. I would hazard a guess it won't just be T5 you will see this happening in the future.

However as F ticket holders you should get something for the money you have paid......A BA logo'd umbrella perhaps when he eventually makes you walk to the plane along with the rest of "cattle class" in the rain!! If you are lucky enough to get a bus (shared with Cattle Class of course) then you can show them your F tickets. I'm sure they will be impressed on how much extra money you have to spend on BA first class......:rolleyes:

As I say in my landing PA "we Realise you have choices when you fly....:)!

Where did I put my hard hat again?......:uhoh:

Heathrow generally is a dump. If you think arriving at T5 is bad, just try connecting between one of the remote terminals (T4/5) and the old ones (T1-3).

Nobody in their right mind connects flights at LHR. Schipol is far easier to navigate.

In other words, indistinguishable from travelling with a low-cost airline.

Which is exactly what BA is these days - the fare I pay when I fly BA is almost always lower than the fare I would pay to travel with Easyjet to the same destination.

What's all this BUSSING then,
 

I admit to have been bused at Heathrow, but never Bussed (kissed) but maybe one day ...

I too believe that BA lets down their premium payers. My former company rarely paid for F, but for an absolutely necessary trip, with no other alternatives they did agree for a ticket to Canberra via Heathrow and Sydney. Of course my flight into Heathrow was delayed (inbound aircraft delayed due to fog). By the time I got there my connection time was down from a comfortable 3 hours to just over an hour. No problem I thought, I only have carry on, a T4 to T4 internal connection, and fast track security. Of course a huge queue. I asked quietly the BA person at the foot of the queue - (politely and quietly) Is there anything you can do? I've got a tight connection and I'm travelling in First. Foghorn, Leghorn shouted at me "So has everyone else!". Exasperated I replied (quietly) "I don't know why I bother to travel British Airways" to wish she replied. "I don't know why anyone does, your better off flying someone else, anyone else". I missed my connection, got into Canberra 18 hours later than planned, when straight into an important meeting with the Australian government and performed very badly. I was not amused.

You know, she was/is right! I now only travel BA to burn my miles. Almost down to zero, and then ... never again!

I am just about to book a J class return from London to a middle eastern destination.

BA is about £200 more than Star Alliance and my client would accept that difference.

But.........

• potential strike
• reduced service levels

I am just about to press the accept button to use Swiss again, even with a change in ZRH, I prefer it.

JayPee28bprAccording to other threads in this forum, Schipol has one of the worst reputations for losing bags on transit connections.

ExXBThanks for the typo correction. perhaps I meant it as in 'Kiss BA goodbye?' Now, where's the 'smiley' for Kissing? Ah, PPRuNe doesn't have one. :p

Well many other airports manage to offer/organise a separate bus for premium class passengers, including a number overseas used by BA. Larnaca was one of these until recently, when a BA "cost review" led to the withdrawl of this separate service, doubtless to improve someone at Waterworld's bonus. Meanwhile most other mainstream operators at Larnaca continue to offer a premium transfer service for their premium passengers. But not BA any more.

PAXboy #33
 

Schipol may be bad for losing bags, but BA is the undisputed world champion in that category. Just google "T5 opening" or similar and see the results. That gave BA/LHR a 25,000 bag start on anyone else.

"Teething troubles" I hear you say. Well BA managed to lose my bag on three successive trips up to Scotland from T1 a few years back.

Schipol may be bad, as you say. I've not experienced that. However, for sheer ineptitude in matching luggage with passengers, BA/LHR is in a league of its own.

No special train for First as far as I know, and why would you need it??
The train doesn't take you straight to the boarding gates so if there was a train just for certain passengers it would have no advantage what so ever.

Going to T5C there will be the train that is already there that goes from A to B. The track is already built. Sometimes when you get to T5 B the shutter is open and you can see the rest of the track to T5 C

No special train so why expect a special bus, thats what I was saying.
I know its the same train I too have seen that it goes on. What I was saying was that when C is finished then maybe there will be no need to bus people out to aircraft.
When we fly and we are paying we choose BA, my wife when she flys on her own and the company pays she can choose BA, AA or Virgin again she prefers BA. So thats our choice.
Thank you and good night

According to most dictionaries, the past tense of "to bus" in British English is "bussed"; Americans spell it "bused".

e.g., from Collins:And from the BBC:This is consistent with the rules of British English spelling, in which final consonants are frequently doubled (e.g. travelled, which is spelt "traveled" in American English).

I think he meant 'abused'.

BA's record isn't great when it comes to losing bags, but it is by no means the "undisputed world champion".

The official figures for winter 2008-09 (the latest available) show that there are several airlines that lose more bags per passenger than BA, including Air France, Iberia and bmi. Other airlines, such as KLM, are on a par with BA. It should be obvious that airlines that operate complex connecting operations at major airports will lose more bags than those that operate point-to-point and/or from less busy airports. It should also be acknowledged that the final carrier in a passenger's journey must take a mishandled baggage report irrespective of who actually caused the error.

Statistics are rarely as clear cut as some people like to think they are.