Airside hotel, Heathrow T5
 

All

A Russian acquaintance has emailed me asking the following:-

We with children fly to Canada (Montreal) through London. We do not have transit visa, it is not necessary. We remain at the airport of 8 hours (airside). I know, that in the terminal 3 Heathrow there is a hotel ' Airside Bedrooms'. But we arrive and we depart through the Terminal 5. Probably, you know, whether we can have a rest some hours per hotel in the terminal 3? Without visas...

Does anyone know of a hotel they can stay in?

Thanks

Mark

Quick search of the main LHR website shows this (below). I suggest they search for the website of Serviceair lounges and enquire/book from there. There you go a free 60 seconds of time ...
No.1 Traveller Lounge

Terminal 3

Relax in style before you fly at the No.1 Traveller Lounge. Facilities include:

• Complimentary food and drink
• Fully-tended bar
• Free Wi-Fi plus newspapers and magazines
• Games Rooms and Cinema
• Family Room
• Runway views
• No.1 Travel Spa, offering massages and nail treatments
• Showers
• Single and twin bedrooms.

Please note there is a separate charge for Travel Spa treatments and bedroom access.

Yes, thanks for this. Problem is, it's in T3 and they will be in T5 so I don't think they will be able to get to T3 from T5 whilst remaining airside, right?

Depends. Obviously you can transfer airside between terminals - wouldn't be much of an airport if you couldn't do that.

But whether checks are made when using the airside transfer bus from T5 to T3 that you actually have an outbound flight from that terminal, I don't know.

Worth a try, probably.

The answer to your exact question is no.
There is an hotel at T5 (Sofitel) and it is extremely comfortable with dayrooms as well.... but it is landside. :(

Until recently, 2 years or so, I frequently transmitted LHR with terminal changes. I did this on average 14-18 times a year. I never was asked to show a boarding card, ticket, passport before boarding the airside buses.

My apologies ilesmark, in haste, I misread the '3' + '5'.

If the airside bus only collects and drops off airside, perhaps they rely on everyone being airside and with no mal-intent!

Best to e-mail Servisair through their web site and get full info before starting trip.

All - thanks for this. I have emailed this link to my Russian acquaintance. Maybe I will also give LHR a call to double-check re the transferring by bus issue.

I transferred T5 to T3 on Saturday. Boarding card examined at security, and at arrival at T3. Puzzle is why security when entering T3? Presumably, they don't trust the airport from which you started, but they then take you airside on a 'bus. The logic would be security before you left T5 and none on entering T3.

Ah, I'd forgotten about security. :ugh: Of course boarding cards are checked on entering security in the next terminal. Probably why they don't check before the bus.

Oh dear - the plot thickens. Have just had this from Servisair @ LHR:-

Due to security restrictions, if your friends are transiting through Terminal 5 they will not be able to access other terminals at London Heathrow. British Airways are the sole airline at Terminal 5, and they operate a lounge there. Details can be found at www.ba.com.

Right. Following what I was told by Servisair, I was a bit sceptical - surely people transiting at LHR can travel between terminals if they're changing planes and indeed they might well HAVE to do so.

So I called BA to clarify and thought I'd post their response in case it's of any use to others, as well as passing it on to my Russian acquaintances. BA said that arrivees at T5 can go to T3 while remaining airside by going via Flight Connections. They will not go through Immigration (so no need for transit visa) but will go through security. It takes 5-10 mins on the bus to travel between the 2 terminals. Once in T3, the delights of the UK's first airside hotel await:-
Airside bedrooms at Heathrow Terminal 3 from No.1 Traveller.

Finally, when returning to T5 for onward travel, passengers should leave T3 about 1 hour prior to scheduled departure time.

Hope this is useful.

Mark

I can't think how you'd get from T3 departures onto an airside transit bus on the way back. Arrivals and departures are segregated and you always transit to your departing terminal immediately on arrival at Heathrow.

Presumably though someone could take you back to flight connections and you'd clear security once in each direction.

I wouldn't be leaving T3 one hour prior to a T5 departure. Even if you can just get onto a bus without staff intervention there can be a wait and you've potentially got to get the transit once at T5 to a B/C gate.

This is where the design of Schiphol works so much better for transferring passengers.