Don't believe the hype! (BA Terminal 5)

Member Name: glitter_princess

Product:	BA Terminal 5
Date:	31/12/08 (165 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great shopping, lots of places to eat

Disadvantages: Lots of queing, "Fast" bag drop

On my recent pre-Christmas trip to New York I was very excited to be departing from Heathrow's Terminal 5. Despite the opening fiasco, from all of the positive marketing I'd been seeing in The London Paper from customers saying how great the whole T5 experience was, I was looking forward to a quick check in and lots of shopping.

Only British Airways fly from T5, so if you're flying with a cheap package holiday (like I normally do!), you probably won't be seeing it! The building itself cost £4.3 billion to build and is very impressive - all sleek and glass and very modern looking. There is plenty of space for cars to drop off passengers (which is what we did departing) and plenty of short term parking (which is what we did arriving back in the UK), if at extortionate prices. You enter on the top level and descend to the shops and restaurants below after check in. Shops include Gucci, Prada, Dior, Links of London, Kurt Geiger, Reiss, Mappin & Webb, Mulberry, Ted Baker, and even Tiffany & Co. as well as the regular World Duty Free, and restaurants include Wagamama, Giraffe, Plane Food by Gordon Ramsey, Carluccios, EAT, Krispy Kreme, and Pret a Manger.

Unfortunately we didn't get to experience any of these due to the utter fiasco that was our check in (you can imagine quite how much this annoyed me in particular!). Let me preface this little story by telling you that I am one of those annoying people who insist on arriving at the airport at least 3 hours before the flight departs, which drives my boyfriend mad. However, we took advantage of checking in the day before the flight to guarantee that my mum, my sister and I would be able to sit together. To quote the T5 website "Online check-in doesn't just put you in control of your own check-in; it also saves you time, helps to keep the airport running smoothly and prevents queues from forming too - all of which means a more relaxed experience for everyone.", and backing this up our online check in information informed us that al we had to do was drop our bags at the "Fast Bag Drop" and then head through to security and then to departures for shopping and eating. We arrived at T5 and headed to area F, which was where our flight had to do the Fast Bag Drop. Other flights could check their bags at D, E, or F, but ours was only F. Unfortunately, the main problem with our check in became instantly apparent - there is now nowhere to check in with an actual person at T5, you either check in online the night before, like we had, or you use a self-service check in kiosk - therefore the "Fast Bag Drop" is nothing of the sort - everyone has to drop their bags at this point, there is nothing fast about it at all! We waited in the Fast Bag Drop queue for 50 minutes, crawling along at a snail's pace while each person went through the checking procedure that would normally have been done at check-in.

Once we finally got through check-in, security was no easier. There were 4 queues, we waited in one for 10 minutes before getting about 4 people from the front and then being told "This queue is closing now, please join the back of another one". Thanks. I'd suggest you cut off a queue from a point towards the back, and stop people queuing in it, rather than just announcing "we're closed", but oh well. So we head to the back of another queue and wait for another 10 minutes, while people whose flights are about to leave are pushed to the front of the queue. Finally we get to the front of the queue just as they announce that our original queue is now reopening - honestly, you couldn't script it! We make it through security, boots, coats and jewellery off and then back on, see our flight has "Go to Gate" on it, but want to grab a drink for my sister, who isn't well. We stand in the queue for a drink when we see the flight now says Boarding so that plan is abandoned. Our gate is a way away, leaving from section B, so we have to get a monorail type train which takes about 10 minutes. By the time we've made it to section B my sister notices that our flight now says not Boarding, but Closing and the three of us run like idiots to the gate!

On the plus side I have to say that, apart from the security queue closers, all staff we met were really polite - although it is slightly worrying to walk through the metal detector and be told by the big burly security guard "You look like trouble", joking or not!

So, don't believe the marketing that T5's press department are spouting - honestly, I have never had such a stressful experience in catching a flight and I hope this serves as a warning to anyone travelling from Terminal 5 - leave plenty of time if you want to check out the shops!

Summary: Get there with plenty of time if you want to enjoy the shops!