Christmas at LHR

There are a lot of unknowns about this question given current Covid restrictions in the UK until December 2. What will come after that remains to be seen. With the current restrictions the LHR website says most business, restaurants, etc are closed but you can pick up takeaway food from a limited number of restaurants for your flight or wait. https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/restaurants-a-z

If you are even allowed to fly through LHR on December 25 with such a long layover I’d be contacting hotels in several terminals to see if they are allowing guests and have room service and I’d hunker down.

You can’t leave the airport to do anything in London as you would have to quarantine and there is no public transport on Christmas Day.

I found a few weeks ago that very few shops and restaurants were open at Gatwick as they aren’t getting sufficient passenger numbers through to bother opening. Yesterday, my local BBC news said Gatwick had 800 passengers - they had 93,000 this day in 2019.

To avoid the possibility of spreading Covid, the safest thing to do is to hunker down at the airport with a good book. You will need to wear a mask at all times in the airport. There will probably be some catering open, but not the normal range.

Check to see if the Sofitel’s restaurants are open to non-guests. It is a nice place to hang out. We always stay there when flying through LHR.

This line from Grace Dent’s piece really hits home for here, too:

Travelling around Britain for work during the pandemic, I’m reminded constantly of how curious and muted a land is without restaurants, bars and cafes.

Substitue “going anywhere in Paris” for “travelling around Britain” and it’s equally true.

If you leave the airport, you will have to quarantine, which means not eating in restaurants or walking anywhere outside. If you go to a hotel, you will need to stay in the room and take room service. There will be no public transport to get you there and taxis will be charging double or triple their normal rates.

When I had an 8-hour layover at Terminal 5 a couple of years ago, I spent part of the time in one of the pay-to-enter lounges. It was much more comfortable and quiet than the rest of the terminal, with food and nice bathrooms. They're closed till December 3, per the website, but taking bookings after that, including December 25.

My own guess would be that facilities like these won't be available next month because the virus is still spreading too fast, but it wouldn't hurt to book if this interests you. Of course, if it's open, you might still be dealing with occupancy limits and curtailed services, like no buffet.