How's Heathrow lately?

Colleen, I heard a report on the late news last night that indicated there are still some "luggage problems" at the new Terminal 5 (which I believe is solely used by British Airways?). If you're using another Terminal (and another airline), perhaps you won't have any problems?

Cheers!

It'll be British Air all the way, so Terminal 5 it is, I'm afraid.

We recently flew British Air to Europe, connecting at Heathrow both ways. On the flight over, we landed at Terminal 4, and flew out from Terminal 5. On the return trip, we flew into Terminal 1 and out of Terminal 4. The buses between terminals are easy to find and use, and while there is a lot of walking (it's a big airport!), no more than Frankfort or Barcelona.

Forgot to add; we only had carry-ons flying to Europe, but we checked two bags returning home and had no problems. And everyone working for British Air was helpful and very friendly.

We flew British Airways from LAX to Rome via Heathrow in June, round trip. No lost luggage and no missed connections I'm happy to say. The in-air service was great too. Heathrow doesn't post your connecting gate right away, so you must keep an eye peeled on the flight board in case you land at the wrong terminal.

The only thing off-putting thing is that their security radar is on a hair trigger. I set off the alarm but the agent could not figure out what it was that caused it. Rather embarrassing and undignified to be standing there like a scarecrow in your stocking feet with your arms out and some stranger feeling you up in public.

We flew between Heathrow and Seattle 2008 - June 25 to July 16, both were scheduled for Terminal 5 but actually used terminal 4. It can be a long way via endless halls to transfer. There are some "people movers" which help and might entertain the boys, even tired ones.

With British Air, be sure you go on line 23 3/4 hours before the flight to book your seats. We did on the Seattle end,and got three in a row, window, center and aisle. However, did not have a computer when returning from London to Seattle and wound up with three center seats, 20 rows apart! It would not do with young children. Even our adult daughter felt isolated.

We flew Chicago to London to Germany and back - arriving home yesterday (July 14-28). Our flight from Chicago to London was Virgin Atlantic and our shorter flight was BA using the new terminal. We were very very nervous about checked luggage after all the stories we had heard about BA and the new terminal - especially considering the change of airlines and terminals - but everything made it! 6 pieces of luggage on the way there and 5 on the way back - and not a single piece lost. We actually found dealing with terminal 5 and BA to go very smoothly on the way there. Buses between terminals are very easy to find and use. On the way back we arrived in T5 with BA and had to switch to T3 for our virgin flight. Arriving at T3, we were unimpressed with extremely rude airport staff. Many people were confused by the procedure in T3 as we went through security before checking in for our flight and receiving our boarding passes (make sure you have a print out of your itinerary or I don't know how you would get thru security!)... the staff was extremely rude in dealing with the many many passengers who were confused by this, security lines were very long and jumbled, and the terminal requires lots of walking to the gates. We were also irritated with additional security checks before boarding at the gate (a repeat of security checks that were already done plus a full pat down). Several peoples things were spilled on the floor during the checks and the inspectors did not seem overly concerned as they threw the items back in the bags.
Overall, we had no troubles and were impressed with T5 and BA. T3, however, not so much.

My husband and I just flew from Amsterdam with British Air into Terminal 5 at Heathrow. We each had a checked bag and had no problems at all!

::::::Comic Relief Warning, Achtung, Achtung!::::::

"......And I'm so worried about the baggage retrieval
system they've got at Heathrow." - Monty Python

Apparently, if it's bad enough for the Pythons to spoof it, it must be horrendous!

If you've ever heard the tune, you'll know what I mean when I say someone oughta put that guy out of his misery!

;)

Bill

Colleen,
... I recall years ago looking at the Heathrow arrivals and departures board. The first flight of the day to Moscow from Heathrow was BritAir 007.
... ciao! P