Fascinating article on the forgotten West London Air Terminal

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• Susan says:

  24 Sep24 September 04:11

  An OMG moment for me – that’s the building I always stay in on London visits – who wants to stay in a grotty Paddington B&B when for the same price you can rent a proper flat. OK no Avios so maybe not most HfP readers 😉

  • Bob says:

    24 Sep24 September 11:23

    Which website do you book that through…?

• Buns says:

  24 Sep24 September 06:15

  Went to many a great party there when it was the HQ for BEA.

  BOAC had their Terminal in Buckingham Palace Road (now the HQ of the Audit Office) and Pan Am just round the corner in Semley Place. All providing check in and coaches to Heathrow in the days when the Tube only went as far as Hounslow West.

  • Stelondon says:

    24 Sep24 September 10:41

    I thought that was the case forBOAC and the west London terminal was used by BEA The BOAC has a wonderful frontage having been built for Imperial Airways. Do correct me if I am wrong

• Nick says:

  24 Sep24 September 06:25

  ………..and many HfP readers may remember the British Airways Victoria Terminal which served Gatwick airport until well into the 90’s. It was situated upstairs in what is now the Victoria Place Shopping Centre. Passengers could check in and leave their luggage and collect boarding passes (no on-line check-in in those days) before travelling to the airport on the Gatwick Express. Luggage next seen at their destination. As wheely luggage was a rarity in those days, it was a most useful facility..

  • Jonathan says:

    24 Sep24 September 08:28

    You can still check in at the city terminal in Hong Kong, is fantastic. I’ve always wondered why it’s not repeated at many other airports – cynically I’m guessing the current setup means more time for passengers airside and hence revenue for the airside retailers (and rental income for the airports).

    • harry says:

      24 Sep24 September 08:45

      Probably because it’s an expensive complication that ultimately would not really positively impact on either an airport’s or airline’s bottom line. Would a central London check-in/ bag drop be enough to make many people switch from one airport or airline to another? Some, possibly. But it would have to be hundreds of thousands making the switch to justify the extra cost of a ‘critical mass’ sized unit.

      City states like HK (or Singapore) are different.

      • Fenny says:

        24 Sep24 September 10:16

        Although I’d love to be able to drop my bags in Central London before heading out to Heathrow, I’d guess there would be a load of passengers who did this and then managed to miss their plane due to hanging around shopping and not getting to the airport on time. At least if passengers and luggage arrive at the airport together, there are fewer missed flights and fewer opportunities for security problems from unaccompanied luggage.

      • Stelondon says:

        24 Sep24 September 10:42

        More likely to do with security these days

        • Talay says:

          24 Sep24 September 10:57

          I remember the BA check in at Victoria as I lived in Pimlico.

          I was very peeved one day to find Princess Margaret’s ex husband trying to check in 20 pus bags and fully expecting an upgrade to first when having purchased a simple economy ticket.

          At the time I was flying economy and was staggered at the inequality and expectations of the establishment.

        • Bob says:

          24 Sep24 September 15:25

          “The establishment” Lol

          …’staggered’ …that a monarchy involves inequality. Wow. 🙂

    • Will says:

      24 Sep24 September 10:56

      It’s like Harry says, there’s no money unit for anyone to do it so why have the hassle.

      It’s a lesson to learn from HK, the government should be mandating airport owners to provide good road (Bristol airport?) and rail (try getting to LHR from the west) links and capping prices.

      The “HK express” costs about £6 on the day while Heathrow ex is about £20. Both journey through expensive urban terrain.

      I’m hard capitalist but what’s going on at Heathrow (and otherUK airports) is not a market.

      LHR needs bulldozing, it’s a disgrace to navigate esp if you need to switch terminals or catch a bus.

      • Alex W says:

        24 Sep24 September 23:30

        If you travel between Bristol and LHR you may be interested to know there is a direct national express coach which is dirt cheap and i find it excellent. I sometimes take this route if i am travelling elsewhere in London.

        • william merrett says:

          25 Sep25 September 00:16

          I’m Cheltenham based and do sometimes take the National express. It’s just slow and inconvenient, the Chelt bus usually leaves every 2 hours and drops at the bus station. I’m almost always out of T5 which can take up to 25 minutes from the bus station to T5 if you get unlucky with the HEX connection, you can then add another 15 minutes to that if you then end up at a T5C gate. the Nat Ex is also £40 return from Cheltenham.

          I can drive for £15 of fuel, get there 30 mins quicker than the bus and drop straight into pod parking and be at security 5 minutes after getting out of the car.

          What you should be able to do is get a train into LHR from the west, and then be able to traverse terminals at worst every 5 mins.

          JFK is horrendous airport to transfer through, but at least the airtrain runs very frequently, I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes for one when I’ve been there.

          I could keep going on with LHR, eg getting off the first HKG-LHR flight of the day being the first landing, dropping into T5C and then being told the train to connect to immigration isn’t running yet and then when the train finally turns up it doesn’t have enough capacity to deal with the passenger load from an A380, then you have the queues for the lifts to get down the that train.

          I could put up with most of that out of an old terminal, but it should be state of the art.

        • John says:

          25 Sep25 September 02:32

          I’ve never experienced the T5 train not running when coming off the HKG A380. Most people take the escalators, there aren’t usually queues for the lifts…. You must be very unlucky.

      • John says:

        25 Sep25 September 02:30

        lol. The HK Airport Express only costs £6 if you are living in Gordon Brown’s boom days.

        The in-town check-in is just a gimmick to make people use the overpriced train, rather than paying less than half-price for other modes of public transport. Obviously it seems cheap for someone who pays European prices.

        The HK government makes money from land banking and having cushy deals with developers. In HK real estate is only valuable because trains go there – but obviously seems expensive even for someone who pays outer London rents.

      • harry says:

        25 Sep25 September 07:01

        Good news:
        http://www.networkrail.co.uk/westernraillinktoheathrow/
        [Improving rail links to Heathrow
        A new direct rail link connecting the west to Heathrow will improve journeys to the UK’s busiest airport]

        From the west you would change at Reading for a direct connection to LHR.

        Bad news: 2024

• RIccati says:

  24 Sep24 September 06:41

  Boom! They could have done some advanced notice.

  BA needs revenue…

  • harry says:

    24 Sep24 September 07:40

    bit rubbish of them not to give warning – any idea how long the bonus will last?

    • Raffles says:

      24 Sep24 September 10:26

      Saw the last night. Would make sense for it to be permanent.

      • Danksy says:

        24 Sep24 September 16:14

        pants… just cashed out about £180 worth 🙁

• Isolde says:

  24 Sep24 September 06:44

  The Marriott in Cromwell Road was originally a Cunard Hotel. I think the London International. They had the interesting concept of an airport hotel in the centre of London specifically to make use of the terminal. They also built a larger hotel in Hammersmith next to the flyover with the ground floor reserved (but never used) for airline check in desks. This was the Cunard International with a shipping theme but is now the Novotel. Unfortunately for Cunard, the concept died as transport links improved and the capacity of the airport terminals was increased.

• JAXBA says:

  24 Sep24 September 06:52

  My parents met each other when they worked for BA in that building. Mum left BA when I came along.

  There was another lady I worked with in JAX who also started her BA career there.

• Nick says:

  24 Sep24 September 07:24

  Remember flying from here many times. There was also a North London terminal on the Finchley Road and I remember lots of Courtline check-in desks

• Chelseafi says:

  24 Sep24 September 07:56

  Good spot any idea how long bonus running for? Waiting for pending to become payable.

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