Changes to British Airways Club World and Club Europe check-in at Heathrow Terminal 5

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• Richie says:

  3 Nov3 November 08:45

  If they told us which gate we were leaving from it would help the frequent T5 users to plan our user experience, particularly short haul.

  • JDB says:

    3 Nov3 November 09:25

    @Richie – I’m sure you know that, operationally, BA isn’t going to be in a position to do that. It’s not quite like Swiss or Chinese train companies that can tell you the platform number weeks ahead, even at the biggest stations.

    • Richie says:

      3 Nov3 November 10:08

      Only when 100% confident of gates.

    • Bodkins says:

      3 Nov3 November 17:15

      Other airlines manage. BA could if it wanted to.

      • LittleNick says:

        3 Nov3 November 17:41

        Everyone would then complain when the gate changes last minute

        • Chrisasaurus says:

          3 Nov3 November 19:08

          Well we would complain about that anyway and already do it if it was right most of the time that’s still better than a guess

• Aliks says:

  3 Nov3 November 09:08

  Flying BA to India from LHR, with 2 of us in business, 2 in Premium Economy. I’d like to get us all into lounges if possible.

  I am gold so I can get into the 1st Lounge with one guest, can I then go downstairs and invite a different guest into the business lounge?

  • Qrfan says:

    3 Nov3 November 09:58

    Not unless you’re lucky. They scan the boarding card of your guest when you enter and record it. None of you got a card for one of the 3rd party lounges? Seems an odd plan frankly, that you’d rather split up your group then sit in a paid cafe together…

  • LittleNick says:

    3 Nov3 November 10:32

    As you’re the gold, are you travelling business or Prem. Econ? If you’re travelling in Prem then the you could all go in galleries business lounge

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      3 Nov3 November 14:19

      Makes no difference what cabin Aliks is in.

      As a Gold Aliks still only gets one guest.

      The other Club passenger can’t guest (unless they are Silver or Gold which we can presume they aren’t because their status isn’t mentioned) purely by being in club.

      • Lyn says:

        3 Nov3 November 15:13

        Surely @LittleNick is right here if Aliks is one of the two Premium passengers and could guest the other one into the Galleries lounge. The two club passengers would each have access via their own club tickets as well.

        • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

          3 Nov3 November 15:39

          Aliks is in club and gold so has access plus one guest based on status.

          One of his companions is flying club but with no status gets no guest rights. A club only ticket without status = no guest.

          But Aliks also has two companions in PE.

          There isn’t a way to get both of the PE people into a lounge.

        • LittleNick says:

          3 Nov3 November 17:42

          Exactly Lyn! You got my logic

  • SammyJ says:

    3 Nov3 November 13:55

    No, not in T5. Once you’ve guested someone into a lounge, you can only guest the same person into a different lounge. Unless they swapped boarding cards for the second guesting, which of course wouldn’t be the correct or permitted thing to do.

    • LittleNick says:

      3 Nov3 November 17:44

      @BA Flyer How do you know Aliks is in Business? Yes all of them couldn’t go to GF but they could all get into GC if Aliks was travelling Prem and not Club as he could guest in the other Prem traveller

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        3 Nov3 November 19:08

        Whatever cabin he’s in he can only guest ONE person in due to their gold status.

        I assumed because of the way the post was written. People normally say what cabin they are in before others.

        • Mike says:

          4 Nov4 November 21:47

          Yes, whatever cabin Aliks is in, their BA Gold status would allow one lounge guest only.

          But if Aliks is travelling PE, they would only *need* to guest one other passenger; the two Club passengers can get into the lounge on account of their Club tickets.

          You assume Aliks is travelling Club. And it’s a reasonable assumption. But until Aliks confirms what cabin they’re in, LittleNick’s logic is correct. All four of them could walk into the Galleries Club lounge instead of trying to split the group.

• George K says:

  3 Nov3 November 09:09

  The North security channel (and associated fast track) have long since been my second favourite route into T5, (TFW being the first, obviously). The southern entrance always felt weird, having to go ‘north’ to get the escalator down and then walk ‘south’ again on the lower level to get to the transit station or Galleries South, which because of all that actually feels farther away from security south, than security north…

  • Londonsteve says:

    3 Nov3 November 12:57

    Is Galleries South or North better in your opinion? I usually use the North FT security followed by Galleries North which is always a zoo and feels about as relaxing as a McDonalds at a railway terminus.

    • Rob says:

      3 Nov3 November 13:03

      I prefer South. There’s something about the layout of North which just feels wrong.

      • ADS says:

        5 Nov5 November 11:44

        I think humans have evolved to face the sun

        There’s a reason why so many pagan religions worshipped the sun!

    • George K says:

      3 Nov3 November 13:46

      I think South has a better layout and is a bit bigger, but I only go there if North is out of bounds (for example, two weeks ago it was roped off for some reason). I like North’s terrace, actually!

      Galleries T5B is the king, of course…

      • Londonsteve says:

        4 Nov4 November 19:13

        Useful info, thank you George and Rob. I don’t think I’ve ever been to South, I don’t have access to FW and always arrive by tube. Time for a visit. North just feels consistently overrun and is starting to be less appealing than just staying in the main terminal for people watching while sipping a Pret coffee.

• Jill Kinkell says:

  3 Nov3 November 09:14

  Used north side Fast track yesterday about 0730. No queue, straight in, didn’t set off alarms, tray sailed through. Into a fairly busy Galleries North in seconds.
  I’ve always used the north FT and it’s never been overly busy. The worst is coming off an international flight and through security again for a domestic connection. Such a scrum. I’ve never seen the fast track lane open for use. Bring on the super scanners where I don’t have to remove phone, iPad. Kindle. toiletries. Belt, watch coat , shoes/boots Thick jumper , rubbish out of pockets

  • JDB says:

    3 Nov3 November 09:21

    The new scanners aren’t quite the panacea people suggest. While they will save removing items from hand luggage, they are less reliable and also create more secondary checks so don’t, on average, end up being any faster. There’s the added risk that people bring even more hand luggage once the 100ml requirement is removed.

    The body scanners that should become the norm (as opposed to the arch) should be quicker overall, but are supposed to require absolutely everything out of pockets, belts off etc.

    • Qrfan says:

      3 Nov3 November 10:00

      Nobody who’s gone through la Guardia’s new terminal would agree with that assertion. Security is a breeze even when the airport is busy on a Friday night. Is it just London city that is struggling with this?

      • JDB says:

        3 Nov3 November 10:19

        The UK has considerably higher security standards than the US and certainly no TSA PreCheck. The manufacturers and data from those airports that have the new equipment confirm the overall time to pass though security is slightly greater. The mechanical reliability aspect is likely to improve over time, but the rest won’t change.

        • Mike says:

          4 Nov4 November 21:52

          I have no TSA Pre-Check and have found the experience with the new scanners at Dulles quite efficient. The scan takes marginally longer, but the time savings of not having to wait for everyone in front of you to take all their stuff out onto trays, plus not having to do it yourself, easily offset those additional 15 seconds or so it takes for your bag to come out the other end of the scanner.

    • Jill Kinkell says:

      3 Nov3 November 12:41

      @JDB you’ve just dashed my hopes of a smooth glide through security!

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      3 Nov3 November 15:43

      If you mean the ones that rotate around when you’ve got your hands splayed out or above your head then yes nothing can be left in pockets and jackets and belts still need removing.

      Footwear removal depends on their nature.

  • Harry T says:

    3 Nov3 November 13:04

    How does using a CT scanner induce more secondary screenings? This hasn’t been my practical experience and doesn’t gel with my understanding of the physics.

    • JDB says:

      3 Nov3 November 16:39

      @HarryT – There’s no reason why your personal experience or that of any other individual passenger would represent the average and while I have no idea of the physics, the expectation and in use experience is a rejection rate of about 6% vs 4% which doesn’t sound much, but where you have at LHR maybe 70k daily departing/transit pax, that’s quite a few extra checks, per lane, per hour. The machines simply pick up more anomalies.

      The body scanners in trials are supposed to be much quicker than arches and selective random or triggered searches, but are slowed down by passenger failure to follow instructions. In a certain cases, because the new equipment is larger, fewer lanes can be installed. You may have seen the complex building work in T3 that is having to be undertaken to fit the new kit.

      • Bodkins says:

        3 Nov3 November 17:17

        There is no reason why your comments should be given greater weight than HarryT’s, is there?

• C says:

  3 Nov3 November 09:38

  Is the special assistance desk still at zone A after the club check in move?

  • Jack says:

    3 Nov3 November 12:39

    Special assistance is on Zone E and has been for some time now

    • C says:

      3 Nov3 November 23:07

      There was two areas. But when they did move?

      I remembered one of them is which is at desk A1 beside door A.

      • Jack says:

        4 Nov4 November 10:04

        Zone E is where all special assistance desks are now as they are located next to Wilson James who are also now in zone E . Last time I went through T5 a month ago I noticed it had changed over to E

• PETER says:

  3 Nov3 November 09:47

  For those of us who use airport meet and greet the move to the north end means that we will now have to walk the length of the terminal. Can’t really understand why BA have done this and don’t see it as positive.

• Gordon says:

  3 Nov3 November 10:21

  Re check in- CW check in at Gatwick South was empty an hour ago and the Lounge is quiet. Took the short cut avoiding “not duty free”
  Only issue is BA has a technical problem on their plane to MCO, so a part is coming from Heathrow! We will see.

  • Gordon says:

    3 Nov3 November 10:22

    2 hour delay so far!

  • Gordon says:

    3 Nov3 November 10:32

    BA2037 -We’re sorry for the delay today. Your estimated departure time is 13:30 local time. Check in for your flight will now close at 12:30 local time. If you need a drink or fancy a bite to eat, you can collect a complimentary voucher in the departure lounge to use at the airport.

    I’ve been lucky enough not to have a flight delay for years so Is the above something new!

• Olivia says:

  3 Nov3 November 10:41

  It’s a very 1st world problem but the walk from the Tube entrance to T5 to the First Wing/Biz check in is one of those “ugh…….. all the way over there?” moments. Happy to see the change.

  Am I finding myself congratulating BA on having common sense (for my use case anyway)?

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