Have you walked the tunnel between Heathrow Terminal 5, T5B and T5C?

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• Nico says:

  22 Nov22 November 03:02

  I have used the tunnel a few times, takes similar time as the train to terminal B and very good to stretch the legs. They could have added more travelators and some decoration, it feels like emergency stairs never meant to be used.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    22 Nov22 November 06:10

    These walkways weren’t initially designed for passengers but only for staff and at the start there weren’t any travelators or decoration at all!

    They were only installed later – a sign of that are the ramps to access them because they were built on top of the flooring not into it as would be expected.

    • Nico says:

      22 Nov22 November 06:58

      Make sense then, could have done a little more to make them user friendlier when they changed their use, but guess it would have hurt heathrow bottom line

      • Rhys says:

        22 Nov22 November 07:27

        I think you underestimate how many people know about them! Heathrow does not publicise them at all – the most you’d see is the walkway button on the lift.

  • jj says:

    22 Nov22 November 08:01

    Also worth noting for those who are impatient, the lifts are much faster than the escalators in the satellites.

    Since discovering the lift/tunnel combo, I have been the first person on my flight to the baggage reclaim every time I have arrived in T5B or T5C.

    • Lou says:

      22 Nov22 November 19:23

      The rule of terminal 5: the lifts are always faster

  • Ironside says:

    22 Nov22 November 10:17

    They have put up a few pictures now, if memory serves (it was about 18 months ago now).

    • Barrel for Scraping says:

      22 Nov22 November 13:33

      The pictures are a lot older than that. The queen and prince Philip are on there. They’ve been up at least 10 years

• Aliks says:

  22 Nov22 November 04:50

  A lot of airports are implementing this “toast rack” model for their satellite terminals, with a series of parallel piers linked by a shuttle train.

  Are there any other examples of deep level walkways with travelators?

  • The Lord says:

    22 Nov22 November 06:07

    Atlanta sort of but it’s not exactly hidden like this walkway is.

  • insider says:

    22 Nov22 November 09:29

    At Heathrow, the satellites are probably as close together as they can be given the space constraints at the site. If I think of another example, Madrid T4, the walk between satellite and main terminal would probably be 30 mins!

• TomB says:

  22 Nov22 November 05:56

  Always go to the B lounge regardless of where the flight leaves. It’s so much quieter and more pleasant than the ones directly after security. Also unless you’re a slow walker I’d say you can walk back to A gates in just over 5 mins.

• The Original Nick. says:

  22 Nov22 November 06:20

  I’ve walked it a few times. It’s something different now and again and a nice way to stretch those legs before a long haul flight.

• Mark says:

  22 Nov22 November 07:12

  Had to use this a few weeks ago. For the first time ever we were told at check in that our flight was going from the B gates but because the inbound flight was delayed it ended up being from the A gates.

  • The real Swiss Tony says:

    22 Nov22 November 08:43

    This is interesting – I went into Galleries North at T5 maybe 3 weeks ago and the reception desk seemed a lot more proactive in directing the relevant passengers to the B lounge.

    Hope it continues because those Galleries lounges in A still get very busy. If I’ve only got 30-45 mins before boarding from A, no way I want to schlep to the B gates.

• Ian says:

  22 Nov22 November 07:39

  Been using it for years as this is the route of buggy from one area to another.

• Froggee says:

  22 Nov22 November 07:49

  We prefer to run. Just release the boys and give chase.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    22 Nov22 November 07:54

    This is a walkway – the runway is upstairs!

• Andrew. says:

  22 Nov22 November 08:00

  There’s also the parallel tunnels when you arrive at 5B/5C. Again often quicker than waiting for the shuttle, and good to stretch the legs after a long flight. Often see air crew heading straight for it.

  Outbound, at the far end of the shuttle platforms there’s an emergency exit door that looks like it shouldn’t be opened, but has next to it a sign that highlights that there is a walking alternative. I really don’t like that sort of presentation conflict.

  • Barrel for Scraping says:

    22 Nov22 November 08:57

    I’ve gone through that door. You really do get the feeling that you’ve walked into an emergency exit that you’re not supposed to go through. I think the one at the end of the platform is mainly if there’s an issue with the train they can direct you to it. If you intend to use the tunnels to begin with then it’s best to select that floor when in the lift.

  • Occasional Ranter says:

    9 Dec9 December 05:32

    Just used these when arriving at T5B off BA 16 from Singapore. Take the lifts down to -4 and it’s all obvious from there.

    Definitely quicker than the transit train if your legs are ok.

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