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BA to begin First Wing ‘refresh’ in Terminal 5 on Monday

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Say what you will about British Airways, but you won’t find many people with a bad word to say about the First Wing in Heathrow Terminal 5.

If you are arriving at Terminal 5 in a car and are dropped off in the right spot, you can be kerb to Galleries First lounge in just a couple of minutes if its not busy.

Admittedly, if you arrive by rail, it’s a bit of a trot down the full length of Terminal 5, but if you are a Gold card holder you will be heading that way for Galleries First anyway.

BA to begin First Wing 'refresh' in Terminal 5 on Monday

The First Wing hasn’t had a refurbishment since it opened in 2017.

However, starting on Monday, the area will receive a ‘refresh’. The First Wing will remain open with the work being done overnight.

One check-in desk will be temporarily closed from mid September, but with 14 desks to use it is unlikely to make any difference to the experience.

It isn’t clear what will change as part of the work. ‘Refresh’ generally means a lick of paint and a bit of reupholstery, but BA is also using the word ‘redevelopment’ which implies a little more. Let’s see.

As a reminder, the First Wing security channel has the same access rules as the Galleries First lounge, because it leads you directly into it.

This means that you need to be travelling in First Class or have a British Airways Club Gold card or oneworld equivalent. A Gold cardholder is only allowed one guest so a family of four can only go through if both parents are Gold.

Slightly confusingly, the rules for using the First Wing check-in desks are different. You can check in there as long as there is just one Gold cardholder on the booking, irrespective of the number of people. You would need to leave the Wing and take the short walk to South Security instead of using the First Wing channel.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (104)

  • Track says:
    16 Aug16 August 06:15

    They better sort the confusing system of check-in and bag drop for status passengers.

    There was a dedicated area next to First and Fast Track security. I understand there is none now, and in fact Iberia check in counters are in the area.

    Reply
    • Andrew J says:
      16 Aug16 August 06:58

      The Club World/Club Europe/Silver desks are at the opposite end of the checkin area to the First Wing, by the other fast-track lane.

      Reply
  • Peter A says:
    16 Aug16 August 06:41

    Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have plans to provide a First experience between the lounge and the aircraft.

    Reply
    • RC says:
      16 Aug16 August 16:58

      Heavens. You mean you have to use legs and walk?
      Fly enough F and make Guest for Life and you’ll find there are car picks at distant and remote stands whatever your cabin. BA rewards actual accumulated loyalty that way. You just need to get a bit over 1.3 million tier points to get that. (And it is possible – there’s just less that 200 of these punters at BA).

      Reply
  • lcsneil says:
    16 Aug16 August 06:44

    That is because the status (i.e. Silver & Bronze) check ins (from memory) are at the other end by the Underground exit and the North Fast track (It’s been a couple of years since I used them as I am one of those customers ripping off BA by getting Gold for only spending a mere £10k with them.)

    Reply
  • Terry Butcher says:
    16 Aug16 August 06:55

    While a huge bonus for passengers with the correct status, I’ve never thought first wing makes up for the rest of the dire experience that Heathrow T5 has become. In fact, if anything, it leads to false expectations for those who don’t know lurks beyond.

    Reply
    • Max says:
      16 Aug16 August 07:10

      What is dire about it?

      Reply
    • JDB says:
      16 Aug16 August 07:15

      What’s so “dire” about T5 vs other European or US airports?

      Reply
      • JABs says:
        16 Aug16 August 07:41

        That says it all about the attitude in the UK, which I noticed note then ever on this recent trip back… compare standards with the bottom end, rather than strive for the best. Why not say, ‘yes, it’s a shame the experience can’t be similar to that in many of the airports of developed Asian countries’.

        Reply
        • JDB says:
          16 Aug16 August 08:14

          JABs – it’s so easy to say that, but the sorts of more luxurious airports to which you refer are subsidised of entirely paid for by general taxpayers. We insist on a user pays model and those users represented by passenger groups/airlines/regulator all throw up if anything more than ‘functional’ is proposed.

          In essence, like with many public or infrastructure services, people want them to be better but are unwilling to pay for that.

          Reply
          • AJA says:
            16 Aug16 August 09:20

            @JDB You seem to imply that there is no money because BA / T5 is not subsidised and that passengers are unwilling to pay more but the reality is that BA is very profitable. This is because despite everything BA still manages to keep customers coming back and paying handsomely for travelling with them. The fact is BA chooses how they spend their money and spends the very minimum they need to. That may well be the smart thing to do financially but as a result BA is anything but premium despite claiming they are.

          • JDB says:
            16 Aug16 August 09:34

            @AJA – that seems like a complete red herring! BA has nothing directly to do with the aspects of T5 the OP claims are “dire” but as part of the AOC it blocks lots of expenditures. BA is very, very tight on expenditure partly because its profitability isn’t quite as robust as it might appear but also because they don’t expect conditions to remain as good as they are currently.

            And yes, when you have an exclusively user pays airport you don’t get DOH, SIN or PKX. The fair comparison is those airports that operate on the same basis without subsidy and without all the additional costs piled onto an airport like LHR by central and local government.

          • AJA says:
            16 Aug16 August 10:36

            Oh come off it. BA is responsible for the customer experience. It may not be responsible for the upkeep of the public spaces in the terminal, nor the experience through security, but it is responsible for the general experience from the woeful IT which often fails from the start of the booking process through to stymying self-admin in cases of IRROPs through to the less than world-class check in zone to the lounges and beyond to getting you on to its planes. BA acknowledges that the lounges need refurbishing and is starting to do something about that (the point of this article) but it will be some time before the experience will improve. The boarding experience is a zoo. BA still has not completed the club suite roll out. It’s aircraft cabins are poorly cleaned, if at all. It was BA’s choice to retire it’s retire 747 fleet which in retrospect was not a good thing along with refreshing most of its experienced cabin crew in an effort to look after the pennies. It has publicised spending £7bn in improving the customer experience but again it’s hard to see what’s improved. All of that is under BA’s control. BA is belatedly trying to improve but more often than not it is simply very trying for it’s customers. But luckily for BA whatever it does it appears not to be hurting the bottom line.

          • AJA says:
            16 Aug16 August 10:40

            Ugg retrenching crew not refreshing! Damn autocorrect! BA did refresh the crew by hiring inexperienced inexpensive newbies who are hit and miss when it comes to customer service.

          • Redhand says:
            16 Aug16 August 15:45

            Just returned from a trip with Easyjet as there was no BA alternative on the route. You need to try this and discover (rediscover?) why so many rate BA highly.

          • RC says:
            16 Aug16 August 17:01

            That’s factually incorrect. Heathrow just needs to lift its game.
            While some are, others are private entities and there are two market listed ones that perform far better than Heathrow in customer stuff.

      • John33 says:
        16 Aug16 August 15:31

        Where do you even begin? Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Madrid, Amsterdam and Munich offer an infinitely better connection experience. Almost all the airports in Europe I’ve been to are more spacious and are far less focused on shopping and more on passenger flow.

        Reply
  • Ben says:
    16 Aug16 August 07:23

    The redevelopment is probably another co-branded space to promote another LVMH product.

    Reply
  • Eoc says:
    16 Aug16 August 07:29

    So much cynicism and negativity this morning. Oh dear..

    Reply
  • Cheshire Pete says:
    16 Aug16 August 07:31

    They already removed the soft seating area the other week between the 2 security lanes, so nowhere to sit anymore if waiting for a secondary. Replaced with the standard shelves to put your tray on. There’s also a boarded off area next to it. So, I think work already started a few weeks ago actually.

    Reply
    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      16 Aug16 August 09:38

      I went through last Tuesday and noticed no boarded off area.

      If you mean the block covered in IHG advertising with a security camera that was built as part of the installation of the new scanners.

      Reply
  • jj says:
    16 Aug16 August 07:39

    The First Wing is the single best thing about being BA Gold if you normally travel in business class.

    Reply
    • Headforpints says:
      16 Aug16 August 08:43

      I agree but would say in ANY class – it is a perk I really value and enjoy!

      Reply
    • BlairWaldorfSalad says:
      16 Aug16 August 09:07

      Agreed, it is my primary justification for pursuing OWE. I travel too much for work ro lose the FW benefit of being able to pull up in a car 90 mins before a flight and know I’ll have time for food and the last few work matters.

      Reply

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