Welcome to London Heathrow Terminal 5

Interesting announcement from the flight deck this morning on VS10 in from JFK. Captain said "Good morning and welcome to London Heathrow new Terminal 5. Unfortunately as the terminal is not opened as yet, we will be bussing you to Terminal 3"

Interesting that as the plane pulled up, there were 5 Virgin A340 parked right in front of Terminal 5. The aerobridges are not in place as yet but parking lines, etc are all ready.

No other planes parked in from of Terminal 5 which is ironic given that this is meant to be the BA terminal.

The bus trip was a lenghty one and included a 130 meter tunnel under the run-way (it was marked every 10 meters) and came out at Terminal 2.

Wonder if this is some sort of publicity stunt right under BA's noses, or maybe performing a curse on them[}:)]

On a serious note, that's a bit weird that. Does anyone know why this has happened?

Originally posted by KenJohn

Interesting that as the plane pulled up, there were 5 Virgin A340 parked right in front of Terminal 5. The aerobridges are not in place as yet but parking lines, etc are all ready.

Would make a nice marketing photo for VS[}:)]

Iain

On a serious note, that's a bit weird that. Does anyone know why this has happened?

Well heathrows too crowded and at busy times there aren't enough AirBridge gates to go around, so every so often a flight gets bumped to a remote stand.

Its not to do with paying less for access as some passengers often question!

If you looked over by T4 most days you'll see plenty of BA 777s and 747s on remote stands with the bussed masses.

When T5 opens there'll be less busing for a while.

T5 is much more convenient for VS than BA isn't it.
As V-Ben said, BA gets bussed as well, although some of the aircraft on remote stands may be there because they can't sit idle at the terminal but will return there for the use of a jetbridge when ready for boarding.

VS.

Yes we were orginally told on landing that we would be stopping at a remote stand and then bussed to the Terminal. This was due to the airport authorities not Virgin.

Rather be bussed than wait 30-45 mins for a plane to pull out before we get to deplane. That used to be a regular event for an VS flight arriving after 10:30 am. I think they may have got too many complaints from business passengers.

Got a tour of the "behind the scenes" workings at LHR like how the drivers towing the bags know which belt to dump the bags off and where the VIP lounge is located.

On both my last two trips the VS aircraft parked at T5. I believe a number of the stands are active including a number that are part of T5 Phase 2 that is not due till 2012.

If you check my TR here I mentioned the tunnel and include a link. It actually comes out by the side of T3 just by the new A380 gates.

I must admit I find it somewhat frustrating that VS seem to be allocated these gates a little too often and I'm wondering if there is any reduced cost, compensation or any negotiation as to how often they are allocated.

Phil

Phil

I build the lighting controls for T5, the new ATC tower and the T5 rail station! Haven't been to the site yet, but the manager of the T5 project was telling me he was stood right next to G-VGAS the other day! Hopefully i will get to go out there soon and wonder around all the VS planes!

The T5 stands already completed are acutually allocated to Terminal 3 (before T5 opens).

[url=http://www.baa.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?CiID=22fd655855442010VgnVCM100000147e120a____&CtID=a22889d8759a0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____&Ct=B2C_CT_PRESS_RELEASE&ChPath=Corporate^Media%20Centre^News%20Releases^Results]BAA Press Release 08/11/2004[/url]

"Significantly, they will allow Heathrow to safeguard service standards at Terminal 3, offset some temporary loss of stand capacity in order to accommodate the now advanced pier extension work underway for the A380's arrival in 2006, and enable Heathrow to accommodate interim growth prior to Terminal 5's opening in 2008."