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Author Topic: Heathrow T5  (Read 2708 times)
svenc
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« on: May 14, 2008, 07:47:28 AM »

Brand spanking new, all shiny.  Wonder how it will age.

No garbage bins in the bathrooms.  Annoying.

At least security was surprisingly easy.
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qrypt
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« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2008, 07:48:48 AM »


At least security was surprisingly easy.

That's because it's still running at half capacity.  What will happen when they move the rest of the flights over.
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expatinuk
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« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2008, 08:07:25 AM »

Brand spanking new, all shiny.  Wonder how it will age.

No garbage bins in the bathrooms.  Annoying.

At least security was surprisingly easy.

And you obviously got your luggage.
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thenewyorker
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« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2008, 08:39:56 AM »

Perhaps they are still enforcing the no garbage cans (rubbish bins?) rule in airports and such.
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scotia
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« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2008, 01:23:40 PM »

Perhaps they are still enforcing the no garbage cans (rubbish bins?) rule in airports and such.

According to a friend who did a study of Terminal 5 the lack of garbage cans is for security. Bombs can be hidden in garbage cans (and were in England during the Northern Ireland 'troubles').

One of my overseas colleagues who arrived at Terminal 5 during its first couple of days of operation had her luggage returned to her today. We are wondering if this is some form of record for missing luggage that is returned to its owner.


At least security was surprisingly easy.

That's because it's still running at half capacity.  What will happen when they move the rest of the flights over.

Last I heard they were planning to phase the transition with the last flight transferring in October. Pity they did not think of this earlier......
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science_expat
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« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2008, 01:52:57 PM »

I'm flying BA to the States in late July. While am curious about T5 still hope will be going from T4.
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prof_tournesol
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« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2008, 02:04:24 PM »

Quote
According to a friend who did a study of Terminal 5 the lack of garbage cans is for security. Bombs can be hidden in garbage cans (and were in England during the Northern Ireland 'troubles').

Why don't they use the transparent garbage cans (bags, really) that the French use? Because I would think that it would be pretty easy to hide a bomb in the piles of trash that are inevitably the result of no garbage cans
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scotia
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« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2008, 02:43:26 PM »

Quote
According to a friend who did a study of Terminal 5 the lack of garbage cans is for security. Bombs can be hidden in garbage cans (and were in England during the Northern Ireland 'troubles').

Why don't they use the transparent garbage cans (bags, really) that the French use? Because I would think that it would be pretty easy to hide a bomb in the piles of trash that are inevitably the result of no garbage cans

I suspect that the reason that transparent bins are not used is because while the bin may be transparent the accumulated garbage is not. My experience at a UK regional airport (I rarely use Heathrow) is that there are cleaners constantly on the prowl picking up the trash so that piles do not accumulate.

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thenewyorker
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« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2008, 02:53:31 PM »

They are now using the transparant bins in London. This is new as well. For awhile, because of "The Troubles" there were no bins anywhere.

But back to the thread...hoping to see T5 live and in person in June. Gotta get that conference reimbursement.
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qrypt
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« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2008, 03:17:51 PM »

No bins in the train station?  Just take your bomb garbage onto the train and put it in the bins there.
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scotia
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« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2008, 03:18:15 PM »

One of my friends was impressed by Terminal 5 when travelling  last week. He was someone who actively avoided Heathrow if at all possible (Helsinki seems to be one of his favorite transit points) but said he might reconsider his policy if his recent experience proves to be the norm.
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jwormold
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« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2008, 04:46:34 PM »

I'm surprised by the praise on this thread-- everything else I've heard about T5 has been awful.

And, in the wake of T5, BA's managing director quit.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/13/business/EU-FIN-COM-Britain-Heathrow-Director.php

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scotia
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« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2008, 05:08:27 PM »

I'm surprised by the praise on this thread-- everything else I've heard about T5 has been awful.

And, in the wake of T5, BA's managing director quit.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/13/business/EU-FIN-COM-Britain-Heathrow-Director.php



There is no doubt that the first weeks of operation were disastrous, but my recent information is that things are now working smoothly - or as smoothly as most airports achieve.

I think it is right that the MD of Heathrow (not BA - the airport is owned by BAA, which is an entirely separate company) and senior figures in BA resigned/were dismissed: there is no doubt that the launch of Terminal 5 was a public relations nightmare for both organizations and effective risk management should have foreseen some, if not the majority, of the problems that arose and  suggested ways to minimize the disruption. However, the recovery seems to have been reasonably effective and the plan to stage the movement of flights from T4 should significantly reduce the risk of major mishaps.
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snape
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« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2008, 03:44:28 AM »

T5 was great last week. It only took about five minues to clear security. We were told by BA to arrive two hours before the flight, but ended up spending two hours drinking coffee and wandering around aimlessly.
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wegie
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« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2008, 04:03:41 AM »

As I said in the previous T5 thread, I flew out the first weekend of operation, and everything was fine. I flew out and back again this week and it was a completely smooth and painless experience. Compared to horrible, overcrowded T4, where I've had to wait for an hour to get through security at times, it was a breeze.
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