I had a 3 hour 50 minute connection at London Heathrow. Normally I’d feel that was interminably long. However I was connecting from British Airways Terminal 5 over to Terminal 4 for Etihad. And it turns out it was much worse than that: three buses and one hour and thirty five minutes from plane to lounge. The good news is that the Etihad London Heathrow lounge is actually pretty good. I just had less time there than I’d expected!
We arrived on BA from Austin at a hard stand. That meant being met by air stairs and boarding a bus to terminal 5.
We waited for the bus to fill up, and once we were all full we were on our way to terminal 5.
No big deal, we arrived at terminal 5 by bus and followed the purple FLIGHT CONNECTIONS signs. We’d just needed to catch a bus to terminal 4, right? Well, not quite. There are no buses from terminal 5 to terminal 4.
We’d have to take a bus to terminal two to connect to another bus to terminal 4.
And we’d just missed the bus to terminal 2, so we had to wait another 10 minutes for the next one. We boarded the terminal 2 to terminal 4 transfer bus and took a brief tour of the grounds of London Heathrow.
We were then in the holding area for passengers that had come to terminal 2 for the express purpose of not being in terminal 2. They promised connecting buses every 10 minutes but the drivers of the first 3 connecting buses arrived and went on break. It was around 20 minutes before we had our next bus.
Then it was another tour of Heathrow, for the drive from T2 to T4.
Finally we arrived at terminal 4, and had to go through security screening. The first stop was a passport and boarding pass check (though you didn’t actually need the boarding pass to go through, some connecting passengers still need their boarding pass and that was fine).
That process was… slow. There was one older gentleman checking passports and itineraries. And he was slow. He had conversations. He told people what they’d be doing next, like going to get their boarding passes. Each passenger took a few minutes instead of seconds.
The good news is that terminal 4 is easy to traverse. The Etihad lounge is down by gate 10, which Etihad also generally uses for its flights. All very convenient once we’d finally arrived, more than an hour and a half after we’d landed.
The lounge is basically split up into bar, sit down dining room and buffet, and lounge area. The lounge includes a kids club. And they do offer showers.
What struck me most about the lounge is that (1) even though I was there before a full Etihad Airbus A380 flight, the lounge wasn’t packed, and (2) even though it’s a business class lounge, it offered menu service and not merely a buffet.
While the lounge was once accessible via Priority Pass, it’s now available only to Etihad’s passengers, and as a result it’s a nice experience. A good lounge is a respite from the terminal, with plenty of seating. And while the food options aren’t extravagant, it was a nice presentation and service was excellent.
Here’s the bar area of the lounge.
And here’s the dining room and buffet.
You can actually go to the buffet and bring food anywhere you wish inside the lounge, and you can also order food off the menu from anywhere in the lounge. There’s a QR code with a link to their menus on tables everywhere.
There are also a variety of seating setups.
We found a comfortable seating area.
There’s also a snack and drink setup in the lounge, apart from the dining room and bar.
And there’s a kids play area.
After we’d checked into the lounge, we were welcomed by a staffer who continually checked on us. My wife and I each ordered a burger, and my wife made our daughter a plate from the buffet (she ate the fruit and biryani only).
Despite a 3 hour 50 minute connection, we wound up with just one hour in the lounge which was perfect. London Heathrow really is a unique place. People tend to complain about it less than they used to. Gone are the days of inline British Airways connections that go from terminal 1 bus gates to terminal 5 remote gates. But changing terminals at Heathrow can still be messy. And it’s the variance in how long it can take to transit terminals that’s the biggest challenge. It isn’t just the buses, it’s the bus waits. It isn’t just re-clearing security when entering a new terminal, it’s slow passport checks.
But we’d continued moving, didn’t stay in one place for too long, so it never felt that long. And our final hour waiting in the lounge was just the perfect amount of time in what’s a very good space for what it is. The Etihad London Heathrow lounge won’t be mistaken for their first class lounge in Abu Dhabi, or for Lufthansa’s First Class terminal, but they do a nice job nonetheless.
I think I would just exit terminal 5 and take the tube to terminal 4 and then go through security. It would have been faster.
For trips to and from the US, I generally prefer to avoid transiting LHR. Between the increased use of hard stands/buses to deplane/board flights, the security rescreening hassles, the transit bus situation to go between terminals and some other things, I try to minimize my use of LHR unless originating or ending a trip in the UK. A compelling value on a regular paid ticket or with a mileage ticket can get me to set aside my differences with transiting LHR, but otherwise I try to route around LHR transits.
Alan,
That would require dealing with whatever the situation is with going through UKBF/passport control to get landside. Not always a fast and consistent experience.
A business class lounge with no separated area for first class passengers? Ben Schlappig would be so disappointed.
GUWonder, US passport holders can use the E-Gates. It’s pretty quick.
@GUWonder: Going thru the immigration e-gates with a US passport is about the only thing at Heathrow that is easy and consistently fast.
Don’t know anything about main security times/lines at T4 though.
Chris,
Young children can’t use the egates.
And even if not having young children in tow, there is no guarantee that crossing the “UK Border” will go fast and smooth, and so it becomes another point of additional variance in the process.
Imagine what the trip would be if you required a wheelchair and had to deal with the LHR assistance services. You get to T4 just in time for your flight.
@Alan – it would have been faster! And in hindsight that is exactly what I would have done. Having found the bus, which I assumed would head straight to T4, it seemed best at the time to stick with that as the plan. I didn’t anticipate, especially, the long time to process a short queue of passports at T4.
E-gates, aside from issues with young children, weren’t available for connecting passengers entering T4. That is about the biggest reason going airside for the connection would have been faster.
The line in terminal 2 for the egates when I was at Heathrow in September was nearly an hour. So it’s not always quick.
LHR works as a hub if you are arriving and departing in the same terminal but otherwise is simply not worth it.
AMS is by far the easiest major European hub for intercontinental to intercontinental connections followed by FRA but only if you don’t have to change terminals.
I took the same BA flight out of Austin to Heathrow last February. The biz class food was awful. I could tell it had been heated up at least one other time but not served. I hate to think what they served in coach. I do not travel for food they serve during flight but let’s face it one has to eat and the food has to be appealing rather than appalling.
Same experience with the aircraft parking in the tarmac (I call it the out-house) of T5 . It took at least an hour to get to baggage claim by bus and another 2 hours and 38 minutes to see the bags rolling down the conveyor belt. During this period of waiting there was absolutely no communication to let us know what was happening. After I came back home I wrote to them to complain and they never responded.
That is when I decided to never fly BA . I will pay more for the tickets if I have to I will take connecting flights but never ever am I going to fly BA.
To even fly internationally into and out of just T5 at LHR, I demand a big discount to go that way. The security screening hassle and the conformance check process to even get to the security screening when transiting make me inclined to minimize my use of LHR.
Can it be mere coincidence that BA/Oneworld economy class trips involving transits at LHR tend to be much lower priced for me even last minute than trips going via non-UK airports? I doubt it.
It also took me one hour and thirty five minutes to transfer from a Virgin Atlantic flight from New York into T3 to an El Al flight from T4 to Tel Aviv. Two buses (mine was not a hard landing slot) but the same two inter-terminal buses and wait for passport and security checks. Surely Heathrow can organize frequent direct terminal transfer buses. It is not rocket science! Still I did not miss too much by having less time in the very average Plaza Premium Lounge in T4. Quite what is worthy of the word “Premium” I am not sure. Even that though was a pleasure compared to the crowded uncomfortable LY flight. I can’t wait until Virgin recommence service into Tel Aviv and the effective LY monopoly is broken.
Is this the old Sky Team lounge in terminal 4?
The Plaza Premium lounge in terminal 4, which is used by Air France and KLM, is horrible. Just awful.
The Gulf Air lounge is very nice. Amazingly, Air Malta uses it.
@FNT Delta Diamond
I think the old Sky Team lounge and the Etihad one shared the same corridor but had two different entrances.
I am not sure that Etihad has taken the place of the old Sky Team lounge, in order to increase its pace if this was the case.
Makes an even bigger mockery of the previous post where you stated that BA’s awful service was somehow “passable”.
Sure, if I bought 7 million of rapidly devaluing AAdvantage miles to burn I would endure anything, and try to rationalize my terrible choice (“passable”), but for everyone else your BA experience is horrendous.
Is LHR the worst hub in Europe? It’s been a while that I haven’t connected in FRA, MUC, ZRJ, CDG, or AMS, but don’t hear horror stories from there, even when it snows (LHR, on the other hand, collapses even before the snow starts coming down!)
Amy,
I have had more expeditious transits this year at FRA, MUC, AMS, ZRH, CPH and even CDG this year for US-Europe/Europe-US trips than I’ve had with LHR. LHR is that bad unless my origin and destination happens to be in the London area. But if you dare to bring this up on Flyertalk, make sure to go in wearing armor.
This Wednesday I am doing the same transfer (T5 to T4) but with a connection time of exactly 2 hours (arrive on AA at 7AM and depart EY at 9AM). Should I stay airside or take the tube?
If you thought your transit was, err, lenghty, spare a thought for those needing WCHR assistance. Sitting forever in a holding pen at the arrival terminal after the bus excursion waiting for an assistant to take you into the terminal proper is a joke!
Muttered half apologies for being shortstaffed are the norm. Really? You weren’t expecting anyone requiring assistance?
Sadly, this is pretty common everywhere, not just LHR. The airlines are required to provide assistance by Regulations, but are reluctant to do so and give it the lowest priority. Doesn’t matter if you’re flying Economy or First, or have any Áirline-elite status, no matter, everyone gets the same dismal treatment.
Amsterdam is horrible for connecting. And it’s been that way for almost two years. I was there twice in the last 10 days. Each time there was only 1 or 2 passport control agents with a line that easily took about 30 minutes to go through. Anything less than 2 hours on a connection requiring passport control at Amsterdam is a serious issue these days. Paris CDG is actually much better if there isn’t a strike. The Sky Priority lanes at security and passport control at CDG work wonders. The only issue is a bus gate.
Why do u fly from atx? Are you based in Austin?
Connecting at FRA is ok, even if you have to change terminal. There is an airside monorail connection.