As a nonrev traveler, one's plans often change, and although it may seem that we're always able to pull something together, it isn't always easy. When we got in line to check-in for Lufthansa to Frankfurt this week, we discovered that the flight had become oversold as well as pretty much every other European airline in the star alliance including Swiss to Zurich, LOT to Warsaw, and an additional Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt and a later one to Munich were all pretty much at capacity. We had to scramble to figure out another option. For an hour we tried to figure out connections and ways of making this work. We sent Greg to Brussels on a direct from O'Hare and took United to London's Heathrow where we would have to change planes to join him in Brussels. Our plane arrived about 20 mins early, which gave us the confidence that we could catch a flight to Brussels that was departing in 90 minutes. Unfortunately, we had not anticipated the inefficiency of the Heathrow airport.
We had a long walk to border control (a mile to be exact), followed by another long walk (another mile to be precise) to go on the Tube to the other terminals. Yes, we had to get on public transit to try and make a connection. We had followed the signs to the terminal from the beginning, but were questioning if we had done all of this correctly because it had now taken an entire hour since getting off the plane, walking, taking the train, taking half a dozen escalators, a couple elevators, and getting passed around between gate agents before we could even attempt to check in for British Airways. The pleasant, elderly British woman behind the counter was very apologetic and did mention that the transit from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 is a bit of a "journey", but unsurprisingly didn't have the capability to check us in for a flight that was now leaving in less than 30 minutes. We had to yet go through the security checkpoint. We then had to kill the next four hours in Terminal 5 at Heathrow, which can be defined by one word - chaos.
We kept trying to find a place that was away from the hordes of people. It did not exist. When I tried to use the bathrooms, there was a backup that gave even Newark a run for its money. It wasn't until my third attempt, that I was able to locate a bathroom with any openings. Furthermore, terminal 5 is not the only terminal serving British Airways, so even if you are changing planes with BA, you might still have to exit security, get on a train or bus, and make your way over to a different terminal. This is simply not acceptable for a major international airport to function this way. From my youth, I recall a viewing platform where one could watch the planes take off and land. In hindsight, I thought to myself, we could have probably killed an hour watching the planes, but then I looked into it. The viewing deck is now at Terminal 4, which DOES NOT CONNECT to Terminal 5. Watching planes could have cost us the flight. People have inquired about this very thing in online forums and some have even suggested a taxi might be faster than the airport's suggested method of train but the general consensus is that you need a three hour minimum for a connection between terminals.
And I'll close out with this. From Terminal 5, you can see one of the old Concordes sitting next to a hangar. It's on the other side of a pair of runways, so you can't see it in great detail, but evidently it has been sitting there against its own will. It has not been turned into a museum or display piece, but rather has been left to rot and is reportedly infested by rats and waterlogged from the English rain. There were plans to put it inside Terminal 5 as a centerpiece, but such a move has been slowed by bureaucracy and stupidity. . . and I'll just go ahead and throw Brexit in there for good measure. Concorde was one of the most impressive aircraft of all time, an icon, an engineering marvel, and a matter of pride for both France and the UK. The French have proudly displayed their Concordes at museums or on stilts outside Charles de Gaulle. At Heathrow, this rat-infested, rusting carcass of one of Britain's finest moments is like a metaphor for Heathrow. On the exterior it looks fine. It looks modern, sleek, and clean. But dig a little deeper and you will find one of the most inefficient, ill-conceived, and hopelessly impractical airports on the planet.
We had a long walk to border control (a mile to be exact), followed by another long walk (another mile to be precise) to go on the Tube to the other terminals. Yes, we had to get on public transit to try and make a connection. We had followed the signs to the terminal from the beginning, but were questioning if we had done all of this correctly because it had now taken an entire hour since getting off the plane, walking, taking the train, taking half a dozen escalators, a couple elevators, and getting passed around between gate agents before we could even attempt to check in for British Airways. The pleasant, elderly British woman behind the counter was very apologetic and did mention that the transit from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 is a bit of a "journey", but unsurprisingly didn't have the capability to check us in for a flight that was now leaving in less than 30 minutes. We had to yet go through the security checkpoint. We then had to kill the next four hours in Terminal 5 at Heathrow, which can be defined by one word - chaos.
We kept trying to find a place that was away from the hordes of people. It did not exist. When I tried to use the bathrooms, there was a backup that gave even Newark a run for its money. It wasn't until my third attempt, that I was able to locate a bathroom with any openings. Furthermore, terminal 5 is not the only terminal serving British Airways, so even if you are changing planes with BA, you might still have to exit security, get on a train or bus, and make your way over to a different terminal. This is simply not acceptable for a major international airport to function this way. From my youth, I recall a viewing platform where one could watch the planes take off and land. In hindsight, I thought to myself, we could have probably killed an hour watching the planes, but then I looked into it. The viewing deck is now at Terminal 4, which DOES NOT CONNECT to Terminal 5. Watching planes could have cost us the flight. People have inquired about this very thing in online forums and some have even suggested a taxi might be faster than the airport's suggested method of train but the general consensus is that you need a three hour minimum for a connection between terminals.
