BA302 to Paris - first flight from British Airways T5
Posted: Thu, 27 Mar 2008, 16:05:00, GMT | 6981 views
Six months ago, it sounded like a great idea to book the first ever flight from Heathrow's new Terminal 5. At 3am this morning, it felt like a slightly different value proposition! But once Troy and I had fully awoken, showered, and had some caffeine, the excitement kicked in again and we headed to Heathrow's opening of Terminal 5 for the first flight ever, the 0620 flight to Paris, BA302.
We arrived about 4:50am and Terminal 5 looked imposing in the distance as we approached. It was still dark outside, so its inside lights shone brightly and illuminated the building nicely. The terminal itself was fairly empty and the excitment was visible in the staff who were clustered around each other, doing presumably last minute pep talks. At 5am, the check-in kiosks opened and the fast bag dropped became staffed.
After a couple of minutes trying to figure out how to adjust her monitor, the BA fast bag drop clerk took our bag, whisked it away on the automated baggage belt, and we were on our way to security. We passed quickly through security and decided to explore the Lounge a bit.
Being Executive Club Gold Card holders, we were able to use the First Class lounge and it was pretty cool. I particularly liked the dedicated Champage Bar, directly next to the business working area which even had a full size printer.
As it got closer to the boarding time for our flight, we walked back out into the Terminal and wandered down to Gate 17 where the flight was departing. As expected, there was even more excitement at the gate, where the first flight ever from Terminal 5 was getting ready to board. British Airways's Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, was at the gate and had several photo shoots with various passengers. Once we started to actually board the plane, he was at the plane's door and personally greeted and quickly chatted with each boarding passenger.
The flight itself took off on time and was uneventful, other than they gave each passenger a "T5" chocolate and a special card with the breakfast, welcoming passengers to the first flight from Terminal 5. Cute. In any case, here are some candid photos from this morning.
Update: Sunday 30 March - we were scheduled for a return flight on Sunday back from Paris. But Friday evening, BA emailed us to say that the Sunday return flight was cancelled. We rebooked online and decided to return to London on Saturday evening on BA327 scheduled at 2020. The flight was delayed several times, and finally departed at 2139. At least they announced the delay so that we could stay in the lounge, instead of being cramped on the plane. Once arriving back at LHR, everything was fine. The baggage was a little slow to arrive, but nothing major. All in all - I think the verdict is that we lucked out and had a good experience in both directions. There continue to be news reports of Terminal 5 delays and you can stay up to date with those by searching on more Heathrow Terminal 5 News results. Tee's scheduled to travel on Tuesday to Washington DC, but that is out of Terminal 4. Whew.
