Aer Lingus New Home in LHR T2

DUB-LHR (T2)-DUB(Economy )

On Wednesday 09th July 2014 Aer Lingus moved their operation from Heathrow Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. I wanted to visit London around this time, and decided to travel on that date, and see whether the much advertised enhancements would live up to expectations.

Newspaper advertising promised four main benefits arising from T2:

• Public transport within 15 minutes of landing
• Luxurious Gold Circle Lounge within minutes of check in
• State of the art facilities
• A seamless faster security and check in process.

In addition, I received SMS messages and emails from Aer Lingus reminding me of these enhancements.

I had used Aer Lingus 30 day advance check in facility, printed my boarding pass, and went directly to security. I arrived at 4.45am for my 6.40am flight, went directly to security, used the fast pass entry and was the only person there! I was airside almost immediately

Having reviewed aer lingus’ flights from Dublin on many occasions, I will refrain from so doing here, and simply mention that during the captain’s welcome announcement and that of the crew, further mention was made of this being the inaugural flight to Heathrow T2.

An on time push back meant we were airborne quickly, and landed in Heathrow just before 8.00am, and on stand in less than 5 minutes. It took a couple of minutes for the airbridge to be put in place, and I noticed a number of Heathrow managers meeting the flight.

The airbridge has full length windows, making the walk to the terminal very bright, and as a bonus there are great views for aircraft spotters! There is good signage directing passengers to the baggage hall which is tall, bright and makes much use of natural light. This is a factor of all areas of T2, and this alone makes a very pleasant change from the series of metal tubes also known as the green mile.

Another short walk, and I was leaving the Terminal building for the escalator to the London Underground station. Again, this is a short walk, well signposted, and takes far less time to reach than from T1.

Returning to Heathrow for my return flight, I arrived about 4.30pm for my 9.10pm flight. I allowed this much time for two reasons: possible security delays given the current circumstances, and I wanted to take the time to use the Aer Lingus lounge to sample the showers, write this report and rest my feet!

It is a short walk from the Underground to the departure area.

Aer Lingus share check-in desks and self service machines with other airlines in Area C, with security directly behind this area.

In T1, security staff scanned passengers boarding cards, took a photograph which was re-confirmed before entering the UK/Ireland departures area. In T2, this process is self service, and the secondary photographic check is at the boarding gate.

The security screening area is directly behind these cameras, and was very quiet. As with all public areas in T2, it is very spacious, and with plenty of natural light. I was quickly airside. Two points arise from the security process: it is a very short distance leaving the Underground station to reaching security. And equally importantly, the staff are very friendly indeed.

The security screening area leads to a mezzanine overlooking the departure lounge where there is a range of high end shops and plenty of restaurants to choose from. A glass wall gives good views of the apron, and there are plenty of seats. The terminal was relatively quiet, possibly because not all airlines have moved there yet.

There are many large information screens, giving details of flight departures and airline lounges….but no mention of the Aer Lingus lounge. I went to the boarding area (again very close by) and asked for directions. As it happened the person I spoke to was Aer Lingus’ station manager at T2, Ciaran McDonagh and he explained that the builders had not yet completed their work, and it would be another 10 days before completion. A member of the lounge staff was on duty at the door to the lounge issuing vouchers for use in any of the T2 restaurants. I mentioned that I had intended sampling the lounge facilities, and using some of that time to write a review. The prospect of spending a over two hours in the main terminal was daunting. Ciaran immediately offered a change to an earlier flight, which I gratefully accepted.

Given that the Dublin lounge had pictures of the new T2 Lounge on display, with the original opening date still clearly showing, I was a little surprised that the delayed opening hadn’t been fully communicated.

I then had a walk around the various restaurants, and indeed there are many to choose from. I decided to indulge in steak pie with mashed potato and gravy: nice comfort food. The cashier informed me that I had to use the voucher in one transaction, so I added a couple of bottles of beer to my tray.

My rebooked flight was 7.10pm, and I sat down to eat my meal, which proved tricky as it was served in a cardboard box. I then noticed that my flight was delayed until 7.40pm.

The boarding area is very close to the shops & restaurants. Each gate has two doors (A & B), which I assume allows access to the front and rear aircraft doors, thus speeding up the boarding process.

Gold Circle members were invited to board first. As usual the airbus 320 was immaculate, and passengers were warmly greeted. The supervisor, Deirdre, asked me how I found the T2 experience, and she was amazed to hear that the lounge was not yet open. The flight was completely full and the crew had a mammoth task in ensuring that all cabin baggage was stowed in the overhead bins.

The captain welcomed passengers and apologised for the delay (caused by the aircraft being delayed on an earlier flight). He outlined our route and expected flight time.

Cabin crew gave a safety demonstration, and I noted that during this, a couple of passengers were asked to stop talking. This was done discreetly, but it is refreshing to see that care is taken to ensure everybody can hear the safety announcement.

We landed in Dublin just before 9pm, and were on stand shortly afterwards. I was pleased to find that we had parked at the gate nearest the terminal building, and it was a short distance to passport control.

Conclusions

I wanted to be on the inaugural Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Heathrow T2, I felt it was a small piece of history in the making. I was a little underwhelmed that there was little sense of occasion at the airport or on board, particularly in light of the many advertisements heralding the move to T2.

The key question is whethe the four main benefits as advertised actually materialize?

• Public transport within 15 minutes of landing:

o I made my way from the aircraft slowly so as to have a good look at the building, but given the shorter distances, 15 minutes is certainly doable.

• Luxurious Gold Circle Lounge within minutes of check in

o The lounge is almost beside the security area, and promises to be a great improvement over the old lounge. The floor to ceiling windows alone promise great views and will make it a very pleasant place to wait for a flight.

• State of the art facilities

o The new baggage hall, check-in area, public transport connections are excellent

• A seamless faster security and check in process.

o The new security staff are friendly, and the area is very large, so coping with increased passenger numbers should not be an issue

So three out of four were a definite yes, and I have little doubt that once operational, the new Gold Circle Lounge will be equally good.

Heathrow Terminal 2 is a vast improvement over it’s predecessor. The phased movement of airlines seems to be working very well, and I found it a pleasure to use. The security process, so long a bane of travelers using Heathrow, is particularly worthy of praise.

Aer Lingus now offer a much improved service on the Dublin London route, and once the lounge is open, will deliver a product for frequent travelers which greatly exceeds that of their competitor on this route.

Excellent review yet again Pat…you set the standard sir.
No more T1
Oh’ how I’ll miss that hamster in a tube looking for my wheel feeling that was EI’s T1 experience… : )

Nice one Pat!

Look forward to passing through on next flight to Belfast.

I’m looking forward to experiencing an Aer Lingus departure to Cork from T2 next week.

As an aside, I arrived on a BA flight into LHR from Hannover last night and we parked on Stand 239. This is a T2 gate, but the arrivals boards list both T1 and T2 arrivals. After a rather prolonged walk through T2 we ended up at a T junction where a man directed the Washington pax to T2 and everyone else into T1, where we had another prolonged walk to immigration. 35 minutes from getting off the plane to landslide T1, and that was with only a small wait at immigration.

Great review Pat, I look forward to hearing about the lounge.

Are EI going to provide a lounge service for anyone else or is the offering to be restricted to their own flights? Perhaps they are considering a pay option for *A passengers in Y?