[Anonymous]

[JohnHarper]

With all the excitement of T2 opening does anyone know when T1 will finally close?

It has been a part of my travelling life since about 1970 when it was a smart and pristine new building and so much smarter than the Europa Building it partially replaced.

The last *A carriers are due to leave on 22nd October and EI and VS will have gone by then too. That leaves BA and LY still there.

As T3 will be looking rather empty by then as the last moves out seem to be on 17th September there can be little stopping BA and LY moving for the winter season as BA certainly have the infrastructure they need and there will be a choice of vacant lounges for LY to move in to.

For nostalgia and nothing more I’d like to fly from T1 once more at the end so if anyone gets any sign of dates I would appreciate knowing. The last *A flights are long haul so the last shorhaul opportunity is probably 14th October unless BA are staying to the bitter end.

[flyingdutchman]

Passed through T1 on 02/06/2014. Took AGES for the bags to arrive.
Landed at 13.55 (flight from Cologne), walked out of T1 at 15.02.
Looked like a beehive. In their defence there was a United flight from SFO and an ElAl from Tel Aviv with what looked like Thousands of cases.
T1 is not equipped for this kind of flights. Cannot wait till it closes !!

[transtraxman]

@John Harper

From those who should know – Heathrow airport – can answer your question. 21st October seems to be the last flight from T1.

http://www.heathrowairport.com/flight-information/airline-moves

[canucklad]

WellJH, not as nostalgic as yourself although I’d never have imagined as a little boy from Vancouver waiting to board BEA props to EDI studying in wonderment the departure board and imagining travelling to such exotic places as Jersey,Douglas, Cardiff or even Carlisle that T1 would become an integral part of my working week years later.

And because of that I’m inclined to say good riddance to the soulless chunk of concrete it became, although it will be with more than a little tinge of sadness as I’m now actually having a little chuckle to myself as I recall the many laughs I’ve had transiting the terminal with friend’s and colleagues including on one Sunday night becoming so bored whilst waiting at the carousel getting down on one knee and proposing to a unsuspecting colleague. Once she realized the whole hall was now awaiting her response she quickly agreed.

So I confess and apologise to all the kind people who shook our hands and wished us all the best that night that the closest I got to marrying my embarrassed colleague was buying her a make up glass of champagne at the hotel, and not on company expenses. : )

[JohnHarper]

transtraxman – 04/06/2014 10:29 GMT

Thanks but that is the same as the date I sighted above for the last *A flights, there is no mention about when BA will finally move out. Currently if you try to book one of the services that operates from T1 through in to next year it still says T1 on it so I suppose the real question is when will they move those services to T3/5?

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

The answer according to the Daily Telegraph and other links online is that T1 will close in 2016 so might be used for a while yet?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/10099482/Heathrow-to-open-new-2.5bn-terminal-next-year.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Heathrow_Terminal_1

Hope that helps – though if it is nearly deserted you could see it perhaps closing before then?

[Str8Talking]

Also, no mention of any moves from Icelandair or Cyprus Airways. Eventually T1 will be incorporated with T2 so T1’s closedown might be a “longhaul” process. It will be interesting to see how they tackle the demolition of T3.

[Biggoonerfan]

The sooner T1 closes the better – their baggage handling is an absolute disgrace. Yesterday our flight from Dublin took 55 minutes and the bags took over an hour to get delivered to the belt – who on earth is in charge of this shambles?

[canucklad]

Some things never change Biggoonerfan ….

It got so bad I used to pop into the lounge and have drink after arriving from EDI. On one particular Sunday I embarrassed a colleague after we disembarked by grabbing a BD manager to the window and asking him to talk through the inactivity on the apron.

The poor man was embarrassed as we watched the baggage handlers not even bother opening the cargo doors until 15 minutes after we started to observe them. Including one gentleman who clearly bored with their idle chat decided to have a wee siesta on the belt loader.

Maybe it’s a Sunday night thing.

[pheighdough]

Whilst the consensus is that T1 is very old, tired and needs shutting, plus the recent observations regarding the baggage handling and waiting I have an observation.

I am currently sitting in the BA International Lounge in T1, after getting through security with no queue, and lots of staff. The lounge is quiet, which is so nice. This experience is sheer bliss.

Now, the French ATC strike may also help, as I see a few French destinations are cancelled, but my flight to Hannover is still going (at the moment…) so I’ll sit here, enjoy the food and beverages, which are fine for this time of the day (between lunch and dinner) and then hopefully board an ex BMI plane and enjoy the legroom 1A offers before the seats and legroom change in CE.

I am prepared to be shot down with my observation, but at the moment I am quite satisfied with the whole experience.

One exception – the man behind me on the lay-flat chairs is snoring like a trooper!!!!

[JohnHarper]

Of course T1 is of more recent vintage than T3 but I guess it doesn’t have the necessary facilities to handle the volume of wide bodies that T3 does. I agree it is old and shabby but it is still a much better place than T3 which fortunately soon I will only need to visit when I fly EK and EY.

Then again, does anyone know, is there a plan for QR to move to T3?

[TedToToe]

Regarding Cyprus Airways, they are moving to Stansted, having sold their remaining slot pair to American Airlines!

[transtraxman]

The latest news about movements from T1 to T2 and others is @

http://www.heathrowairport.com/flight-information/airline-moves

Aer Lingus is the next to move 9th July. After that Aegean will move 23rd July, while the airlines which have had their move postponed, Thai and Turkish, will move 28th August. the rest will start moving again from 10th September.

[cityprofessional]

Notably conspicuous from the terminal move list is BA’s DUB and BFS move to T5 which WW trailed in a blaze of publicity [February?]. Can someone at BT check this is still happening?

Went to DUB last week and the experience was woeful… The BA domestic lounge had been de-stocked to the point that there was no crockery, no cutlery and no glasses – eventually some whisky tumblers were found – just right for a glass of warm white wine. The catering could not keep up with the demand from, errr, one flight per hour. And who took all the seats/sofas/tables? (probably the same people who weren’t therefore around to do any cleaning – what are all those stains on the sofa… actually, maybe I’d rather not know)

To top it all, there was a last minute gate change from gate 8 to the Green Mile – which, with EI still present, is a bit like a Third World airport terminal. But with fewer seats, worse airconditioning and no toilets. Having a wee meant negotiating a series of cordoned off gate areas waiting for successive A320’s worth of passengers to disgorge prior to be allowed to pass. Somewhere to sit down while the flight was inevitably delayed? Forgetaboutit… Fast track boarding? Offered, but impossible to pass the queue of people to get to the podium

T1 may be half empty, but they still managed to cram the remaining passengers into the very smallest, least adequate, most insalubrious corner possible. What a total sh1th0le…

On the plus side, I did get my luggage (but obviously nobody transferring from a previous BA flight via T5 got their bags)

[Author]

Posts