Terminal 2 revisited

Back to Forum
Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

  • DavidGordon10
    Participant

    LHR T2 has been open for a few years, and like many other forum members, I use it a lot. I think it is time to revisit the question of whether it is good; or not. I list four comments under irremediable; remediable; unnecessary; works well.

    Irremediable. Some of the walks required are just crazy. Leaving aside the schlepp between the A gates and the B gates, even arrival at an A gate can gift you a walking marathon – up an escalator, round the corner, down an escalator, along the corridor, up again, and down, and another long corridor … and maybe you are at last at arrivals. Did the architects never model the distances involved? I think A26 is the worst.

    Remediable. Why is the departure gate shown so late? If I have the choice between the LH lounge and the UA lounge, I would like to be able to make the choice based on the gate I need to reach. It is very tedious to be enjoying a quiet drink and bite to eat in the LH lounge and then suddenly discovering that your flight to Geneva or Lisbon is at a B gate. Could the gates please be posted as soon as the inbound flight is on stand? (I know, I know, they don’t want us to go to the B gates too early because we will then not spend long enough worshipping at the sacred God of shopping, who (a) moves in a mysterious way and (b) is based at the A gates.)

    Unnecessary. The security goon who said “welcome to the world’s best airport”. No need for further comment.

    Works well. I have not sampled all the FF lounges in T2, only LH and UA. They are good, and sometimes excellent. Lounges go through phases (the current state of the Air France lounge in T4 is a sad example, I do hope they have caught the mouse) but LH and UA have, for me, exactly what I need. Do airlines realise what they do for the business? The quality of the welcome and the martinis in the UA lounge means that I book UA in preference to Delta, Egyptair in preference to BA, and Turkish for any complicated change on the way East. This makes money for airlines.


    onajetplane
    Participant

    Totally agree re. the gates/lounge fiasco. I have used LH (Senator), Aer Lingus, Singapore and United at T2. I actually prefer the United lounge as I really like the long bar that you can sit at with good views out. I got totally caught out recently heading straight to the UA lounge for a TK flight I do regularly (and thus know it is normally B gates), only to discover we were leaving out of A gates so I had to schlep the whole way back. Why they couldn’t have informed beforehand is just frustrating.

    The long walks would surely have a shuttle in most other airports. Seems such an oversight really. I try to stick to T5 as much as I can.


    Cheeryguy
    Participant

    I believe the late posting of gates is twofold.
    To allow the airport operator flexibility re late inbound aircraft/airfield congestion etc.
    To keep the hoards of passengers in the main building, milling around bored, therefore more likely to spend their cash in the shopping mall that all terminals have become.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    late posting in gates often happens in T5. What I find frustrating is, the BA staff in the lounges seem to know the gate, if it is not on the boards…

    posting a gate 25 minutes before departure is not acceptable..


    Pies1311
    Participant

    Completely agree. I cannot believe they have not built a monorail or something similar to transport to the B gates. Even third world airports like KL have one!
    Re the lounges in T2, having used them all I would rate United’s the best. I usually fly SQ but I find the food in their lounge fairly average, hence use my Star Alliance Gold status to access the United Lounge, I know many of my colleagues do the same.


    AxaEngineers
    Participant

    Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic forum.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing
    ————————————————————————————————
    Civil engineering outsourcing services


    JohnHarper
    Participant

    Interesting post David.

    I must admit that I still find T2 at LHR a pleasure to pass through, these days I only use T2 & T4 regularly.

    With T2 I find that there is always an air or order and relative tranquillity – not something I have ever associated with LHR but T2 does seem to work well. I particularly like the Gold track security which always seems controlled and ordered and I’ve yet to encounter a real LHR goon, the staff have been polite thus far.

    I agree that something needs to be done about the transit between the A & B gates and it’s difficult to understand why it wasn’t done for opening. That said I would probably still choose to walk but I can easily see why others think improvement is needed.

    I also find the lounges above average for LHR, I tend to use LH and SQ most regularly but UA and AC are both good. If you want a proper meal rather than a lounge snack there are some decent places to eat – and they look more attractive than in the other terminals. I have yet to buy anything in a shop.

    For the sake of comparison I think T4 has improved a great deal in recent years and while Sky Team are obviously dominant there are good facilities offered by other carriers there too. I use QR mostly and of course their Premium Lounge is without a doubt the best lounge at LHR. The Etihad one comes a close second with for me Sky Team and MH in joint third.

    The fast track security lane could do with improvement, some of the goons are of a lower than average calibre for LHR – couldn’t they be allocated only to the general security areas dealing with economy class passengers 😉

    Arrivals at T4 is still very poor and looks in need of a facelift. My impression which I know is not correct is always of walking for miles along white breeze block corridors to an immigration area which is far too small to cope with the numbers passing through and which becomes over crowded very quickly.

    I do have one LHR-HEL booking on AY coming up so it will be interesting to see T3 – I haven’t been in there since SQ moved to T2. I wonder if it has improved?


    p___lon
    Participant

    There is a transit planned, it just hasn’t opened yet. Will likely open when the C gates do.


    AlanOrton1
    Participant

    I personally don’t think T3 has really improved. Nothing terrible about it, but I haven’t noticed any ‘new’ improvements (or should that be enhancements!).

    The AY gates should be near the main OW lounges so not too far to walk. Some of the AA / BA long haul flights are quite a walk by comparison, at the far north eastern end of the terminal.

    I’ve always found the BA First lounge to be uncrowded and decent enough food on offer. The regular lounge can be a little busier and doesn’t have as much natural light.

    Agree that QR lounge in T4 is the standout LHR lounge. Be interesting to see if there is a new CX F lounge when they complete their lounge work in T3.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls