London Heathrow Airport Passenger Reviews and Heathrow Airport Traveller Reports

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Sunday evening departure, T1. The usual huge queues at bmi/Lufthansa check-in desks, and the area is still uncomfortably overheated/under ventilated. 10 minutes to clear security. However, things improve rapidly after security, with everything in working order, clean and tidy, and conditions are much more comfortable, even with large numbers of pax. Flight departed on time and arrived early. Still good airside, but continues to leave a lot to be desired landside.

Departure on morning of 23 Feb from T3 - very good selection of shops both land and airside; helpful to have Travelex pick-up landside right next to the security lanes. Security line was relatively long but was processed quick quickly, although not within the supposed 5 minute target. T3 always seems very busy in the central terminal area and still appears to be handling too many passengers for its size. Terminal seemed clean but a bit dated in places. Long walk to gate.

Arrived at Terminal 3 from Bangkok. When we got to the immigration hall it was an absolute nightmare. Even with fast track passes we queued over an hour to pass through immigration - a lovely holiday was spoilt by this unnecessary delay. The borders agency need to have more staff on at the terminals. What's going to happen later this year when it's the Olympic games - it will be a total farce. If I were an overseas tourist I would avoid Heathrow airport at all costs.

Arrived at T5 on a Wednesday morning in Feb and it took over 2 hours to be processed by immigration agents! There were only 3 wickets open, we watched 5 underworked agents, several of them idle, in the EU/UK passport section. None of them we diverted to the "All Other Passports" sections and no new agents were put on duty. The many personnel assigned to manage the lines spent their time handing out complaint forms and trying to calm frustrated passengers. It would be better to simply assign more people to processing incoming travellers.

T5 has great potential to be world-class, but does not deliver it due to poor planning. The whole transfer process needs to be rethought. There is too much waiting in line for the various boarding pass/passport procedures - more agents needed. Transfer security screening is the same nightmare it was in the old BA multi-terminal days. Many lines of passengers trying to merge, then capacity controls on the escalator as there is a huge bottleneck at the top of it. Nothing good can be said of the screening area and staff, though I feel sure they are grumpy and aggressive for the same reason the passengers are. It would not take a great deal to improve this, but have seen little progress to date.

Good all round airport. I've mainly used T4 (international), which seems a bit cramped and there always seems to be minimal seating available. Fairly clean, as you would expect from one of the worlds biggest airports, but I didn't see many staff about, and those I did were chatting to each other not fussed about travellers.

Flew in/out of T5 at the weekend and its probably my worst experience to date of using T5. Luggage seemed to take forever to come off the plane - its a UK domestic flight so not exactly far to travel through the airport. Arrived at check-in area yesterday morning and in the "north" area there were 3 check-in desks open out of 15 - not on especially as it was extremely busy since it was the first day of the English mid-term holidays and the place was heaving! I sorely wished I hadn't decided to put my bag into the hold! Thankfully security was fairly quiet and was being kept moving by the BAA staff. As per usual the flight to ABZ was late. Plus points in that they did have the gate number up much earlier than normal so there wasn't the last minute dash to the gate although no explanation/announcement that there was going to be a delay!

After a very pleasant flight home I was disgusted to have to queue for over half an hour at border control this was my first visit to T5 .There was only two manned. Surely staff there must know when planes are arriving. It completely spoilt the end of my journey.

Bad treatment from ground personnel. They seem to be there by chance, bored and annoyed by travellers. Not comfortable at all. Luggage check is too long compared to other airports.

Cramped buildings with lots of lost passengers with no one to help them. Dark interior probably to hide the problems. Security queues too long although security scanners are not being used - although Terminal 5 is ok as only British Airways uses it. Taxes to use LHR are far too high and compared with other main international competitors taxes are much lower, giving LHR a disadvantage.

Terminal 3A, dreadful first view of the UK. No fast track facility although airline had issued us with fast track tickets. Assistance booked but wheelchair only took me half way to baggage handling. Everywhere was scruffy. I flew in from Bangkok where the airport was clean, well staffed and efficient. Cant we do better than this?

I used T5 and T4 for arrival and departure. T5 was very good on departure with lots of eateries and places to sit and relax. However, arrival was shockingly bad. I had to queue at immigration for 1hr 55 mins with only 2-3 desks manned. I don't believe that border control staff don't know flight schedule and are not prepared to see a couple of B747 arrive about 3 pm. Same happened couple months ago when I arrived on the same flight at the same time. Same experience: lots of staff to manage the queue and almost no one to process passengers. EU desks, even when empty, don't invite "all other passports" to ease congestion. Is LHR going to become a second CDG? At T4 immigration line was managed well with digital signage system.

I use LHR often as most international flights pass through this airport. However, I would not use it if I have the chance. The queues at the 'All Other Passports' section are very long and I often have to spend more than one hour in the queues. The departure lounge at T3 is very crowded and shopping facilities are lacking. The only plus about Heathrow is that it is served by the London Underground which makes it convenient if there are no strikes or engineering works.

T5. The queuing system for arrivals (passport check to security, with the escalator) is totally amateurish and unacceptable - it is much too cramped, poorly designed and there are at least 3 waiting points. The amount of staff required to control passenger flow is above normal, the security queues block passages to other queues because of lack of space. Seeing the amount of space the airport authorities devoted to shopping versus passenger security, clearly you consider passengers cash cows.

Arrived at T4 from Tokyo via Moscow. Our flight landed around 20.00, earlier than scheduled, but a long walk to immigration. At immigration, there was a long queue for non-European section. More than 10 gates were open, but suddenly all gates except 2 or 3 closed at 21.00 as officers finished their shift even with hundreds people queuing still. We were so angry. After queuing 1.5 hrs, I managed to go through immigration. Also, Heathrow does not offer free WiFi while many Asian airports do.

Flew in to T1 and departed from there. If you fly LX, it takes at least 20 mins to get to immigration and the walk seems to go on forever. Immigration is usually quick and if you have a biometric passport you can use the e-gates. Baggage claim is functional and seems efficient enough. The good thing is, that the tube runs frequently from T1 but again the walk is rather long in comparison to T5. Check-in efficient but not friendly. Departure is fine but security can take quite long at times. Airside there are some shops and overall it is quite good. However the walk to the gates are again endless. I think T5 is still better.

Sunday evening flight, T1 to MAN. 10 minute queue at check-in, but staff friendly, polite, and apologetic for the delay, which is unusual. No queue at security, who were also unusually friendly and polite. Flight over 1.5 hours late due to delays earlier in the day. Facilities are still very good airside.

HKG afternoon arrival at T3. Non-peak hour arrival meant no queue at passport control. However, T3 did look a little aged and the rude immigration officer at passport control made a really bad impression to the airport and to the city. Evening AMS departure at T5. A brand new terminal with no queue for check in and security checks. Big and spacious terminal with plenty of shops to spend the time while waiting for flight.

I used Terminal 5 for the first time last week - and what a disappointment! The check-in area is spacious, and I was through security in record time, but the main departure area felt cramped and crowded. Yet again, there are too many shops and too few places to eat - another shopping mall. If BA buys BMI's slots where are all the extra passengers going to go?

In the past 9 months I have used terminals 1, 3 and 5. T5 is by far the best and despite its size it feels quite relaxed and human. I had no problem with queues except at immigration and even those were not too bad. The only downside appears to be that it can be a very long time between leaving the gate and taking off, I think it was about 20 minutes, for a 45 minute flight to Brussels. T1 is not too bad though it feels like a crowded shopping mall, but there are quieter places to sit, the waiting areas at the departure gates are rather depressing. Queues for security and immigration were both fairly lengthy. T3 for check-in and arrivals last week was quite good but once in the departure area it is an unpleasant environment: crowded with insufficient seating and no view. Security was efficient and with a chipped passport I got through immigration quickly. As a whole Heathrow feels what it is, a mish-mash of parts that have been added over 50 years with no overall plan or identity and some parts very tired.

Used terminal 5 on a domestic flight to Glasgow. Check-in was pain free, quick and efficient more than likely due to us using the fast track lane. Getting through security was a slow process due to the fact BA use the one security zone for both domestic and international flights which meant long lines of passengers and more stringent checks. Once past security terminal 5 has a lot to offer plenty of places to eat and drink and lots of shops. The only thing is how expensive everything is a lot of shops sell luxury goods and the sandwich shops are extortionate. I know BA is a more upmarket choice but a few cheaper options would be nice.

Arrived into LHR T1 on United Airlines from LAX. Flight arrived early, very long walk from United gates to immigration. Immigration was very slow, arrived around 1pm with only two immigration officers serving the EU passports which took nearly 40 minutes to clear. International passports not a lot better, lots of empty desks that should be manned when passenger numbers get busy - there seemed to be more people grooming the lines as opposed to manning the desks. Baggage was ready to pick up once boarder control had been cleared.

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