London Heathrow Airport

Whilst the new T2 is smart and pleasant (although distinct lack of 'normal' shops), the B gates are ridiculous. To have a 20 minute walk from the terminal (including moving walkways) is just not on, with a new terminal. Half way along they even have electric buggys which people can wait for to drive them to the gates, so they are obviously aware of this major problem. Basically, as soon as the gate is shown on the departure boards, if your flight is on a B gate, forget food, shopping etc... and start the long, long trek to your plane.

As an over 80 year old I was being assisted through the immigration area (along with two other women who were obviously older than me) by a very pleasant employee of Air Canada. However, I was quite shocked by the rudeness of the girl who checked our bags at immigration and who was overly intrusive emptying all our belongings out and leaving them in great disarray. She said I am just doing my job but there are ways of doing the job politely and respectfully instead of rudely and vindictively. When she saw me looking at her badge, she immediately turned it around so I could not get her name. Politeness and common sense were completely absent. There was nothing unusual in our bags. I have travelled through Heathrow every year for more than 30 years and have never met such unpleasantness before.

My first experience of the refurbished T2, and it was good. A mid-day flight in the middle of the week in October is not the busiest time to fly. The terminal was very quiet. The signage was clear with everything I needed well displayed. Very easy journey through security. Inside lounge there was plenty of seating. This is a distinct improvement on the old terminal.

I had the misfortune to catch a flight from the new Heathrow Terminal 2 recently. It's sad enough that the previous friendly smile of the EVA air checkin agents has been replaced by touchscreens, but the real horror awaits after you pass through security. There are hundreds of huge screens everywhere, with huge animated flashing adverts in your face everywhere you look. Within seconds, I was completely disoriented. Realising that I was close to having a panic attack, I managed to make my way back to security, where I spent a most miserable hour crouched on a chair almost out of sight of the dreaded screens. Even there, the harsh lighting and black surfaces are incredibly unpleasant and stressful. I must have been visibly distressed, yet the dozens of staff completely ignored me. I had intended to buy several items at the airport, but was so disoriented by the lighting and the screens, I couldn't get any of the things I wanted. I have been through hundreds of airports, and T2 is by a very long way the most ghastly, inhuman, miserable, utterly inhospitable place I have ever had the misfortune to experience. I dread the next time I have to visit this nightmare of a place.

It took longer for me to transfer flights at Heathrow than it did for me to fly there from Amsterdam. Going from one terminal to another required a short subway ride followed by a long bus ride with a more twisty and comical route than Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland. If my departing plane had been on time, I would have missed my flight. The minimum amout of time suggested to transfer flights at Heathrow is a full hour and a half. I strongly suggest that you never book any travel that requires you to transfer at Heathrow.

England's own Rugby World Cup, the 3rd biggest sporting event in the world and Heathrow Airport provides nothing. No screens showing the matches outside of one pub screen. Nothing is shown at the boarding gates except BBC news. What is Heathrow Airport playing at. Rest of country enjoys this while customers at Heathrow Airport are provided nothing - an utter disgrace.

Departed and arrived back through the new terminal two on a multi stop holiday across Northern America. Heathrow was exceptional as a airport. Excellent drop off and pick up. We passed quickly enough through security on a busy morning with polite staff and wonderful signage. All travellators were working making the journey to departure gate easy. On arrival we landed, stopped at very clean and tidy toilets, walked to security using e passport arrivals queue and collected our bags and had reached parking in 30 minutes. Again excellent signage and welcoming and friendly staff in the arrivals hall. Really impressed. Thank you Heathrow.

Heathrow T4 was busy on arrival. Immigration was chaos. The queue for non EU passport holders must have had several hundred people in it. This had a knock on effect for us as the carousel we had to collect our luggage from, had many bags off a previous flight which couldn't be collected as the passengers were stuck in immigration. This delayed us by an hour. I had to ask two staff members standing around chatting, if they could take some of the bags off so those from our flight could drop down on to the carousel.

Departure from Terminal 2 to Vienna 6.00am departure with Austrian Airlines. Having checked in online I arrived at 4.00am to drop of luggage. None of the desks were open. Staff arrived and stood around chatting, desks were finally opened from around 4.15 onwards at a glacial pace. No smiles and minimal communication. None of the duty free shops were open and most of the other shops were closed. The walk to the gate was long and the seating area was cold. Overall, a cold dark, unfriendly exhausting experience. Arrival at Terminal 2 from Vienna - a very long taxi to the gate after touchdown. Another long, long cold walk to arrivals. The E-Passport gates in passport control kept crashing, there were lots of Border Agency staff just standing around barking at people - wouldn't they be better employed on a desk checking passports and clearing the queues? The walk from the arrivals hall to the central bus station is another long hike made worse by the fact that the signage is at best confusing and at worse just incorrect. In the end I never did find the bus station and gave up and got the tube.

Distance from arrival to immigration is haunting. Just goes on and on forever. Some of the people movers not working. Immigration was okay. Not too long this time. I have been there when it was just queueing back to the gate. Distance from immigration to baggage daunting. Distance from baggage to central bus terminal a slog too. I was wiped out by time I got to bus terminal and I'm a runner.