London Heathrow Airport

At 67 years old with two knee replacements, pins in my back and a metal elbow I get a pat down every time I enter an airport - routine and expected. Today at Heathrow term 4 I stepped through the alarm system and announce I need a pat down at about 16.30, I was prepared for the usual drill. They put me through a full body scanner and then went to pat me down. Twice I asked that this be done in sight of my belongings - I have had things lifted at other airports. Not only did the security guard refuse to move the pat down location 2-3 feet away so I could see my things, she patted down every inch of my body at least twice and used her wand multiple times. It was as if either she was "teaching me a lesson" for asking to be near my things, or she actually wanted my things to sit unattended long enough to be stolen. Recently I have flown through JFK, ATL, CDG and other airports and they always allow me to stand in sight of my belongings. What's with Heathrow - you are not supposed to be treating the elderly with disrespect and no care for personal property.

T3 07.00 hrs. Dreadful place. 45 minute wait for Immigration with plenty of unused desks / e-passport machines evident. The queues stretched back outside the Immigration Hall. Surely Immigration can be set up to match the flow of arriving passengers? Clearly not. Despite the lengthy wait in Immigration a further 1 hour wait was required to get my bag. All in all from landing to getting out of the terminal took 2 hours. Welcome to London. I then made a bus transfer to Stanstead. The central Bus Station which was never very great is being refurbished and passengers now have to queue in a temporary area outside T3. Place is a joke. As a Brit, it's frankly embarrassing.

I have used Heathrow many times in recent years and although I still like T5, it seems to get busier and busier each time. I enjoy transferring from a domestic UK to an international flight there, no hassle at all. I like the opposite less. Having to go through a boarding pass check by the airline, then an immigration check by the UK Border authorities, then going through a boarding pass check by airport security even before joining the often slow line at security is extremely tedious, especially if you have arrived on a long flight. Security can sometimes be very rude too I have noticed. Recently I have had to transfer from a T5 domestic to a T3 international flight and in those cases you do have to pass through security again, even though you are only on an airport connecting bus. Getting to the security checkpoint in T3 requires a long walk up and down escalators and through deserted corridors which don't give a good impression. The gates are nicely refurbished, but the central waiting and shopping areas are busy and the low ceilings make them very dark. Hopefully if T1 reopens the pressure on space will be reduced. I would recommend Heathrow to some people and not to others, depending on the kind of connection they were making and their level of mobility.

Check in at Terminal 2 Heathrow Airport was good and directions to Lounge were clear. What was a shock was the distance we had to walk going up and down steep escalators, which would be difficult for people of maturing years. There are of course lifts to use instead. There were also two travelator sections which were out of action. The worst part was to find when our luggage was unloaded at Reykjavik that suitcases was saturated and the contents wet through where they had been left out in the rain at Heathrow. I fear that poor management shows with Terminal design.

Arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 from Baku on the evening of 30th August to find the queue of people way past the immigration and down the walkway. After about fifteen minutes another flight arrived and they emerged from an escalator in the middle of the heaving mass to jump in front of most of us. There was one totally ineffective security lady who just gave up trying to control the chaos. When we eventually arrived at the hall where the immigration officers were sitting we found four in place. There was about 20 electronic gates but none were switched on. Of course being British I had to use the UK/EU line which was about 50 times longer than the non-EU one. I would have cleared the line half an hour earlier if I had been a foreign national. I was pleased to see that the aircraft staff desk was manned with not one person arriving there after the first ten minutes. After about 45 mins of sitting watching the seething mass in the hall the officer manning the empty desk decided that it was all too much and left. The terminal or rather arrival gate we came into at T5 was not finished but of course T1 - the Baku flight original terminal had been closed. Prematurely it seems. Frankly Heathrow or at least T5 is a shambles and the owners and UK Government should be ashamed.

Out of all airports I've been to, Heathrow is by far the worst. Slow wifi, a labyrinth of a building, confusing signage and rarely rude information desk clerks. Security is a joke (high levels of disorganization), and, of course, no smoking lounges. Two thumbs down.

Flew in and out of terminal 3 at Heathrow. It is truly awful and belongs in the 1950s. The whole terminal needs rebuilding with some thought put into the design and people flows this time. The terminal is dirty. The staff are lacklustre and give the impression they can't be bothered and only turn up for the minimun wage. Waited over an hour for baggage while they kept announcing changes of belt. There are quite obviously failures in management since the whole concept of customer service is absent. Terminal 3 has seating for 5 passengers at each baggage belt (when a plane drops off 300 passengers the maths just doesn't work). The luggage trolley rack is located at the opposite end from where arrivals enter the baggage hall; a smidgen of common sense here would avoid passengers flying off in all directions, bumping into each as the get a trolley and then come back to baggage carousel to pick up delayed luggage (if they are the lucky ones). Heathrow, avoid if at all possible.

I travel threough Heathrow on a weekly basis, mostly Terminal 5. This terminal is starting to feel and look like a Shopping Mall. There are more shops than are really needed, and for passengers less places to sit and rest before a long flight. Trying to get to the British Airways Lounges is a long walk in the opposite direction to where the actual lounges really are, this is a ploy to get passengers to walk through the shops hoping they may purchase something.

Probably the worst airport I've seen. 1) customer service at T5 is more of a suggestion. I landed at 7 am, reached the service desk at 8.15 and stood for 50 mins before someone turned up. Reason given that they are opened only if staff are there. 2) Horrible connectivity between A, B and C concourses. People running through tunnel from C to B, as there is no train service. 3) I was reading earlier reviews and couldn't find anything to do, except sit in a chair, as told by ppl giving this airport 10 4) this seems to be the only airport with smoking facilities in transit areas, so smokers beware. Don't transit through Heathrow if you need to smoke.

Travelled through Terminal 3 to and from the US. Dedicated check in for Virgin and Delta passengers very modern. Security was speedy but thorough. I found the terminal layout to be very crowded. LHR has assigned more space to gates and flights at Terminal 3 than to shops and restaurants in comparison to the other terminals at Heathrow. Great selection of shops. Could be more restaurants however I was still happy. It is quite noticeable in Terminal 3 that there is a lack of windows in the shopping area. Terminal 3 size is quite deceptive, at first seeming small in comparison to the other terminals, but in fact is huge once you walk on. Signage was very good with information stands located around it. Boarding the aircraft was speedy.