Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Organised Transfer System |
| Disadvantages: |
Overloaded transfer Buses |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
On a recent trip to Toronto I had cause to use the Transfer facility at Heathrow airport.
I flew to Toronto via Heathrow from Manchester, it was'nt so much the change of terminals that bothered me but how it was going to happen, I had tried the BAA website but could not find any info for transferring passengers thus I had no idea what to expect.
= THE TRANSFER =======My flight landed at Heathrow on time, on leaving the plane at T1 the cabin crew advised transferring passengers to just follow the signs for Transfer Centre, the signs were easy to see and very clear about the direction to take. It took about 5 to 10mins to reach the stairs to the bus transfer zone.
This is where you could take a shuttle bus to which ever terminal you had to get too. There was quite a queue forming so I thought it would take ages, however as soon as one bus departed another would appear to carry on loading. I did get a bit concerned with the amount of people they were allowing on each bus, I know the object is to get you moved asap but I think safety should count as well.
After about 5 mins it was my turn to board a bus, I did notice a sign near the driver about maximum loads and as I could clearly see we were at least 20 people over the maximum load it would be interesting to know about the insurance implications. The journey to T3 took about 10 mins, because the bus and ourselves remained 'airside' it meant we encountered little traffic apart from baggage trucks and catering lorries, it was a little uncomfortable as the driver seemed to think he was on Brands Hatch and not on a single decker bus carrying about 60+ people, many of whom standing due to only a small amount of seats.
On arrival at T3 we disembarked upsome stairs to the Transfer area, which we reached after passing through a couple of walkways above the normal check-in area, as we were still classed as 'sterile' due to us being transferred 'airside' we could bypass the normal screeening procedures by way of a seperate entrance we just had to show a boarding card for our onward flight, the added bonus of this was that our luggage had all been checked through to our end destination so there was no luggage to cart around. If you still needed assistance or had any queries with your onward flight all the airlines using T3 had a transfer enquiry desk which was helpful. I was dissapointed with T3 though, mind you they are carrying out extensive refurbishments to it. Shops and food oulets are in abundance as well as the duty free which had an excellent offer on cigarettes, 600 B&H for the price of 400!! Not bad eh? Yes I do smoke and yes I know it's a dirty, disgusting habit but I felt the smoking area reflected this thankyou BAA. The smoking area was poorly lit, little ventilation and few seats, I guess this is the price you pay for smoking!
All in all transfering at Heathrow is very painless thanks to the brilliant set-up they have there I would say in my experience to allow 45mins at the most for a transfer frm T1 to T3. Lets hop T5 can live up to it's expectations it's been along time coming.
very helpful
very helpful
very helpful
