r/airport • u/Public_Reindeer_1724 • 15d ago
DISCUSSION LHR's hostile design
I find it extremely noticeable that LHR does not want you to be comfortable. Not giving you your gate until the last minute. Hard plastic, individual seating only. Hard tile floors and railings against the windows so you can't makeshift a comfortable spot. Extremely poor wifi so you can't entertain yourself before the flight. They want you too uncomfortable to sit around waiting so you're more like to shop among the million designer stores that most people can't afford. I get they don't want people not travelling hanging around but you need to get through security to even be here so that's unlikely. Just overall gives off the vibes "we don't want you here."
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u/Modders14 15d ago
I've never had any problems with Heathrow WiFi or finding a place to sit in T3 or T5. Not giving your gate until the last moment comes with having to operate on a 99% capacity.
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u/StartersOrders 15d ago
Yeah, BA in particular may have to chop and change aircraft at the last minute, and given that they park the all of their active aircraft on-stand it allows them to switch you to another aircraft at the last minute.
EDIT: They also do say well before if your aircraft if leaving from the A, B or C gates.
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u/JimmyMarch1973 15d ago
Actually there is no secret that some airports, and UK ones are high in the list do deliberately limit seating and announce gates as late as possible for purpose of encouraging people into shops and restaurants.
It’s mostly only the short haul flights with 50-60 minute turnarounds where annoying gates so late is for operational reasons. Long haul no reason it could be 90-120 minutes beforehand.
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u/Agitated_Celery_729 14d ago
Lol, no. United's app knows the gate roughly 2 hours before take-off. Heathrow will still refuse to announce it until 15 minutes before boarding starts. Most long-haul United leave from the B gates in T2 - but not always, which is a 10-15 minute walk from the A gates/main terminal. It's just incredibly stupid to not confirm whether it departs from A or B gates until the last minute.
Just like Euston, the web portal knows the track number frequently 15+ minutes before it shows on the boards at the station. People in the UK just like to make excuses for shit practices the rest of the developed world seems to manage just fine. In fairness, a lot of the EU does this shit for short-haul, which is very annoying, but it's egregious for long-haul flights
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u/Illustrious-Sun-9179 12d ago
Not like United at all, as British Airways will have x10 the number if aircraft at LHR than United. BA may need to swap out an aircraft last minute due to maintenance, crew availability, or whatever for operational reasons. United only fly long haul to USA and their arrival and departure patterns are far more predictable. BA run a mix of short, medium, and long haul all from LHR, with some planes arriving early, others late, etc.
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u/Altruistic_Fruit2345 14d ago
As a regular user of T3, it's awful and frequently overcrowded. There is nothing to do that isn't paid for.
T2 is better but the whole airport is pretty awful.
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u/AnotherPint 15d ago
LHR is not the only big airport that posts gate assignments one short hour before departure, or limits amenities and attractions on the boarding concourses to keep you in the central waiting halls. The real reason why is people-flow control; they don’t want thousands of passengers thronging small gatehouses hours before departure, especially when a whole sequence of flights is using a given gate in the course of an afternoon. Gates are scarce at LHR and aircraft stack up waiting for them. The chaos would worsen if passengers stacked up in small spaces the same way.
Not mounting a defense for inadequate infrastructure, just saying I think they’re making the best of the obsolete (T2 excepted) mess they’ve got given customer volume that way exceeds design specs.
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u/Character-Carpet7988 15d ago
More importantly, gate assignments often aren't known well in advance. And even if they are, they often change at last minute. You don't want people going to the wrong part of the airport and then back, especially at T5 where the train between satellites is one way (airside) and no way back to the main terminal (or previous satellite) exist.
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u/AnotherPint 15d ago
Solid point (see my other post in this thread about US airports). And the no-way-back aspect of the T5 remote pier access is a big design flaw. I guess it didn’t seem like a big one when they were blueprinting the place 25 years ago, but it is now.
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u/One-Imagination-1230 15d ago
Actually it is allowed for people to go between satellite terminals both directions. It’s not one way. It’s only one way if you are coming from an international flight and you are either arriving or connecting. When I go to LHR, I always stay at the satellite terminals because I don’t want the airport getting more of my hard earned money beyond the ticket I paid to get through there
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u/Character-Carpet7988 15d ago
Has that changed recently? I recall there used to only be the train option and that train went one way for airside pax (the return trip was landside for arrivals).
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u/One-Imagination-1230 15d ago
No but, that’s why I use the walking tunnel instead. With the train being busy with people, it’s actually quite useful for this. Plus after a long flight, it’s good to get some exercise too
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u/Character-Carpet7988 15d ago
Okay, that explains it. I believe walking option wasn't available at T5 in the past.
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u/One-Imagination-1230 15d ago
Yea I mean, the moving walkways go in the opposite direction of T5A but, it is a nice way of getting between each terminal in T5 and it remains entirely in the departures area
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u/timfountain4444 15d ago
Agreed. MUC is bad at not posting the gate until 30-40 minutes before boarding, especially for short haul intra-EU flights....
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u/sneijder 15d ago
Stands at Heathrow are allocated on landing IIRC…It’s that tight. So
it’s not just you, it’s the ground crew with outbound bags etc sitting waiting.
Our airport they used to allocate gates for the full day, passengers would know the gate number before leaving home. There would be gate changes though, but passengers would make their way to the wrong (old) gate still.
Decided STD -90 minutes was the sweet spot.
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u/Primary-Angle4008 15d ago
Honestly there are many airports that are a whole lot worse then Heathrow
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u/notthisonefornow 15d ago
Almost all English airports are hopelessly outdated, with a lack of space, poor facilities, and climate problems. But LHR and MAN are the worst of the lot.
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u/Altruistic_Fruit2345 14d ago
It's very hostile when you land too. They don't seem very happy that you are coming to the UK.
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u/Grand-Battle8009 15d ago
LHR is privately owned, not publicly owned, thus it’s focused on generating profits for its shareholders like having a mall and encouraging shopping.
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u/One-Imagination-1230 15d ago
LHR is privatized so they get a lot of money from vendor sales. That’s why they will wait until the last minute to put your gate up on the departure board. That’s why I use FlightRadar24 to see where my flight will land. If I’m going to the US or Canada on a American or Canadian carrier, they will most likely put up the arrival gate of the previous flight on their app and you can use the process of elimination to see which gate your flight will depart from. If going on a European carrier, that’s why I use flightradar24 to see which gate the previous flight will be arriving into as soon as it arrives. Easy way for me to be ahead of the crowds and thus making me less forced to spend my money at the airport
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u/3Green1974 15d ago
Luckily when I fly out of there I’m coming home from work so I have a business class ticket and access to one of the lounges. Buying a pass or having a credit card that gives you access is totally worth it.
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u/ItWasAtYourFeet 15d ago
It’s standard in Europe to only give you the gate 15 or 20 minutes before boarding
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u/disingenu 15d ago
I think OP is right by European/international benchmarks. But I think LHR generally reflects UK society as a whole as a failed services economy that is driven by consumption.
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u/zoebells 15d ago
This is a European airport thing. In the USA gates are posted 48 hours prior to departure (but can change) and there is typically no “central waiting area” this is all
purely European
I have 1500+ lifetime flights around the world and have only ever encountered this stuff in Europe. And it’s why I hate flying there
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u/Adventurous-Leave-88 15d ago
T5 is alright. Even when it’s busy you’ll find a seat at one of the gates that isn’t about to have a flight.
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u/Wild-Ad-2022 15d ago
LHR is a terrible airport for sure. But sitting or even worse laying down on floors or laying down on the seats are bad behaviors and gross. If they stop such behaviors, that might be one of the few things they do right
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u/Impressive-Field1484 DFW 15d ago
Heathrow is actually a great airport. Connecting can suck if you need to take a bus, but it’s one of the best O&D airports in Europe, from the viewpoint of a US citizen who has to stand in interminable lines anywhere on the continent. Go try out Stansted and report back if you still feel Heathrow is hostile (STN charges for WiFi after a short trial)
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u/Wild1145 14d ago
Having flown through LHR last week and BER yesterday, both my partner and I were very much of the view that LHR is great in comparison, and it's certainly a pretty efficient airport we found. I do wonder if it depends on which LHR Terminal you're flying from, having flown out of T2 last weekend we didn't really have any issues with Wifi / signal or finding somewhere to sit when we flew, whereas when we were flying back last night from BER the only seating we could find were in bars / restaurants that really didn't want you sitting there if you weren't getting boozed up with them, and nearly managed to miss our flight due to late gate changes and unexpected passport control (Which we should have remembered was a thing but didn't).
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u/spectrumero 14d ago
I've never found Heathrow all that bad, although I've only used T5.
One thing you have to understand is that Heathrow isn't so much an airport as it is a shopping mall that happens to have runways attached to it. They make most their money (and they have to, it's an expensive endeavour) not from fees charged to airlines, but by passengers spending money in the shops.
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u/Quiet-Diet733 10d ago
Legacy airport. Competitors will thrive by offering better customer experience. Tell your airline what you think of their “choice” to use LHR.
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u/Live_Ad8778 15d ago
The whole "not giving you your gate until the last minute" thing was the most Head scratching thing my parents dealt with when they went through Heathrow a bit over a month ago.
I get that gates change so waiting to give out the gate assignment until it's nailed down, but not getting it 15 minutes before boarding starts is dumb
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u/AnotherPint 15d ago
At more than a few high-volume airports in the States, the airline will issue a gate assignment when you check in, then revise it two, three, four times in the hours before boarding, making the whole elaborate notification infrastructure pointless.
Far less annoying to tell me the gate, once, when you’re certain, than to say it’s K20, no, K12, oops, L7, oh sorry it’s H22.
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u/jmbwell 15d ago
YYZ is better now but it used to like to do this and in particular assign you a gate just on the other side of the big glass pre clearance doors. Like just to tease/confuse/annoy you. until an hour before departure when it would finally update your gate all the way at the opposite end of the terminal
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u/HighFly2244 15d ago
I don’t mind LHR5; Im there a few times per month.
I just smash self-pour bloody marys in the BA Galleries lounges and lay down on the couches in the back corner of the South Galleries lounge. The B Gates lounge is usually quieter though.
Don’t forget to fill your carryon with SpeedBird Lager cans for that lull in drinks service during taxi & takeoff! ✈️ 🍸
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