Quote:
Heathrow Terminal 1We usually avoid flying from Heathrow as our previous experiences have been awful. Firstly the Meet and Greet Purple parking helped as we were able to arrive virtually at the terminal door. The next pleasant surprise was that the Air New Zealand check in desk was just to the right of the door we came in and to make things even better the check in desks were open a full four and a half hours before the flight time. We were greeted by the young girl at the start of the queue and she asked if we had our ESTA as we were having to get off at LA, go through passport control and collect our luggage, go through customs then hand it in to the Air New Zealand staff ju
...Read More
We usually avoid flying from Heathrow as our previous experiences have been awful. Firstly the Meet and Greet Purple parking helped as we were able to arrive virtually at the terminal door. The next pleasant surprise was that the Air New Zealand check in desk was just to the right of the door we came in and to make things even better the check in desks were open a full four and a half hours before the flight time.
We were greeted by the young girl at the start of the queue and she asked if we had our ESTA as we were having to get off at LA, go through passport control and collect our luggage, go through customs then hand it in to the Air New Zealand staff just after customs before going through security again in LAX for our flight to Apia in Samoa.
The queue worked its way through fairly painlessly and then we were able to go and enjoy a cup of Costa coffee and finish our water before heading through security.
There are a number of restaurants upstairs before you go through security so that if you are seeing someone off you can sit and enjoy a coffee or meal together should you choose. Again this is an improvement as when I saw my daughter off to go to Australia a few years ago we couldn’t find anywhere to sit and enjoy a drink before she went through security. I’m not sure which terminal it was but it was not very welcoming.
Security was extremely painless compared to some experiences. Firstly I was asked if my liquids were in a plastic bag and then offered a FREE bag. I had already sorted mine but I did tell the nice man that I was made to pay £1 for 3 bags at Birmingham because the bag I had was too big. The fact that there were only three tiny bottles in it seemed to not matter, the bag was a ziplock bag but just a little too big. So well done Heathrow Terminal 1 you are better than Birmingham for that.
As we were heading through to passport control and security I was following my husband who had our documents, he went one way and another counter person beckoned me so I went that way. She asked for my boarding card and when I explained she and the other girl both teased me. It was so nice to have human beings with a pleasant attitude to deal with. The people at security were very pleasant too, efficient but polite and friendly rather than officious like the ones we had last trip coming through Terminal 5.
Once through security there were plenty of seats and the area was light, fresh and clean. There were quite a few shops willing to take your money. The shops included the inevitable, Smiths, Tie Rack, Duty free, a chocolate shop, Fat Face, Bally, Chanel, luggage ( who is it that buys suitcases in airports and what do they do with them?) and many others all selling things you probably would not buy anywhere else and at vastly inflated prices.
There were nice clean toilets with flushes that you just waved your hand at, proper dryers that dried your hands and plenty of cubicles in the ladies which made a change. We chose not to eat at the caviar shop but enjoyed my nicely made ham and cheese with lettuce and tomato sandwiches while we waited.
There was plenty of warning to get to the gate which was just as well as ours was the furthest away. They did offer the walkalators in the long passages which take a bit of the strain off as they are softer and also move you forward with very little or no effort should you choose to stand still.
Once down at the gate there was just about enough seating for the entire jumbo and they sensibly sat us from the back forwards and didn’t allow people to queue jump. This way you didn’t have to wait while those with far too much hand luggage attempted to shove it in the overhead locker. I tell you some people had hand luggage as big as our suitcase!
So Heathrow I forgive you. Terminal 1 was a far better experience than we had at terminal 5 earlier in the year when we were treated rudely by security staff and then had our luggage sent somewhere other than Birmingham. It did turn up with a courier the next day but what a waste of money.
I am not sure whether we ‘enjoyed’ Terminal 5 on a bad day or whether the staff at terminal 1have had better staff training but it was an entirely different experience.
On our return everything went very smoothly once again so top marks Terminal 1 Heathrow. I am impressed until my next unpleasant experience then perhaps I might rethink my views.
Thanks for reading. I just felt that I should write a positive review as I had given Heathrow plenty of negative press prior to this experience. It is not the nicest airport in the world, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong and Amsterdam Schipol are pretty high in that ranking but it is not the worst by a long mile.
This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.
© Catsholiday
Read Less
Member Rating 3 out of 5 on November 8, 2010
Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport Limited, The Compass Centre, Nelson Road
Hounslow, England 6 2
+44 (0)844 335 1