London Heathrow - do you avoid it?
 

Just read an interesting article saying a lot of people go out of their way to avoid Heathrow airport - is that your experience or do you enjoy the shops and service there?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ose/article.do

Yes, I definitely go out of my way to avoid LHR. I don't shop in airports;
"service there" - what service?!?

I do make an effort to avoid Heathrow. The one bag rule is extremely inconvenient. And how can one enjoy the shops and services when you're waiting anxiously for your gate to be posted at what feels like the last minute so you can get to the distant gate without rushing?

just got backs from London.
a few suggestions:
- print your boarding pass ( many airlines allow it 24 hours before the trip)
- leave room in your hand luggage to stuff your purse or some other bag in for a few minutes ( once you pass security, get it out)
- keep an eye on the departure board for your gate (while shopping at great stores )
The lines for security check were huge but moved very fast.

I avoid heathrow like the plague. Crowded stressful, noisy, rude. Stansted isn't much better these days either

We had such a horrible experience there that my husband refuses to fly through London at all. For our trip to Greece we flew through Montreal. It was a much better experience.

YES, we definitely try and avoid it. The one bag rule applies to all airports in the UK, so that's not a deciding factor. LHR simply adds IMO another level(s) of frustrations and hassles in air travel that a lot of other airports don't have.

Like possibly all airports, Heathrow is worth avoiding but has to be used occasionally. Like the flight, it has to be endured if you want to get anywhere quick.

Yes, avoid Heathrow! My luggage was lost on my way to Amsterdam and a 12 day cruise. (I had 5 hours between connections) I wasn't the only one, it took nearly 2 hours waiting in line to get to the point of speaking to someone and filling out the lost luggage claim. It was a horrible experience. I spent 2 cold miserable days in Amsterdam. There was NO help finding the lost luggage. I had to go find it myself at Schipol Airport, or I never would have gotten it.

hpeadbody, I'm guessing the lost luggage was the airline's doing, not the airport. What was your carrier? We'll avoid them, too!

I was on BA. But was told later that there are/was known issues with moving luggage at Heathrow. Not sure, but the luggage handling may be an airport function, apart from the individual airlines. It also turns out the BA "office" at least at Schipol, is outsourced.

It's BA's luggage problem, caused mainly by layoffs of ground staff to improve profits. When the total number of mis-connected bags at Heathrow grew over 20,000, BA executives (except for the VP in charge of baggage handling, who was indisposed on holiday in the Caribbean at the time) sent out an email asking all London-area BA staff to come to LHR to volunteer in helping move the piles. The email also went to the people who had just been sacked. Oh yeah, I'm on my way.

To answer the question, yes, and I'm leaving day after tomorrow on a trip that would have sent me through LHR 4 times in the next 3 weeks. Now Madrid is getting those taxes and fees from me.

The combination of abysmal airport management (BAA) and scary airline operations (BA), overlain on top of the grunge, pollution, and cost of Heathrow services, makes it number one on my list of no-go zones.

I avoid it if possible, if only that it's not close enough to east anglia ;)

But certainly it would be at the bottom of my preference of London airports, for (a) general claustrophobia (I parked in T3 yesterday and am still recovering), (b) baggage nightmare stories, and (c) dominance of not-very-cheap airlines (with the exception of BMI).

Yes, I now go out of my way to avoid Heathrow. I travel often for work and pleasure and I refuse to connect/transfer via Heathrow. Sad, but true.

I do try to avoid it, although in the end it seems we usually end up there for a layover on most of our Europe flights. I don't mind it overall, but its definitely crowded and can be a mess. And while I don't mind some shopping the exchange rate is brutal enough that I tend to avoid it.

I always look for other options. If I can layover in, say, Brussels, I jump on it.

Tracy

Yes, I will certainly avoid it if possible. Transfers between terminals can take forever and the new one bag rule is an absolute pain.

I hated LHR even before 9/11 so I also avoid going through this airport.

I was there just a week ago...I don't like it. Too big for me, too uncomfortable..even for going to London, just don't want to think about doing a transfer !!! I'd better avoid it if I can.

I would if I could. The seemingly last minute gate postings makes the place feel like a train station.

Yes, for many reasons ($, UK taxes, etc.), but the top ones include:

1) Transferring through the FCC-- possibly the worst traffic flow in any airport I've ever encountered. Why it should take in excess of an hour for an in-transit person to connect to a non-UK flight is beyond me.

2) One-bag rule

Shopping is not a factor--we have almost all of the same stores where I live and if not, I can order from them on-line.

I've avoided it since 1982! 8-)

I was born in Uk now live in USA .We arrived there on the day of the car bombs & left the next day 3 hours in the security line !!! apart for all the reasons stated what about treking your luggage from terminal 4 to 1 about a 15 minute uphill walk , I also think the general attitude is "CUSTOMER NO SERVICE. if I can't find a way of avoiding LHR I for one will stay here.

Apart from a breakdown of baggage machinery one night after I arrived from Addis I have had no bad experiences with Heathrow. That said, seeing how passangers have been treated in various "alert" situations has me rethinking my non-aversion to LHR. Since my next two trips will be to South America I don't have to think about Heathrow for a while.

Thankfully there is now a direct flight from Boston to Manchester - I will always avoid LHR, it's such a depressing airport.

We used to live 5 miles away and rarely used LHR - although my favorite garden centre was next door and I enjoyed watching the take-offs/landings while buying plants :-)

If at all possible, avoid Heathrow.Surely it has to be one of the worst airports in the world.

Heathrow is nowhere near as bad as CDG in Paris, which I think is the airport from hell, but Heathrow is a big black hole that sucks every plane into its maw.It's incredibly crowded,badly sign posted, noisy, and has limited seating, although it does have the advantage of the train right at the airport.

Sadly,I'd have to say there is nothing quite like facing a Heathrow employee after a 24 hour flight from Australia - unfortunately it's rarely been a positive experience.

I would never choose an airport because of its shops. Prices are no better and really shopping at airports is just a way to kill time, give me a book anytime!

I love LHR but I've never transferred through there & fly Biz class so I get fast-tracked. Never a problem with my luggage (knock wood) so far & I really like AA's lounge there.

I actually think the signage at LHR is pretty good. (I especially think that after my last trip through CDG.) I also think the airport's managers do pretty well given the constraints they must deal with - it's not like they can rip the whole thing apart and just rebuild from the ground up.

On the other hand, I make a point of never connecting through LHR. As we are on holiday, we have the luxury of opting for an overnight instead. (We also not infrequently have to change airports anyway, say from LHR to LGW.)

The tax is a bore - but if it discourages yet more growth in traffic when they already struggle with present levels, then so be it.

It's hardly surprising LHR's reputuation has sunk so low. The place is an incompetently-managed, overcrowded hell-hole, which has only become worse over the past few years (9/11, BA strikes, last summer's bomg plot, last December's fog, the list goes on...). Heathrow really is a national disgrace, especially when you see how well "flagship" airports in other countries are run (Schiphol, Hong Kong, Munich,....)

Small wonder frequent business travellers (myself included) are now preoccupied with ways to avoid LHR. Wherever possible I use teleconferences, my local airport (Southampton), or LGW (a pain to get to but slightly more sane than LHR). One colleague of mine is even taking long distance overnight trains to get to business meetings in Madrid and Rome, just to avoid the stress of flying.

I've never had any bad experiences at Heathrow and I think they do very well to keep it going relatively efficiently given the chronic shortage of space and only two runways. It is the world's busiest international aiport after all! The new terminal 5 is due to open next Spring which should free things up considerably in the other terminals except terminal 2 which will be demolished...