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T5
by Clint Wayne
2008-03-15 08:11:25 |
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It has finally happened. Following 16 years of planning, Government Inquiries, Environmentalists stamping their feet like little children in condemnation and, following five years of mega-construction, the Builders have finally packed up their tools, stuffed the £4.3 billion in their back pockets and vacated the premises as Heathrow’s Terminal 5 or ‘T5’ in this new ultra-cool age has finally been completed.
 Not only that, but it has been completed on time and under budget!! The British taxpayers are feeling cheated that they haven’t been fleeced for any extra cash which begs the question. Has that ever happened in the UK before? The result, however, is that British Airways has a remarkable new home.
On Saturday March 15th, by Royal Appointment, the first person to arrive at ‘check in’ is the Queen to both inspect and give her seal of approval to this monstrous building that apparently can be seen from her bedroom window at Windsor Castle. With security paramount in this giant ‘Meccano’ set of a building will she have remove her shoes and place her coat into one of those little plastic boxes that we have all become accustomed to?
T5 is Britain’s largest free-standing building and boasts some staggering statistics. Over its five floors you could fit 50 football pitches and with a smashing 30,000 square metres of glass resulting in the glaziers of Hounslow probably now sunning themselves in the Caribbean. T5 can handle 12,000 pieces of luggage an hour on over 10 miles of conveyor-belts and houses the world’s longest escalator. How’s that for scaling the heights!
Now I hope you are sitting down readers because I am just about to stun all of you seasoned travellers. T5, with all its modern gadgets and gismos, will be queue-free! Yes that most enjoyable of British pastimes has been designed out. Customers will be greeted by an array of machines offering rapid check-in, baggage drop-off points and ‘state of the art’ fingerprinting and iris scanning security checks with a predicted time from check-in to departure lounge of between 10 and 15 minutes.
Now come on, stop laughing, because you, like me, have spent a lifetime shuffling along snaking queues only to be experienced at airports and ‘Disneyworld’ but hey they are deadly serious. Can you believe it though? Ten minutes! It normally takes me that long just to get my baggage trolley going in the right direction! It is predicted that in future 96% of travellers will check-in online.
With the aeroplanes parking directly outside the Terminal there will also be no need for the traditional ‘Olympic Walkathon’ and the promise is that by the time BA customers have disembarked on arrival and walked to the baggage reclaim the first bags will be trundling around the conveyor. Impressed or still quietly chuckling to yourselves?
Hey Girls! How about 112 upmarket shopping outlets boasting Harrods, Prada, Bulgari and Mulberry stores to give your partner’s credit cards a good bashing before jetting off to the sun, but guys sadly there is no room for any fast-food outlets as both McDonalds and Burger King are not welcome in this shiny new world of travel. The cruel irony is that if you, like me, travel ‘cattle class’ you are condemned to these surroundings until your flight takes off. However, should you happen to be a First Class traveller then a world of pampering, massage, infinity bathrooms, intimate dining pods and champagne lunches awaits decorated tastefully with original artwork costing a cool £60 million
Travel with BA in the future to and from the UK and you will be welcomed to the ‘Promised Land’ and experience the gateway to the world.
Heathrow flying UK Travel |
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