#253994 by gingerflyer
07 Apr 2008, 19:04
Well some of you might call this extravagent, but our overnight trip to Edinburgh was booked so that we could see what the new T5 looked like. We had originally been supposed to do the weekend before, but had had to move the weekend....which meant we were supposed to escape nightmare of the opening weekend.

Arrived relatively early for our flight on the free shuttle from the T4 Hilton. T5 is very impressive, and I really like all the glass and open atmosphere in there. We only had an overnight bag, but there were no queues at the fast bag drop. Noticed that they have a first check-in area (not Club Europe/World though). Overall 'landside' almost finished, although some missing lifts and wires hanging out.

Security very fast - lots of lanes open, although the staff seemed more interested in looking at what was happening at the Sony stand than checking passengers and bags. Lots of good shops once through and plenty of food options - although nothing that 'fast' except Pret. We had a drink at Giraffe - plenty of staff but service a little slow. Wander around the shops and then lunch at 'Plane Food'. Plenty of suits wandering around not doing a lot, and the actual waiting staff running around. Be warned currently they 'don't do cocktails', and that almost included 'bloody mary's'!! Food very good and the price is pretty much the same as Giraffe, but less people as down the other end of the terminal and food probably a bit better!

Now onto the flight.....we noticed early on that there were lots of delays and several flights that were either cancelled or 'enquire airline'. This was supposed to be the first day of 'normal' service. Nothing mentioned about what was going on, although our flight was on time and actually boarded only about 5 minutes late. After walking the very long walk to the plane from the gate (for those of you not up to walking far, then it is quite a walk down the airbridge). Once we had all boarded, the captain came on and apologised as there was a delay loading luggage and we would have to wait.....only 20 minutes! However over the next 1hr 45 mins we had several annoucements about the delay and finally found out what the problem was - every bag was having to be reconciled with the passenger boarded manifest....not a fast job in the rain for the poor ground crew. However we were lucky I suppose and actually made it off on Saturday afternoon!

Flight itself was pretty quick - only 55 minutes; they managed the drink service which included a snack item (some nuts, sunflower seeds and raisins mix).

Overall an enjoyable visit to T5 and it was a very nice building - so much nicer than the other terminals at LHR. Love all the glass and outside viewing that is possible, especially as it is between both runways.

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