Work requires an overnight trip to our office in Rotterdam to replace an aging firewall server ; sadly KLM have stopped their flights direct to Rotterdam from LHR so I get to fly from T5 to Schipol (both firsts for me) and then take the train.
BA0428 is scheduled to leave @ 0705, so I turn up at the airport around 0545. Its difficult not to be impressed by T5 the first time that you walk into the big departures hall ; especially if its early & empty. Its a very big space ! However theres no time to appreciate it since the flight appears to be Boarding if the departures board is to be believed.
Hand luggage only & already printed my boarding pass, so straight to the North security which has two lines open & its going very slowly - holdup appears to be the baggage going thru the machine ; perhaps they are training or something since there are a lot of staff watching the monitors & pointing things out. Or maybe they have worked out how to get free porn, its difficult to tell. Still 20 mins later Im thru & stopping only to put my shoes & belt back on I find my way to the gate where theres no sign of anything going on. Time for coffee then!
About 0630 things start to happen & its clear that we are getting the mystery bus tour to the remote stand. Odd - I thought that one of the reasons for T5 was to avoid this sort of thing, but it doesnt worry me & I hang back a bit to let the first wave of people cram themselves on the first bus then take a seat on the second one in comfort. Long bus trip around the back of the airport & thru the underpass then off & up the stairs ; flight is about 85% full with some middle seats free.
Amazingly we leave pretty much on time & the captain comes on the PA to apologize for having to use the bus, this is attributed to some of the gates at T5 not being finished yet. About a 10 min queue & then we are up & away for the 45 min trip over to AMS.
Breakfast is served - choice of full English or continental for the three or four people in Club, a Ham or Cheese brioche for the rest of us ; I pass since I still have my espresso high & spend the flight looking out of the (greasy from someone elses hair) window.
We arrive on time & land pretty much straight away - might just be 'cos I was sitting right over the wheels but it felt like a hard landing & I was expecting a bit of a bounce but none came so perhaps it was the coffee. We get to taxi over the motorway at Schipol which was entertaining - must not wave.. must not wave.. Then off fairly quickly, 5 mins for passports & time to find where the trains are - oh - just over there - thats handy ! Lots of ticket machines with long queues; strangely they dont take cash for tickets & this seems to be whats causing the delay. Eventually I get a ticket & catch the Intercity to Rotterdam which is on time.
One long day later, the new firewall appears to be working so I get to go home. Frustratingly the ticket machines at Rotterdam station don't take cash or credit cards (only debit cards) it appears, so I have to wait for 20 mins in the ticket hall. Grrr.
Still - get to Schipol around 13:00 & wander around a bit ; feels more like a shopping mall than an airport to me - quite pleasant, although its a long walk to the gate for the return flight & I have to stop for a refreshing (and expensive - 5.10) pint of Murphy's stout along the way.
Plane gets in at 14:15 & is quickly turned around for us to board & leave on time @ 14:55. Again its about 85% full, but at least the window is clean this time. Only offered a cookie or some nibbles but it hardly matters since we arrive back at LHR 5 mins early & get to wait for the gate to become free. It quickly does so & we get to deplane thru a proper walkway this time; quite a long walk along one side of the terminal building, then round a corner & halfway up the next side to the passport control room, which is busy & theres a worryingly large queue for the EU passport people - but wait - Iris is open & its working ! and theres no queue! outstanding ! 10 seconds of the 'Iris Lean' & Im out.. must not wave at all the people queued for 'priority'.. tee hee.
Final thoughts:
T5 is impressive but as other people have noted its not obvious where things are the first time you use it - better signage would help - I wouldnt want to be in a hurry & have to navigate the place quickly, particularly if security is still on a go-slow. Having said that its clean & bright & I hope that BAA work on getting the other terminals up to the same level rather than letting T5 slip down to the shabby mess that is T3.
Schipol works very well it appears, particularly if you want to transfer to the trains ; only fault I could find were the ticket machines not taking cash although the ones at the airport did take Credit cards (and charged you extra - Grr).
Both the short haul BA flights I took were on time & pretty busy - good work by the crew on both legs, greeted by name on the way in etc. Good stuff.
No obvious sign of the global slowdown that the media keep talking about - perhaps things are not all that bad after all.
