First time flying from LHR

Hi all, wondered if you could give me some info please,
I’m flying from LHR Terminal 3 and I will be driving up the night before and parking in airport car park and then wish to stay at SOFITEL (as I liked that one at Gatwick ), my question being is it easy enough to do this as SOFITEL is T5 I believe.I like to park my car at T3 so that it’s easier for return journey.
I also noticed that LHR official car park seem more expensive than Gatwick . Is that the case?
Many thanks for any help in this matter.

I use the Money saving Expert website for Airport Parking. They have negotiated some decent discounts with parking providers. Yes i would say parking costs more at LHR.
Can’t help with the Sofitel question i’m afraid.

[mitchja]

LHR T3>T5 is achieved by via going down through the underground walkways to the central Heathrow Express (HEx) station then jumping on a free HEx train to T5.

Whilst's it's free; you now need a ticket to use the HEx and get through the barriers which can be obtained from the ticket machines as you enter the HEx stations before the barriers.

Give yourself around 20-30 minutes in each direction. Full details can be found here

there is info on the LHR website about how to get from one terminal to another using landside connections

Thankyou for your help

Are you flying Upper, if so don’t drive, get dropped off. Best experience ever.

I stayed at the Sofitel last week and did the route mitchja advised.

Have a look here viewtopic.php?f=6&t=298297 if youve a spare 10 mins

David

As I'm being told the drive through check in is a great experience is it worth me getting a cab from Sofitel terminal 5 to uc wing terminal 3 or would that be an odd thing to do? I havn't been to Lhr before and the upper check in is all new to me.Or is it much the same to just make my way across to terminal 3 in the usual way? Many thanks

I honestly wouldn’t waste money on a cab just to do DTCI if you would otherwise use public transport.

Apart from the actual drive through bit and having someone take your luggage off you as you get out of the car, the normal way is exactly the same.

You get to use the UC Wing private security regardless (although the fast-track security for all the other airlines can be just as quick and brings you out closer to the Clubhouse without the hellish walk through duty free).

Others, though, will doubtless disagree!

Thankyou gumshoe, I thought it may be a little strange, so if I check in online where do I go if I enter terminal 3 by foot,virgin bag drop and then they tell me from there?

Yes, near the check-in desks there’s a lift that’ll take you up to a door which you open with your boarding pass, that leads directly to the UC Wing and security. There’ll be plenty of staff around to direct you if necessary.

That sounds great,Thankyou Gumshoe

Enjoy! I always enjoy a stay at the T5 sofitel before a virgin flight. I'm a bit of an airport geek so actually chose to do the train transfer rather than DCTI last time.

I would personally Uber just to save lugging the luggage around. It’ll be around £15.

Is the elevator next to the UC Wing still there? Something had changed in that area a few weeks ago and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was. For the person asking, even if that has gone, it’s just an escalator ride away.

The end of the VS private lane comes out in the same area as the other security lanes i.e. the entrance to the departures lounge area.

It's hardly a 'hellish walk'. You can avoid going through the DF shop by turning right once past the currency exchange shop and following the path around initially keeping WH smiths to your right and then through the seating area but that is actually longer. . you can check the terminal map here