Mr Kevincm returns to Washington – Heathrow Transit and British Airways Galleries North
In this… well.. mess:
- How far can you go for a £1 (+Tax)?
- Off to Manchester Airport, Manchester Airport and the BA Terraces Lounge
- AA735 Manchester Airport to Philadelphia
- A long Philadelphia layover featuring the US Customs and the TSA at their best.
- AA4545 Philadelphia to Washington Reagan
- Holiday Inn Washington Reagan
- The Marriott Marquis, Washington DC
- The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – National Mall
- The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – The Udvar Hazey Building
- Back to Dulles, British Airways Dulles Lounge
- BA216 Washington Dulles to Heathrow with the Airbus A380
- Heathrow Transfer, North Lounge
- BA1530 London Heathrow to Manchester
- The joy of coaches, and CrossCountry trains from Manchester to Birmingham
- Short and Sweet
With me out of the of the plane, I headed to get my picture of the A380 that had brought me to London, and to transfer to my domestic connection.
Being at Terminal 5C, I needed to reclear security at T5A (as well as enter the UK there). So off I trotted to the Heathrow Transit system to get me to T5A
Hello, Tim. Aren’t you glad you’re heading back to space?
Whilst my timing was good (a train had just arrived), my positioning was awful – as I was in the rear car of the train. That meant a sea of people would be in front of me. Oh well.
Oops.
A minor sea of humanity.
Now, there’s a long known trick at Heathrow T5 to get to the UK Border – and thats to avoid the escalators – they take longer. Head for the lifts instead.
As this would be my entry point to the UK, I would need to clear the UK Border in Heathrow. Sadly, there’s no automation here – just a long queue and 4 bored UK Border agency workers.
Emergency sign additions with Dublin Scribbled on. I didn’t realise BA renamed Newcastle as New Castle.
The queue for the main entry point into the UK
A short wait and I was photographed and let through. That done it was time to clear the wonder that is Heathrow security.
And now it’s, even MORE, FUN with the Mr Men helping you on your way.
Mr Adventure… you might want to get off the Heathrow Tower. ATC might get peeved. Besides, you need the security clearance to be on top of there. Why don’t you look at my tour of the Heathrow Tower instead?
Because everything in life is a journey. What is this… X-Factor or something?
Security by Heathrow standards as quick in the fast track lane. 10 minutes or so, I was in and out. Always good to see
Hello, Sun. Hello, Nemesis Gate. I’m not seeing you today (or for my next flight), so you can sit in the sun. Why do I hate Gate A10? Let me count the ways…
With that formality done – and knowing that I would be departing from A1 through A7 (as these are used primarily for UK Domestic departures), I made a choice in lounges – and went to the British Airways Galleries North Lounge.
Not the best lounge – but it would be a stop before heading to Manchester.
British Airways Galleries North Lounge
Entrance to the lounge.
With a blip of my boarding pass, I was granted access to this busy lounge. And that’s the first thing to note about Galleries North – it’s always busy, no matter the time of day
With a busy lounge like this, finding a seat I like is troublesome. Eventually, I found a space where I could watch planes land.
The other problem with a lounge like this is… is there enough catering in this place.
I’ll answer that in two pictures
Give me strength. Seriously – we can’t keep up appropriate catering quantities at your home base BA?
There were other options, including…
Pastries
Fruit and Cereals
Fruit and Yoghurts.
Warm pastries
Cold beverages
Finally – more hot items after a 10-minute wait. But come on BA – this isn’t acceptable at your home base….
As well as soft beverages, there are the harder liquor versions too.
Spirits
Wine and Water
As for me – I was parked up where I could watch planes. Because…. planes.
Air Canada Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landing.
Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600
Lufthansa Airbus A319-100
British Airways Boeing 747-400
The seconds ticked by as I caught up with the world, and of course the time came to leave the lounge and head towards Manchester. On this day, Gate A6 would be doing the honours.
It’s queue central at A6!
Hey. Do people remember this odd thing?
Priority boarding was announced, and I headed throw the queue. A beep of the boarding pass, and a match of pictures – and I was allowed to head down the escalator for the final flight of this trip.
Down we go!
Next: BA1530 London Heathrow to Manchester
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