American Airlines is to move some of its flights around the Heathrow Terminals, with some flights moving from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5.
American Airline Boeing 777-200ER taxiing at London Heathrow – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
A total of 11 daily flights will move over, serving the following destinations from Terminal 5
- Dallas-Fort Worth
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- New York-JFK
For travellers who are connecting via Heathrow onto British Airways flights to enjoy a more seamless experience between the partner carriers and more convenient access to British Airways’ six lounges.
They will join Iberia who also operate out of Heathrow Terminal 5.
The following flights will remain at Heathrow Terminal 3:
- Boston-Logan
- Charlotte
- Chicago O’Hare
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
- Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
In Quotes
Jose Freig, American’s Vice President of International Operations and Premium Guest Services said
“London is a critical gateway for our customers traveling around the world,”
“By co-locating alongside our partners in Terminal 5, our joint customers will enjoy unprecedented convenience when connecting. We look forward to further integrating our operations this summer, both in the United States and London, as we aim to continue elevating our customers’ experience.”
Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ Director of Network and Alliances.
“We are delighted to welcome American Airlines customers and colleagues to our main home — Terminal 5 at London Heathrow,”
“As our partner, we hope they enjoy the customer facilities and array on onward connections we can offer. Between British Airways and American, we will operate 14 departures a day to New York City, offering customers the most convenient schedule under one roof. In December we are moving to the redeveloped and expanded Terminal 8 at JFK New York which will bring a range of benefits for our customers, including a better transfer experience, enabling them to travel to more than 30 destinations across the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America with American Airlines.”
As Atlantic Joint Business partners, American and British Airways offer the most flights and the most competitive schedule for customers traveling between the United States and London compared to any other partnership.
Longer term moves?
Terminal utilisation and capacity will dictate what happens next if further flights are set to move. For those passengers who are affected by the move, it should allow you to connect with ease inside a single terminal, without have to deal with the faff of buses for most of the connections.
The lounge choice however changes, from the choice of lounges at Terminal 3 to the homginous British Airways Galleries Business, First Class and Concrode room for oneworld lounges.
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I think what’s interesting about this is they seem to be prioritizing the First Class/Emerald premium experience over the ease of connectivity. The common overlap is that all of the flights relocating to T5 offer the Flagship First product whereas the flights that will remain in T3 do not. I’d argue (this is pure speculation) that the LAX/JFK/MIA/DFW contain a higher proportion of O&D traffic and that the remaining flights remaining at T3 contain a much higher proportion of connecting traffic. So I guess moving more flights over to T5 is overall a win, their logic around increasing ease of connecting traffic does not feel like a solid argument given the flights they ultimately chose to move over.
Last check, Raleigh & Durham were still in North Carolina.
Fixed. I had a bad nights edit last night