TRIP REPORT: Morning Manoeuvres at Heathrow Terminal 3. Wait… Terminal 3? – Miles to Bucharest

TRIP REPORT: Morning Manoeuvres at Heathrow Terminal 3. Wait… Terminal 3?
Miles to Bucharest

Every journey has a beginning. It seems a lot of mine are in the middle of the night. Join me as I leave the Midlands and head into the wonder of Heathrow Airport at 6am in the morning, pondering why I never get enough sleep the night before a flight of any sorts. 

In this adventure

• The Last Gasp of Silver (or British Airways did us all dirty)
• Off to Heathrow and the wonder of Terminal 3
• Lounging around Terminal 3 with Cathay Pacific and Qantas
• BA886 London Heathrow to Bucharest (Club Europe)
• Exiting Bucharest Airport and into the city
• Mercure Urinii
• An evening walk with a camera phone
• Morning Explore
• Back to Bucharest Airport and the Visa Satalite Lounge.
• BA887 Bucharest to London Heathrow (Club Europe)
• To the Trains! And a bus too.
• Silver retained. But a New Battle awaits

Some things don’t change—and the early coach out of Birmingham seems to be one of those things. Whilst the flight is around 10am, I’ve chosen to grab an early coach to Heathrow out of convenience, but I’ve also been burned before when coaches are delayed.

At least it’s slightly later than usual, with yours truly grabbing the 03:15 coach instead of the 02:40 coach.

But why you might ask? We all know of hidden city ticketing when flying. But, there are also hidden ticketing strategies you can use on National Express.

I’m not going to spell this out too much, as it can backfire heavily – depending on if your coach misses a stop (and they have done in the past… therefore this is not a recommendation in the slightest – And I have a lot of time to play with on this trip) and if your driver is paying close attention (as some do).

For this trip, I am travelling light. For once, I’m not stretching the truth here.

I’ve got one backpack and that’s my lot for this trip. After all, for an overnight stay, there was no need for the massive suitcase I had picked up in Chicago.

But onwards.

After a couple of hours of hours of poor quality dozing, I woke up and placed clothes on grabbed the rucksack and headed on out for an Uber onto the Coach station.

Thankfully, a driver picked up quickly, and I was on my way.

After being dropped off at Digbeth Coach Station, it was a matter of finding which stand the coach had been allocated.

Digbeth Coach station 

Seeing a stand allocated, the queue grew a lot.

Eventually, passengers were called forward in two groups – ones who were on the coach before and those who were joining at Birmingham.

Sadly, it seemed that basic comprehension is beyond some people with various people being turned back.

With the majority of the previous passengers onboard, the driver gave in and let everyone else board.

My ticket was checked for London, and I was allowed on.

National Express 423 Birmingham to London Heathrow Central Bus Station
Price paid £18.00 

When getting on the coach, the first issue was finding a pair of seats. As the coach had come in from Liverpool (and was continuing to london), there would be a risk that it would be packed.

Thankfully (for me) it was rather quiet, with no seats reserved. I therefore grabbed a pair of seats in Row 3 and settled in (what seems to be my traditional home on National Express).

Seats 

I’m sure we all know what a National Express coach seat looks like – with enough legroom to be comfortable and leather seats so if you’ve been sweating to slide all over. Although, they are wipe-clean.

The driver was a little direct with her explanations, but with everything settled, the coach pulled out of Digbeth on time, with it only stopping at Oxford and Heathrow Central Bus station.

This meant that the driver had a pretty free reign on how to get to those destinations. Getting out of Birmingham, they eschewed the normal route of the A45/M42/M40, but instead took the Alchester Road out of the city, heading straight down to the M40. At night, it seemed pretty time netural (because going through Kings Heath High Street during the day is not something I recommend… in any shape or form.

Similarly, after arriving at Oxford, as opposed to heading out of the city by heading north, the driver went south and looped south of the city.

Not that it mattered to me – I was more interested in knowing if they would head for Heathrow.

I got a little sleep on the coach, but nothing resembling deep sleep. However, when I opened my eyes, it appeared the coach had turned for the M25.

This was a good sign – especially as the coach turned off for the M4 and the Heathrow Approach road.

Coming off the M4 Spur 

Under the runway

Eventually, we made it to the Heathrow approach tunnels under the North Runway and finally to Heathrow Central Bus station… where the driver stopped in the entranceway as there was no bay for them to park in.

Waiting for a bay.

People tried to get off the coach and were told to sit back down until the coach had come to a parking spot. Because getting off in the middle of a road is a good idea…

Sigh. People

Eventually, with the coach coming to a stand, everyone rushed off the coach… not allowing the driver off to unload the luggage.

I was one of the last off, and let the driver off before me.

With that done, leg one had been done. I was at Heathrow Airport.

At this point, I double-checked which terminal I would be going from. Whilst the majority of flights are handled out of the wonder that is Terminal 5, British Airways maintains a presence at Terminal 3 for its less connection-dependant traffic.

Therefore it was back to BA.com to work out where my flight would be going from

With a confirmation I would be going from T3, I skipped getting a trolley and began the great walk underneath Heathrow Underground station, to the linkways that connect back to Termina 3.

Into the bus station 

The season of pink LED Lights. Aren’t RGB lights wonderful? 

The Great Trolley Push has more oomph than the Great Walk, I’ll be honest. It feels weird doing this without a suitcase and a bag full of stands.

Arriving at Terminal 3, I popped out into the darkness of a Heathrow morning.

Pink and Black.

British Airways handles its premium passengers at Zone D – the same zone as I normally end up for American Airlines premium passengers.

With that, I headed in and to the check-in desks. However, check-in staff were more in the mood to chat with each other, rather than serve passengers.  Not a good first impression.

Eventually, I was directed to a member of staff who wasn’t party to that conversation and checked in. There was an eyebrow raised as to why I was so early to check in, but it passed without incident.

After confirming that I knew where the lounges were, I was allowed to proceed.

With most of the escalators long gone from Terminal 3, it’s a matter of heading to a set of lifts to head up to security.

And of course, I headed to the Fast Track Security Lane.

Fast Track was moving at some speed, helped by the CT-Scanner type machines, so there was no need to unpack bags. I just needed two trays – one for the bag and one for the coat.

With the bag and my coat not being pushed aside for a secondary check, I was allowed to proceed.

The Terminal 3 shopping mall. 

Entering the joy of Terminal 3, I had a minor thought of picking up some new wireless earbuds. And gave up as the selection at InMotion was… not worth the time of day (or cost).

Or even the promise of 50% off a Wireless adaptor.

They do like to try and empty your pockets in this place. 

I doubled back to Boots to get a bottle of water to keep me going through the next day (as guess who left their water bottle at home again?).

With the basics done and my Heathrow rewards points topped up, it was time to head to a lounge.

And there might be something familiar with one of them. And different from another.

Next: Lounging Terminal 3 

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