To Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 with FlixBus
More Passenger Innovations in Hamburg
It’s time to head off into the wetness of a morning and face the early morning coach to London Heathrow. Well, your author isn’t driving, so at least that’s one less thing to worry about.
In this week of passenger experience fun:
- Back to Hamburg Again. And yes, keeping it simple
- To Heathrow Airport with FlixBus and Terminal 5
- British Airways Galleries South, Terminal 5
- BA964 London Heathrow to Hamburg (Club Europe – New Configuration)
- The joy of the European Entry/Exit System and into Hamburg
- The Ibis Budget St Pauli (Refurbished)
- A walk through the Hamburg Dom Fair (Spring Fair)
- What you might have missed from Aircraft Interiors Expo 2026
- Off the Camera Roll – Exploring Hamburg during the quiet moments
- Escape from the Messe and Return to Hamburg Airport
- Hamburg Airport Lounge and European Entry/Exit System queues
- BA969 Hamburg to London Heathrow (Club Europe – Old Configuration)
- A Luggage Mess and a Messier Coach Ride Home
- Continued Innovation
Back to Great Charles Street Queensway
Another early morning start – and around 4 am, your author is out of the flat, because this is a logical time to travel. On the plus side, I don’t have to worry about annoyances like the cost of fuel and parking at Heathrow.
The last trip for this bag. At the end of the trip, there was a nasty little fault on it that took it out of service. Rest well, bag I got in Stuttgart.
As well as a lack of sleep the night before.
With those considerations, I hopped an Uber for the short ride into the city centre and to Great Charles Street Queensway, where the Flixbus stop is. It’s been just under a month since I was here last… and it’s still an open-air bus stop, with confusion ruling the roost.
The mob at the FlixBus spot
No matter – it seemed the 920 to Heathrow and Gatwick had just arrived. After presenting my ticket and getting scanned, the suitcase was put in the hold.
Boarding the bus, it’s Flixbus Green. It’s also the full coach configuration, with the toilet at the back – thus, tight legroom is the order of the day.
It is green.
More Green.
At least I didn’t have to kick anyone out of their seats. That’s a positive thing.
The coach was a few minutes late leaving Birmingham, but soon enough, it was off, taking the motorways. At least the natives aboard the coach were quiet, allowing me some quiet time before the joy of dealing with people.
And people at airports. Considering I’m fast going down the line of what ex would say (Eww. People), this is… a sentiment I share sometimes with the world.
The route coach took was the motorway routes to Heathrow, exiting Birmingham along the Aston Expressway, onto the M6, down the M42, onto the M40, across the M25 and down the M4. At least there’s no poking around the back routes.
I’d get that surprise on the way home.
With the coach taking the direct routes, we were soon at Heathrow Central Bus Station, where there was a 15-minute layover.
Welcome to Royston Vasley
Emirates A380 guardian
I could have moved to local buses or the tube to continue the journey, but honestly, I was too comfortable. Or is it too lazy? It was early in the morning still, so getting an alternative route to Terminal 5 wasn’t worth moving my backside. It was easier to stay on the bus.
The coach pulled out of the Central Bus Station and started to make its way around the North Perimeter Road, with a Qantas A380 greeting me as we passed.
Completing a long trip.
Arriving at Terminal 5, it was time to enjoy finding my way around. I also needed to make a decision – whether to check a bag or not for this flight.
I pondered this on the elevator ride up to departures.
Depatures
Welcome to the Thunderdome – Heathrow Terminal 5
Whilst everything I had could have gone through with me, and cut down the time waiting at the airport, I opted for laziness. One less thing to drag around would work well in this environment.
Thus, it was time to head to Zone A to check in and drop my bags. Whilst I could have used the self-baggage drop, there was one act of… spite – yes, that’s the right word – I needed to do.
And that’s changing my frequent flyer number on the reservation. You can’t tell I’m done with The British Airways Club in any sense, can’t you?
At least on a business class ticket, I was able to use Fast Track to get through the security queue quickly.
Security took around 5 minutes to clear (and most of the wait was down to a backlog of items that needed to be scanned). My bag passed muster, and I was allowed to proceed to the airside part of the terminal.
At this point, I had a decision to make – Do I go to the North or South lounge? With the Hamburg flight always being a gamble on which A gate the flight is departing from (as British Airways has an aversion to showing gate numbers until the last minute).
Thus I needed a deciding factor.
Post-Security.
I checked FlightRadar 24 and saw which directions flights were taking off/landing, with them all heading west. Thus, the decision is made to head to the South Lounge and hope I can nab a window seat.
So it’s time to negotiate the path to the lounge via the most shops possible. Remember, Heathrow is optimised to extract as much cash out of you as it can between check-in and the departure gate.
Down we go!
The joke that Heathrow is a mall with airbridges isn’t far off the mark some days. Heck, they’ve monetised the Heathrow Bears at last…
£27.99?!?!!?!?!?!?!
Thankfully, passing the shopping mall, I reached the heady heights of the British Airways South Lounge complex.
Next:
British Airways Galleries South. What innovations have they brought here?
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