Heathrow Connection T3 to T5

[Anna]

I landed on QF1 on time this morning and had no trouble making it to T5 in time for boarding commencing at 8.05 for my domestic sector (8.45am departure). I was in the T5 lounge by 7.30am. I even had time for a quick shower in the lounge before heading to the B gates via the train.

 

[PeterA]

Thanks Anna for that and well done for getting there on time . The 8.15am BA flight to Geneva is just too much of a squeeze especially with the inconsistent arrival times. The following QF1 flight is already 55 mins late into LHR and the previous few flights to yours were not even close. There used to be a BA flight to GVA about 9.30am which was ideal but maybe with the forced reduction in arrivals imposed by Heathrow Airport, or economics, it no longer exits.

 

[serfty]

Thanks Anna for that and well done for getting there on time . The 8.15am BA flight to Geneva is just too much of a squeeze especially with the inconsistent arrival times. The following QF1 flight is already 55 mins late into LHR and the previous few flights to yours were not even close. There used to be a BA flight to GVA about 9.30am which was ideal but maybe with the forced reduction in arrivals imposed by Heathrow Airport, or economics, it no longer exits.

@Anna was lucky, ExpertFlyer indicates the on time performance for QF1 into LHR over the last two months is 3% with an average delay of 65 minutes!

Results from https://www.ExpertFlyer.com

Flight Availability Search
Departing SIN on 02/05/23 12:00 am for LHR, Flying QF 
                                                                     Frequency
Flight        Stops  Depart             Arrive             Aircraft  Reliability    
0 Connections
QF 1          0      SIN                LHR                388       Daily          
                     02/05/23 11:30 PM  03/05/23 6:35 AM             3% / 65m

 

[Mr H]

Thanks Anna for that and well done for getting there on time . The 8.15am BA flight to Geneva is just too much of a squeeze especially with the inconsistent arrival times. ... There used to be a BA flight to GVA about 9.30am which was ideal.

Anna was lucky, ExpertFlyer indicates the on time performance for QF1 into LHR over the last two month is 3% with an average delay of 65 minutes!

Based on the Expert Flyer data, even a 9.30 flight would probably work only half the time.

 

[PeterA]

That's true . Is it my imagination or since the Covid lockdowns has QF1's tardiness only gotten worse? Pre-covid, the couple of times I made this particular connection to the BA 9.25am (I actually looked up my 2019 booking) flight to GVA, it was never an issue.

 

[Anna]

2 things about T5:

As usual, the actual gate your flight will use only becomes known a few mins ahead of boarding time. My BA flight yesterday was reading 'will depart A gates' when I checked at 7.30am, but then the actual gate was shown as B45 which was nervewracking because B and C gates require a short train transfer. And I once nearly missed a flight (at MIA) when I didn't realise the gate was a train ride away.

Something new to me - at the T5 immigration gate I had to scan my passport and do the usual facial recognition check. The new bit was that thereafter I had to scan my BP twice before boarding and each time the machine checked facial recognition as well as the code on the BP - by which I mean I had to stand in specific spots so my face could be checked against the BP. It must have been taking the facial info from the passport check, I don't know where else it could have got the info from.