In message
Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
08:06:49 on Fri, 11 Apr 2008, John B remarked:
Oh dear there's currently a minimum connection time of 1 hour for BA
flights, having to transfer from terminal 4 to terminal 5 has blown
that. This is going to add several hours to many BA journeys.

Eh? Pre-T5, nearly all BA short-haul went out of T1 and nearly all
long-haul went out of T4.

Until June, nearly all short-haul will go out of T5 and nearly all
long-haul will go out of T4.

That's *exactly the same as it's been for the last 15 years*. It just
hasn't got better quite as soon as it was supposed to...

In the mean time, there will be passengers who have booked connecting
flights supposedly made newly-possible because both long and short haul
were at T5. They may have to re-book, or some very special transfer
arrangements made (I suppose they could bus them across the tarmac
having met them at the airbridge, but it's all a lot of faffing about).

Not impossible though, I've had a similar experience at Madrid when we got in
late from Heathrow for a connecting flight to Buenos Aires. There was about
half a dozen of us making the transfer so they opened the rear door on the
aircraft and we deplaned straight to a bus which took us across to the
international terminal.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

In message , at 17:58:49 on Fri,
11 Apr 2008, Graeme Wall remarked:
In the mean time, there will be passengers who have booked connecting
flights supposedly made newly-possible because both long and short haul
were at T5. They may have to re-book, or some very special transfer
arrangements made (I suppose they could bus them across the tarmac
having met them at the airbridge, but it's all a lot of faffing about).

Not impossible though, I've had a similar experience at Madrid when we got in
late from Heathrow for a connecting flight to Buenos Aires. There was about
half a dozen of us making the transfer so they opened the rear door on the
aircraft and we deplaned straight to a bus which took us across to the
international terminal.

Of course it happens from time to time[1]. But having to potentially
organise it for a significant number of people on 50 flights every day
will get tiresome.

[1] I've had it happen to me once in 25 years, and at least once
conspicuous *not* happen almost causing me to miss a connection having
literally run a mile.
--
Roland Perry

In message
Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 17:58:49 on Fri,
11 Apr 2008, Graeme Wall remarked:
In the mean time, there will be passengers who have booked connecting
flights supposedly made newly-possible because both long and short haul
were at T5. They may have to re-book, or some very special transfer
arrangements made (I suppose they could bus them across the tarmac
having met them at the airbridge, but it's all a lot of faffing about).

Not impossible though, I've had a similar experience at Madrid when we
got in late from Heathrow for a connecting flight to Buenos Aires. There
was about half a dozen of us making the transfer so they opened the rear
door on the aircraft and we deplaned straight to a bus which took us
across to the international terminal.

Of course it happens from time to time[1]. But having to potentially
organise it for a significant number of people on 50 flights every day
will get tiresome.

Tiresome agreed, I got the impression it was a fairly normal occurence at
Barajas. But then most things about that airport were tiresome, especially
Iberia.


[1] I've had it happen to me once in 25 years, and at least once
conspicuous *not* happen almost causing me to miss a connection having
literally run a mile.

Im suspect you have more experience than me in this field, living in the
south most of my long-haul flights are single hops either from LHR or LGW.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html