Heathrow Terminal 5
23-Jan-09 - No, it's all right, this isn't going to be yet another rant about the awfulness of airports in general and LHR in particular. Apart from the fiasco of its opening, people have told me that, miraculoso, somebody, somewhere, for once, has actually expended some thought on how to design an airport, rather than just creating a mega shopping mall surrounded by aircraft. I have yet to catch a flight from there so I don't know how much of a marathon race-walker you have to be to get to the gates, but I can tell you that getting to check-in is, well, you may find this hard to believe, relatively easy. I got the Heathrow Express from Paddington (£32 return for two 21-minute journeys! How do they get away with it?) To Terminal 5. It no longer goes to Terminal 4: you have to change at Heathrow Central and get the Heathrow Connect service instead.
But, once there, the lifts are barely 100 metres from the platforms, and they take you straight up to the check-in hall. I don't know if it was a quiet day but I saw no three-mile queues at the desks such as are commonplace at all the other terminals (and at LGW, Luton, Stansted, etc., etc.). I was joined by our photographer, Myburg, who has actually flown from T5, and he confirmed that it's a lot more civilised than the rest of the airport. We were met by Cat Jordan, who looks after the press department, and she took us first to the security office where we had to show our passports and have a further photograph taken for airside passes. Once done, she led us through those 'secret' doors to which only the staff have access. I don't know if you've ever been 'behind the scenes' at an airport, but all those glamorous shopfronts and sole-destroying marble floors give way to plain concrete and industrial cladding. At security we had to show our passes and our passports again, and then go through x-ray. Yes, I know, you've done it a million times. But this was different. After x-ray our bags were meticulously unpacked and every item within scrutinised and checked with a kind of probe tipped with a piece of cloth. Cat told us that staff who work airside have to go through this every day on their arrival (although it's a bit less complicated as their records are already on file), and that if she has to go landside (for example, to meet us) and then come back, she has to go through it all over again. In the meantime, two security staff were taking Myburg's cameras and lights apart, as well as my laptop bag. This latter is a raggedy old canvas bag I got free at Madrid-Fusión in 2005 so, after four years, it's a bit the worse for wear. I keep meaning to replace it but it's just the right size for the laptop, cables, notebook, pens etc. that I need to carry. Cat explained that the probe is looking for traces of explosives: the cloth swab is inserted into a machine which analyses the dust it's picked up (quite a lot in my bag) and then beeps if it finds anything. It beeped. Apparently bags and other things (particularly cameras) which have been all over the world inevitably pick up some dodgy dust, and this is what appeared to happen. I did get through, but only after the guard had looked through my business cards and notebook, scrutinised my spare batteries and opened my memory stick and laptop lid.
I asked why security here, on a booked visit with full accreditation and escorted by a member of staff, was so much more stringent than for ordinary passengers. She said that, because passengers have booked and paid, "we already know quite a lot about them". This is another piece of evidence for my theory that the government has a massive database with all of us on it. Remember when I lost my passport in France? I gave the border guard the passport number and it was obvious that everything about me immediately popped up on the screen in front of him. And another thing, while we're on the subject of passports. The replacement document (£72!) Came with an embedded microchip and a built-in aerial loop, presumably so that they can snoop on what's in there without even asking to see it. And what is in there? I don't know, and I have no means of finding out.
But back to T5. Once airside we were to visit Plane Food, the major restaurant in the terminal, and part of the Gordon Ramsay empire. It's a big, airy space with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the tarmac, and so a plane-anorak's paradise. I interviewed Stuart Gillies, the chef, and his second in command Nathan Johnson about what it's like to cook in a restaurant which opens at 05:30 and closes at 21:30, seven days a week. There are certain challenges - passengers with only 20 minutes to spare, getting the right staff to fill the shifts - but somehow they make it all work. Myburg was photographing the food before I tasted it (the croque madame was spectacular) and if you want full details, the article will be published under the 'cooking in strange places' feature series in the April, 2009 issue of YES CHEF! Magazine.
Going back was actually slightly easier. No security, of course, and there were plenty of cabs at Paddington. The train back to Worthing was a sardine tin, as ever (four carriages for Littlehampton and four for Ore) so I once again had to sit in first class and pay the extra. It was rather disappointing as a week or so ago I discovered a 12-carriage train all the way to Littlehampton, but it may just have been a wild dream. Was home by 20:30, however, and getting stuck into a large one thereafter.
But, once there, the lifts are barely 100 metres from the platforms, and they take you straight up to the check-in hall. I don't know if it was a quiet day but I saw no three-mile queues at the desks such as are commonplace at all the other terminals (and at LGW, Luton, Stansted, etc., etc.). I was joined by our photographer, Myburg, who has actually flown from T5, and he confirmed that it's a lot more civilised than the rest of the airport. We were met by Cat Jordan, who looks after the press department, and she took us first to the security office where we had to show our passports and have a further photograph taken for airside passes. Once done, she led us through those 'secret' doors to which only the staff have access. I don't know if you've ever been 'behind the scenes' at an airport, but all those glamorous shopfronts and sole-destroying marble floors give way to plain concrete and industrial cladding. At security we had to show our passes and our passports again, and then go through x-ray. Yes, I know, you've done it a million times. But this was different. After x-ray our bags were meticulously unpacked and every item within scrutinised and checked with a kind of probe tipped with a piece of cloth. Cat told us that staff who work airside have to go through this every day on their arrival (although it's a bit less complicated as their records are already on file), and that if she has to go landside (for example, to meet us) and then come back, she has to go through it all over again. In the meantime, two security staff were taking Myburg's cameras and lights apart, as well as my laptop bag. This latter is a raggedy old canvas bag I got free at Madrid-Fusión in 2005 so, after four years, it's a bit the worse for wear. I keep meaning to replace it but it's just the right size for the laptop, cables, notebook, pens etc. that I need to carry. Cat explained that the probe is looking for traces of explosives: the cloth swab is inserted into a machine which analyses the dust it's picked up (quite a lot in my bag) and then beeps if it finds anything. It beeped. Apparently bags and other things (particularly cameras) which have been all over the world inevitably pick up some dodgy dust, and this is what appeared to happen. I did get through, but only after the guard had looked through my business cards and notebook, scrutinised my spare batteries and opened my memory stick and laptop lid.
I asked why security here, on a booked visit with full accreditation and escorted by a member of staff, was so much more stringent than for ordinary passengers. She said that, because passengers have booked and paid, "we already know quite a lot about them". This is another piece of evidence for my theory that the government has a massive database with all of us on it. Remember when I lost my passport in France? I gave the border guard the passport number and it was obvious that everything about me immediately popped up on the screen in front of him. And another thing, while we're on the subject of passports. The replacement document (£72!) Came with an embedded microchip and a built-in aerial loop, presumably so that they can snoop on what's in there without even asking to see it. And what is in there? I don't know, and I have no means of finding out.
But back to T5. Once airside we were to visit Plane Food, the major restaurant in the terminal, and part of the Gordon Ramsay empire. It's a big, airy space with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the tarmac, and so a plane-anorak's paradise. I interviewed Stuart Gillies, the chef, and his second in command Nathan Johnson about what it's like to cook in a restaurant which opens at 05:30 and closes at 21:30, seven days a week. There are certain challenges - passengers with only 20 minutes to spare, getting the right staff to fill the shifts - but somehow they make it all work. Myburg was photographing the food before I tasted it (the croque madame was spectacular) and if you want full details, the article will be published under the 'cooking in strange places' feature series in the April, 2009 issue of YES CHEF! Magazine.
Going back was actually slightly easier. No security, of course, and there were plenty of cabs at Paddington. The train back to Worthing was a sardine tin, as ever (four carriages for Littlehampton and four for Ore) so I once again had to sit in first class and pay the extra. It was rather disappointing as a week or so ago I discovered a 12-carriage train all the way to Littlehampton, but it may just have been a wild dream. Was home by 20:30, however, and getting stuck into a large one thereafter.
posted by John Radford at
12:26
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home