Sometimes British Airways gets things right and in this instance it is the new First Wing at London Heathrow Terminal 5. High status passengers previously had access to Fast Track security which is not that fast since you need to line up with the many people who are eligible for Fast Track.
As of earlier this week, there is now the First Wing which makes things just that much better. How much better? I am amazed at just how great this is!
First Wing
The new First Wing is a security screening and check-in just for first class passengers and Gold frequent flyers. People who are oneworld Emerald are also eligible.
It’s The Galleries First Lounge!
Once you arrive at the end of the corridor, you enter directly into the Galleries First lounge. No more having to go down escalators, past the shops and back up some more escalators. This saves real time!
Overall Thoughts
Congratulations to the person who thought up this idea! The First Wing is exclusive, quiet, an easy experience and a real time saver. It makes Heathrow Terminal 5 security an easy and painless experience. I can’t stress how good this is, as security at Heathrow is always such a pain.
When travelling through the airport, if you can, use this. Mind. Blown! Thank you very much for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
HI Trent, good to know though unlikely that I will fly BA First or be a One World Superstar soon as I focus on Star Alliance. Singapore Airlines has a similar thing for First, Business & Krisflyer Solitaire passengers in Singapore. Unfortunately security in Singapore happens at the gate, so doesn’t include this at check-in
Well there you go – I was not aware they used to have the same thing in T4. I never flew BA when they were in T4, so that’s great information to know. I am aware it was the airport preventing it happening before this.
Very true with regards to the secret door to the Concorde Room. I used it once myself. It’s now been closed apparently, so no more secret door. To be fair, it’s not exactly far to walk from the end of the Galleries First lounge to the Concorde Room though I guess it will create more traffic in that end of the lounge.
Thanks for the comment!
absolutely Trent, and as I say, it wasn’t to diss your post – I do think this is a great upgrade from BA. I do wonder, if the reason it took so long was that BA wanted to fully write-off the cost to BAA for the amount BA paid them to let 1st class pax, skip past the gauntlet of shops and have that TCR door. As you say, certainly no hardship to walk across the hall 🙂
Oh I know you weren’t dissing the post 🙂 … I heard that BA had to do some kind of customer behaviour research to prove that the people who usually visited the First Class lounges did not usually buy products at the airport. This is what convinced the airport to allow it apparently… who knows though!
Could you do a report on the lounge, thank you
I have – you should click on the words “Galleries First lounge” linked after the heading “It’s The Galleries First Lounge”. That links to my review of the lounge. Thanks for reading!