London Heathrow: Terminal 1
Operated By: |
 British Airports Authority (BAA) |
Website: |
www.heathrow.com |
Terminals: |
4 - 2, 3, 4, 5 |
This Review: |
Terminal 1 (now closed) |
Rating: |
 |
| LHR LONDON TT0107 /221750 |
Last updated 29/07/2007
General: |
What can you say about Heathrow when it is one of the worlds largest airports and Terminal 1 is the largest terminal. Despite facelift and good signing it is still a rabbit warren of passageways and walkways |
Appearance: |
It's very difficult to get a proper glimpse of the outside of Heathrow (except from 5,000 ft) as approach to the airport is through tunnels. Inside its clean and smart but still a 1950's/60's building |
Inbound
Domestic
From the gates its quite a trudge back into the main terminal building and the light and airy large baggage reclaim hall. From there it’s through a door and out into a dingy corner of the check-in area
International
It felt as though I had landed somewhere closer to Cardiff than London by the time I had finally walked from the gate to Passport Control. It takes a good 10 minutes to walk from the top of the airbridge to the main part of the airport. Thankfully there are moving walkways for most of the way!
There were long queues for those passengers coming from non-EU countries. Single open passageway with official waiving EU passport holders through.
Given the number of flights that land at Heathrow and come through Terminal 1 it was surprising how few belts that they had available. There is lots of space though so you don't feel too claustrophobic
Quite a large customs hall with lots of desks for opening peoples luggage on, but when I went through there was not a member of customs in sight!
Heathrow is well served for connections. Terminals 1, 2 & 3 share their own Piccadilly line (Metro) and Heathrow Express (Train) stations. The main central bus station is located just outside the terminals with buses serving most of West London and coaches into Central London and other major cities.
Outbound
Domestic
The domestic side of security is a lot smaller that the international side (not really surprising) but has a number of shops and cafe's. BA has its own departure lounge with all its services leaving from the same gates next to each other
International
Passport control and security are just behind the check in desks and lead to a very, very, very large departures area, with passengers leaving from the far gates told to leave themselves as much as 15 minutes to walk there!. A very large selection of shops - including a Harrods and a large duty free shop - are available. Departure lounges for each gate
There are no bars on the land-side of the airport, but once you are through to air-side there is quite a lot of choice in the large departures hall.
There are a couple of cafe's, mostly located near the arrivals area on the land-side. Once through security there is a choice of several cafe's.
On the land-side there are about 3 or 4 restaurants and a couple of fast food outlets. Once through to air-side there are several more food outlets offering a wide choice of food.
The main part of the terminal resembles a small shopping mall rather than the check in area of a major international airport. Once you are through security the area opens out into a very very large shopping complex with most of the major high street chains having an outlet.
The toilets are, on the whole, clean and well maintained.
