Heathrow Terminal 2

theirishhoser

Going through it later this week (Aer Lingus and Air Canada). Wondering if anyone has any experience going through it/transferring. Just curious.

athtrasna

Friend flew home from Heathrow T2 with Aer Lingus last week. Said it's a nice terminal but was very cold.

coylemj

The only disimprovement from the old T1 I read about in the papers and on Twitter is that the Paddington Express is now miles away, everything else involves a much shorter walk and there are much better facilities (shopping & restaurants) airside.

corktina

Aer Lingus started using this on 9th July (in case it has escaped notice) They kindly emailed me on the 17th to tell me. (Missed it on my boarding pass and went to term 1 ....doh)

Ironically called the Queens Terminal, it is a huge improvement on the corrugated tunnel at Term 1.

Why they put the biometric point immediately in front of the gate I don't know. A likely cause of delay I would think

LXFlyer

corktina wrote: »

Aer Lingus started using this on 9th July (in case it has escaped notice) They kindly emailed me on the 17th to tell me. (Missed it on my boarding pass and went to term 1 ....doh)

Ironically called the Queens Terminal, it is a huge improvement on the corrugated tunnel at Term 1.

Why they put the biometric point immediately in front of the gate I don't know. A likely cause of delay I would think

Well without creating a separately cordoned off domestic/Ireland flights area as there is in T1 it's impossible otherwise.

jjbrien

Thank god the worm hole that was the Irish flights area of T1 is gone. Im looking forwarding to landing in T2 next month.

Is it like LGW when you land and you walk pass immigration? Im connecting to another flight at T3

corktina

lxflyer wrote: »

Well without creating a separately cordoned off domestic/Ireland flights area as there is in T1 it's impossible otherwise.

Are you saying that international passengers don't get biometriced?

LXFlyer

corktina wrote: »

Are you saying that international passengers don't get biometriced?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. It only applies to UK Domestic and Irish passengers.


This was first introduced when Terminal 5 was opened and Heathrow abandoned the policy of having separate UK domestic/Irish and International departures lounge. All UK Domestic passengers at T5 (there are currently no Irish flights from there) had a facial biometric image taken when passing through to the departures lounge, and then a second image was taken at the departures gate to ensure they matched. The thinking behind it was to have an additional check to ensure that international passengers didn't circumnavigate UK immigration.


The same setup (common departures lounge and biometric images for UK Domestic and Irish passengers) was then introduced at Terminal 1. However the difference between T1 and T5 was that in T1 the UK Domestic and Irish flights all departed from a set of gates that could be securely separated from the others, thus allowing a separate checking area.


Flight departures from Terminal 2 and terminal 5 to UK Domestic and Irish destinations do not happen from a completely separate area than the International lounge, hence the checks take place at the gate.


Here's some more information:
http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/heathrow-security/flying-within-the-uk-and-republic-of-ireland

Strumms

I flew into it and back from T2 last night. A really nice experience, firstly because of the fact that most of the airlines haven't moved into it yet so it was practically a ghost town yet all the shops bars and restaurants were up and running. It's a bright airy terminal, very modern and the best thing is the gates are just situated beside everything there is no walking as such so no lugging yourself and your carry on down the pier like in T1

corktina

yeah, I reckon that restaurant will be dead handy as a place to wait for your flight.... literally at gate 21b

circular flexing

lxflyer wrote: »

http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/heathrow-security/flying-within-the-uk-and-republic-of-ireland

Can you (or anyone) explain what protection this provides?

LXFlyer

circular flexing wrote: »

Can you (or anyone) explain what protection this provides?

It's specifically because all departures now go from a common departures lounge - so as an extra precaution against international transit passengers at Heathrow breaching UK immigration and boarding a domestic/Irish flight they added this extra check in addition to the usual ID/boarding pass check.