Heathrow T5 Fast Track

Ballard

I am flying with BA to Zagreb at the end of August and booked the flights departing around lunchtime on the respective days. BA cancelled both of these and put me out at around 9.00 and landing back at 22.40. Neither of these are ideal but there's not a lot I can do about it.

There's no way I can get to Heathrow earlier than 07:30 as I rely on public transport so I've booked a nearby hotel and can get a bus a few stops fairly easily. I've used Avios and am flying business which theoretically gets me fast track security but from what I've read this isn't currently open (T5) and it's taking people 90 minutes to clear security. I genuinely have a bad back and can't stand still for that length of time. Does anyone have any recent experience of T5 security? I normally wake up early so if the queues are that bad I can get there for 06:00 or even 05:30 but would rather not, even though I have lounge access.

I'm hoping that there aren't delays on the return journey as the absolute latest I can leave the airport and hope to get my last train from London Bridge is around 23:50. Having paid for an unexpected hotel I'd really rather not add an expensive cab journey to that.

Doshwaster

I went through T5 (north) security last week at 5:30am and was through in 5 minutes. As a BA Silver Card holder, I'm entitled to Fast Track but it wasn't open that early in the morning. I think currently they only open it at busy times.

The BA lounges are open from 5am so I would suggest leaving the hotel as soon as possible as the local buses run all night. If you are lucky and get through quick then that's just extra time having breakfast in the lounge

Ballard

Thanks for that, Doshwaster. I’ll aim to get there between 5:30 & 6:00 and hopefully have an equally stress-free through the airport.