The original white elephant was a sly gift from the King of Thailand to one of his arrogant nobles. It looked magnificent, but needed special food, and as a religious symbol it had to be made accessible to anyone who wished to worship it. In the end, the noble was ruined by the expense. A white elephant has come to mean a burdensome possession, more trouble than it’s worth, as British Airways found when Terminal 5 opened at Heathrow last month.  All but one lift stopped working, the baggage handling system collapsed, and hundreds of flights had to be cancelled.

The consolation for people not directly involved in the chaos is that once these teething troubles are resolved, this will be the best terminal in the UK from which to travel. Seven years in the making at a cost of £4.3 billion, Terminal 5 is a truly stunning collection of steel and glass structures with a tremendous sense of space. For passengers using it to fly to France this summer, it should be an enhancing experience all of its own.

Terminal 5 accommodates most British Airways flights but expect in due course some changes in terminals used by other airlines operating out of Heathrow. It is much more important to check your exact point of departure than in previous years.

Terminal 5 is 15 miles west of central London and although road signs to it are in the process of being improved, at present there are significant gaps. The one essential piece of information is that the new terminal is reached via Junction 14 on the M25. None of the signs directing passengers either to Terminals 1, 2 and 3, or to Terminal 4, is in any way helpful.  The M4 motorway serves the remaining Heathrow terminals but its only relevance to your journey to Terminal 5 is its connection to the M25. If you are coming via the M4, leave at junction 4B and follow the M25 south to junction 14, the exit point to Terminal 5.

The new terminal is the only Heathrow terminal with direct access from the M25, and on a dedicated link. However, as regular users of the M25 will be well aware, this can be both the fastest and the most frustrating journey imaginable. If you have to travel during peak hours, or in bad weather, allow at least double the normal time and be prepared for slow-moving traffic.

Security at Terminal 5 is particularly tight and although there are dedicated lanes for dropping off passengers and their luggage, expect to be asked to move on almost immediately. If you leave a vehicle unattended, even for a moment, the chances are that it will be removed by the police and cost a great deal of money to recover.

Using the short stay car park both to see people off and collect them on their return is convenient but expensive. However it is located close to the terminal and can take up to 3,800 cars, so it is unlikely to be full. Finding a space has been made much easier by what is promised to be a state-of-the-art bay monitoring system. This can also be used to find your car upon your return, should you forget on which of the six levels you elected to park.

Much cheaper if you are leaving your car for long periods, such as during your villa holiday, is the long stay car park. This has 2,200 spaces and can be found on the runway side of Heathrow’s North Perimeter Road. The coach transfer to the terminal is free, operates 24 hours, takes just under 10 minutes and operates every 10 minutes. There are options of business parking and valet parking, but neither seems worth the premium unless you are particularly short of time. Valet parking operates from a building at the far end of the departures forecourt. Business parking, like the long stay park, is located on the North Perimeter Road, but is half the time and distance from the terminal.

If you intend to take a taxi home after your return journey, Terminal 5’s taxi rank is situated at the bus and coach station, at Ground Level Arrivals, directly opposite the main terminal building.

Terminal 5 has an underground station and a particularly fast direct
overland rail service on Heathrow Express to London Paddington,
which operates every quarter of an hour and takes just over 20
minutes. The new Heathrow Express Station is located directly
under the terminal for easy access. It is worth noting, however, that trains do not run between 11.30 pm and 5 am in the morning.

For those passengers unable to check in online, there are 96 selfservice check-in kiosks available at the terminal. The next stage is to get rid of your luggage at one of
the Fast Bag Drop points. If you are late, the sophisticated
baggage handling system, capable when fully operational of dealing with 12,000 bags an hour, can route your luggage distinctly to the departure gate.

It is claimed that passengers can be processed from start to finish in ten minutes on an average day, but such optimism proved sadly misplaced at the opening of the terminal. The immaculate, ergonomically perfect design may still not prevent queues at the new terminal at the height of summer.  Security checks remain unpredictable at any time of year and it will still be necessary to arrive early.

If you do have to wait, Terminal 5 certainly offers much more pleasant surroundings than the rest of Heathrow. With 30,000 square metres of glass, 5 levels each the size of a football pitch, 9,000 seats and 800 toilets, it is customer-friendly, spacious and welcoming. There are nearly 90 shops and 25 catering outlets, many geared to providing a quality meal in a short space of time.  Perhaps the most interesting is Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant in a beautiful natural light setting with views out over the 60 aircraft stands and the runways. Its name: Plane Food.

From our April 2008 newsletter