| Unlike Gatwick, at least Heathrow is somewhere near
London. Still 17 miles west of Central London, but that counts as close in
aircraft terms. Actually I rather like Heathrow. It's only 8 miles from home,
so it's not hard to get to, there's even a direct bus route - not that I'd
recommend it.. It's more 'up-market', it's where the scheduled long haul
flights leave from, and British Airways has most of Terminal 4 to itself.
Also, until recently and crucial (to me), it's where the flights for the US leave from.
Overall there are 4 terminals - well 5 really, but Terminal 5 won't open for a while yet (phase 1, April 2008, phase 2 in 2011). Without being pedantic about it, T1 is for local and short-haul flights, mostly within the UK. T2 is for European flights whilst T3 is for intercontinental long-haul flights by most carriers except BA and T4 is for most long-haul flights by BA. The rules aren't entirely rigid and there a few continental flights which leave T1 and the odd intercontinental flight which leaves T2. This nice happy arrangement is due to get stirred up when T5 opens, as T5 is for BA, I wonder what they are going to do with T4 when BA move out. In each terminal check-in for all departures is at ground level although a few desks are down about half a level in T1. Once you've dumped your bags the departure lounges tend to be at 1st floor level and the remaining ground floor area is for Arrivals. At peak times they get very very busy as the whole airport is close to saturation much of the time and queues can become quite horrendous. For instance, BA check-in at Terminal 4 is typically 45 minutes and at times I've waited over an hour. Then just occasionally, I'd arrive at T4, and I'm through and in the departure lounges in 10 minutes.
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