British Airways T5

I just wanted to point out that my first experience of Terminal 5 and British Airways was absolutely superb.
We stopped Xmas night in the Sofitel, which has lovely big rooms, and is a 5 minute walk from the departure lounge. I had checked in online the day before, so we had boarding passes with us, and only had to go to fast baggage drop, where there were no queues at all, and within 5 minutes of arriving we had got rid of suitcases and skis, and had time for a quick coffee before our flight boarded.
The plane was only a small airbus A320, but it was equipped with refurbished leather seats and plenty of leg room. Service on board was efficient and friendly, and FREE!
Flight time was 1 hour 40 to Munich, so we arrived 15 minutes early.
Munich Airport is the height of efficiency, and is superbly built. I'd fly there every time given the chance.
We offloaded quickly, and by the time we had walked the 100 metres or so through passport control and into baggage reclaim, my 2 suitcases were arriving on the carousel, and a man appeared with my ski bag and personally handed them to me.
Car Hire is clearly signed, although its in T2 at Munich, which meant a 5 minute walk involving some moving walkways.
The car was parked exactly where it was described, and we were on the motorway in less than 30 minutes after disembarking the plane.

On returning to Munich, car hire is all in 1 car park, and you drive in to the multi storey to be met by a team of people who help you unload and take the car away for you, leaving you to walk the 50 meters into the terminal building.
Check in at Munich was done at the automated check in machines, and again baggage was offloaded without any hassle or queuing.
The departure lounge at Munich T1B was quiet, clean, airy, pleasant and well equipped. We had a nice lunch whilst waiting for the flight to arrive, and we actually took off 15 minutes early, this time on a smaller A319 Airbus, again well staffed with highly experienced cabin crew who made us welcome and were attentive.
The flight arrived early, and on arriving at T5, bags were already on the carousel, along with skis, and we were able to walk to the bus stop, get to the waiting bus and back to the car at T5 long stay park plus within 30 minutes of landing again.

I have to say, I know BA are generally more expensive than the likes of Ryanair and Easyjet, but not that much when you add everything in, and remember BA dont charge for ski carriage, and with that in mind, and the experience of Heathrow T5, I would seriously consider paying a little extra if thats what you get in return.

I have to say the whole aspect of the journey was relaxing and enjoyable, and nothing like the crap I am going to have to put up with on Sunday when we fly Monarch from Gatwick to Innsbruck.

Tony_H wrote:I just wanted to point out that my first experience of Terminal 5 and British Airways was absolutely superb.

A lot of people are saying that, looks like a basically god design was let down by the typically poor project management.

Tony_H wrote:.
The departure lounge at Munich T1B was quiet, clean, airy, pleasant and well equipped.

back in the days when I used to fly for work Munich was my favourite hub to change for the US compared to CdG, Frankfurt, Schipol or Heathrow at least.

Sitting in T5 as I type this. Been through here maybe 20 times in the last 12 months and evrytime it has been a pleasure!!!

Once on opening day, lost all my bags.

Nice place, though...

Its a shame then that BA cant do somethng with the fuel surcharges they applied to my Feb holiday when i booked last year! Charge 'extra' £150 per person and even tho fuel prices have dropped 'substantially' if press to be believed, no reduction / rebate! Makes you wonder if worth booking 8 months in advance?
Apart from that, i'm looking forward to T5 now, thanks for the positive updates on it.

BA is always my first choice of airline, price permitting, although if you book at the earliest available time it really is not too expensive i.e we paid £86 return for our Salzburg flights 20-27 December. As usual everything went really smooth, having said all of that I have yet to fly from T5 but from what I've read seems to be a pleasant enough experience.

Thanks for the info I'll be using T5 in March :lol:

The bit where you get off the train, and many of the areas you have to pass through, still look like a Cold War missile silo. But agreed, the main departures bit is swanky. Perhaps too swanky for these times? De Beers diamond with your bottle of water anyone?

Also - do watch out as BA has some very stringent 'if you're not through security by X minutes before your flight you ain't gettin' on' policies. OH who has more air miles than Santa got caught out on a hop to Scotland.