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March 12, 2008

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WHERE'S JOHNNY JET?                                 Heathrow's Terminal 5
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TOUR OF T5
I have never seen as much hype over a new airport terminal as I did at London Heathrow's Terminal 5. The progress has been periodically reported in the U.S. papers but I had no idea what a huge deal it was until this moment: I was sitting in the British Airways headquarters just before my exclusive tour. It was such a privilege that the majority of BA's 47,000 employees hadn't even seen it and the ones I spoke to were actually jealous. They all kept asking me afterwards what it was like. "What do you think? Will it pay off for BA?" Well, I wish I had pictures or video to show you just how amazing this place is but unfortunately, cameras were not allowed. They don't want competitors to steal their ideas and they want everyone to be "wowed" when they see the finished product with their own eyes.

HEATHROW AIRPORT
Heathrow has over 1,300 daily flights from 90 different airlines. If you travel to London frequently, you know that this place has always been a nightmare. They are way over capacity, they had implemented draconian baggage rules (only one carry-on per person), they've got the most lost bags and an endless cycle of construction. But no construction project has been bigger than that of T5. The project cost £4.3 billion! Now, things are starting to change for the world's busiest airport. On January 7th, the carry-on baggage rules changed, which will help alleviate the lost baggage problems and the much-anticipated T5 is opening up in a couple of weeks.

IMPROVING CUSTOMER RELATIONS
The good news for the 60 million people passing through Heathrow Airport is that T5 will be able to handle half of them! British Airways operates almost 40 percent of Heathrow's flights and only their planes will have access to T5. Not even their codeshare partners will use it ... they'll use T3. BA's number one goal for this project is to improve their customer's experience, which in turn will make them more money. So they polled their customers to find out what mattered most to them. They discovered that customers wanted to spend less time in line and more time in the departures area. They wanted their baggage to show up and in a timely fashion. And they wanted to depart and arrive on time. Yeah, no kidding. Besides arriving safely, I couldn't agree more.

GLAMOUR
Kudos to BA and the BAA (British Airport Authority) for putting all their chips on the table in creating T5, which will handle 80,000 passengers a day. They hired Richard Rogers Barajas, the same architect who designed Madrid's Terminal 4 and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The goal was to make it contemporary, bright, and stress-free. Parts of the 40-meter high, 396-meter long building are eco-friendly: 85% of the water will be recycled rain and they've planted 300,000 shrubs and trees. Here's a list of the other green features. There are 140 customer service desks, which include 96 Fast Bag Drops for the 80% of customers who check-in online 24 hours in advance. In addition, there are 96 check-in kiosks (in five languages).

T5 SECURITY
Security will be state-of-the-art as well. No more taking off shoes or lugging your computer out of its bag. Domestic passengers will have their photo taken and their fingerprints scanned at both security and at the gate so gate agents can verify that it's the same person boarding. (British driver’s licenses don't have photos.) To get the planes out on time, T5 was built close to the runway for less taxiing. But also, passengers will now need to be at security 35 minutes before the flight or they won't get on their flight ... no more exceptions.

BAGGAGE
The baggage system can handle 12,000 bags an hour and baggage claim will feature screens that alert passengers to the amount of time before luggage will be coming down the carrousel. I love that! They will also be x-rayed after receiving them and before releasing them to make sure all the contents are safe and to stop insider thieves. The goal is to have passengers travel from the curb through security in 10 minutes. In doing so, they will bring the glamour back into travel. They think that with their new facilities, passengers will arrive earlier to shop or just to hang out.

SATELLITES
Terminal 5 will have three departure areas. T5A will be the mother base with 19 gates and the majority of the retail outlets. T5B is one of their two satellites and will have 14 gates, mainly used for long-haul flights. T5C, which won't be open until 2010, will have 14 gates including the ones servicing British Airways' A380. FYI: To get to the satellite terminals, passengers jump on a 45-second transit system ride that will whisk passengers back and forth every 90 seconds.

FACILITIES
Now for the good stuff! T5A and B will have 144 stores and restaurants. They will feature shops found on Bond Street, like Gucci, Prada, Coach and Tiffany. But it will also have the more affordable shops that can be found on High Street, like HMV and Boots. In addition, there will be the second largest Harrods in the world and a separate Harrods food court. Speaking of food, Gordon Ramsay, England's acclaimed chef, is opening up a restaurant called Plane Food that he hopes will be the first Michelin star restaurant that's airside. Other eateries will include a sushi bar, seafood restaurant, Wagamama, Italian cafés and many others. For better or for worse, they will even have a Krispy Kreme.

BUSINESS LOUNGES
If you want to kick back, there's an Elemis Spa to book a pre-flight massage. If you want to work, you can log on to the wireless Internet throughout the building (it's free in the lounges). If you're flying in premium class or have a lounge pass, there will now be six lounges all together. They are collectively known as galleries and can hold up to 2,500 passengers at once! Inside will be 95 showers. If you want more than a shower, next-door is the new five-star Sofitel. From many of those rooms and inside the terminal, visitors can see Windsor Castle on a clear day.

MARCH 27, 2008
Hopefully, you will be flying through Heathrow on or after March 27. The first flight to arrive into T5 is going to be BA28 from Hong Kong. The first flight to depart is BA302 to Paris. Ninety percent of BA's transfers will take place at T5, making it easy to connect. I wouldn't mind being on either one of those flights because those passengers are definitely going to get ... wowed!

FLIGHT SIMULATOR
After the tour, the BA reps asked if anyone wanted to fly a 777 using the flight simulator. How many chances do you get to fly a wide body plane? Obviously, it's not the actual plane but it's as close as it gets. In fact, 50 airlines from around the world use BA's training facility where they have 14 full motion simulators and four fixed base. The machines are in use 24/7 and before jumping in the Captains seat, I had a briefing with my instructor Ben. Everyone is taught by an actual BA pilot ... I know Ben looks young but he's a seven-year veteran. He went over all the safety briefings just in case there was a fire and told us what to expect.

INSIDE THE COCKPIT
The simulator is so much like the real thing that everything in that cockpit can be used in the actual plane. It's all the same (except an emergency switch to stop the motion). I was in one of the full motion 777-200 planes. One of my concerns going in was that it might trigger my fear of flying. You couldn't pay me to get on a plane between the ages of 18 and 21. Sometimes, my attitude is ... it's best not to know what exactly is going on. But Ben and the operations manager said that that couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it's recommended for people with a fear of flying to see how safe it really is.

SWITZERLAND, HERE I COME
I was first up and I jumped in the Captain's seat. I put my seat belt on, moved the chair forward and we were off. You can fly in and out of pretty much any airport in the world but they chose Geneva, Switzerland because the graphics looked the best. The graphics were awesome but I'm sure they can be improved. There are also different options to choose from. I went with a clear day instead of a storm; they also had different settings of turbulence including severe. Ben said that no one likes turbulence and all pilots do everything they can to go around it but sometimes, it just can't be prevented. He also said that they are never scared of turbulence but that it is rough on the body and makes for a long day at the office.

HOW YOU CAN FLY A PLANE
I'm not sure if Ben was just stroking my ego or not but he said I was doing an incredible job – then it was time to land and my palms were sweating bullets. These things cost £10 million and are definitely the ultimate video game. The best part is that it's no longer restricted to just airline employees. Eight months ago, BA re-opened it up to the public for the first time after 9/11. Anyone can do it but it's not cheap so mainly it's corporations that offer it as an incentive or a team-bonding exercise for employees. The minimum age is 14 and the maximum number of participants is two. Flight Simulator Experiences are available at a price of £399 including VAT for the Boeing 737, 757 or 767 and £449 including VAT for the Boeing 747 or 777.

VIDEO
Here's a two-minute Johnny Jet video of my trip to London including some shots in the cockpit (they wouldn't allow video). We also have all the Johnny Jet videos ever made on YouTube.

NEXT WEEK
Join me next week for the second stop on my around-the-world journey! I'll give you a hint – it's in a region I have never stepped foot in before and I'm so excited, I can hardly wait to tell you about it!

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Happy Travels,
Johnny Jet

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Note: This trip was sponsored i by British Airways.





Copyright 2008 JohnnyJet, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Pictures From

The Trip

 

Driving to Heathrow

 

Heathrow's Terminal 5

 

BA Headquarters

 

T5 Exclusive Tour

 

BA Training Facility

 

BA's Flight Simulator

 

Pilot Ben

 

Captains Seat

 

Buckle up!

 

Landing

 

NEXT WEEK!

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