If you get stuck waiting for a plane (or hanging around to see if your baggage will show up) at London Heathrow's new Terminal 5, then things just got a bit more pleasant if you're keen to hop online while you wait.

T-Mobile has launched a WiFi hotspot that covers the entire area of Terminal 5, and they're boasting that it's the biggest in the country, spanning an area equivalent to 50 football pitches.

If you're not already a T-Mobile customer then you can get an hour's access for £5 or 24 hours for £10; but don't forget that if you can get into a British Airways lounge you'll get WiFi for free.

The other dream possibility? Your experience at T5 is so smooth and quick that you don't have time to log on. That really does sound like a dream.

Related Stories:
· T-Mobile Launches T5 Hotspot [Business Traveller]
· BA Can't Find Bags But Does Have Free WiFi [Jaunted]
· Special People Get Their T5 Baggage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Roo Reynolds]]]> amandak 2008-09-08T09:45:24-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/7/133047/0623

After the horrible first few days that spawned YouTube videos and Flash games, it seems the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow is finally starting to function like your average airport terminal. So what's the play for British Airways? Hype that mediocrity in some new ads!

The campaign involves photos of real passengers using T5 combined with reasonable statistics that explain how "Terminal 5 is working." Among the ho-hum stats featured: "Yesterday at T5 average time through check-in was 8.5 minutes."

The airline is also posting the snaps on its T5 website. We're waiting to see if the carrier posts a photo of passengers crying over lost luggage: BA still mishandles an average of nine bags per jumbo jet flight.

Related Stories:
· BA Launches New Heathrow T5 Campaign [UK Travel Weekly]
· First-Person Airport Review: So Is T5 Really That Bad? [Jaunted]

[Photo: Travel Weekly]]]> pbb 2008-08-07T13:35:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/22/144816/009

The opening of T5 at London Heathrow was so outrageously botched, sometimes "shambolic" didn't seem good enough to describe it. But in the months since, have things changed? And, more importantly, can you fly there and hope to see your checked bags ever again?

NewYorkology blogger Amy Langfield transited the terminal three times during a recent European trip, and described one experience in T5 as "flawless." Really?!]]> pbb 2008-07-22T15:00:20-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/2/22235/71774

There are plenty of offensive things one can wear on a plane--a too-short skirt, for example, or a political message for the President. Add Optimus Prime to that list: A British IT consultant was not allowed to board his British Airways flight because of his "Transformers" T-shirt.

Brad Jayakody has a cool enough job that on a business trip to Dusseldorf, he was allowed to dress down for the plane. But after one of his colleagues was searched, he was pulled aside and told his shirt was inappropriate.

So a silk-screened gun is the same as a real gun now? We've just got to be more careful with our T-shirt selection. But the real person in danger? Shia LaBeouf. After all, he's a known associate of Mr. Prime.

Related Stories:
· Heathrow Security Tackles Transformers T-shirt Threat [The Register]
· Willie Says T5's Working Well [Jaunted]
· Shia LaBeouf's Cold-Plane Defense [Jaunted]

[Photos: The Sun, Recycled Teenager]]]> egw 2008-06-03T10:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/5/13/34212/6799

British Airways boss Willie Walsh must be smiling this week because he's going around telling anyone who'll listen that the disaster that was the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow is now "working well."

So well, in fact, that BA is now finally going to move the rest of their flights over there--yep, the flights they were going to move back in April. On June 5, eight destinations from Terminal 4 will move to T5, including flights to New York's JFK. The rest will be moved over in the next couple of months.

Willie probably wasn't smiling when the news came out over the weekend that "a small number" of incoming foreign passengers in the early days of T5 were dropped off at the wrong doors and let into Britain without showing their passports. They probably just turned around and flew home in disgust after their their luggage never showed up.

Related Stories:
· British Airways To Begin Shifting Long Haul Flights [IHT]
· T5 Foreign Passengers Unchecked [BBC]
· Terminal 5 coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: terminal5insider]]]> amandak 2008-05-13T09:35:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/21/85228/0282

They made an online game about our suffering in Heathrow's problematic Terminal 5, so it was just a matter of time before the song came out too.

This video from Roguetune whines about Terminal 5 in a way that a whole lot of travelers can understand, except for special people like Kate Moss, that is. The chorus goes on with endless variations of a line like this:

I went down to get my bags, but I'm in Greece and my bags are still in Terminal 5.

As well as funny lyrics, you'll get a nice tour the trendy new Terminal 5 building, inside and out, and an entertaining cast of extra characters. Unfortunately, although this song might make you laugh, it won't change much for those still wondering which Italian warehouse their carefully packed bags have ended up in.

Related Stories:
· Baggage Trouble: Making A Game of Your T5 Suffering [Jaunted]
· Special People Get Their T5 Baggage [Jaunted]]]> amandak 2008-04-21T09:30:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/15/22855/6479

We held a minute's silence recently for anyone affected by London Heathrow's Terminal 5 baggage hell and we'll spare another thought for the thousands of travelers whose luggage is still lying around somewhere. A warehouse in Italy seems to be the common (if illogical) answer to "Where's my bag?" Some might be so lost that they'll end up incinerated rather than reunited with with their owners.

Ouch. Some of the luckier (but still very unhappy) British Airways passengers got pre-paid credit cards credited with their compensation payment of, for example, £175 for three bags. But other travelers--let's take supermodel Kate Moss as an example--are getting £10,000 pounds in compensation for ten bags which were delayed, but have now reached her.

Moral of the story? Don't fly unless you're famous. If you find that a touch unrealistic, then we can ease that a bit: go carry-on only with British Airways.

Related Stories:
· BA's Paltry Payout for Lost Bags [UK Times]
· Kate Moss Reunited With Her Lost Luggage [The Mail]
· Baggage Hell: Making A Game of Your T5 Suffering [Jaunted]

[Photo: Xurble]]]> amandak 2008-04-15T09:45:06-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/