Oh gosh, Terminal 4 at LHR is by for the worst - in the middle of nowhere and offers awful connectivity into downtown London (well, compared to the other terminals at least).
We don’t call it “ downtown”. As a Londoner it’s actually very easy as both the Piccadilly and Elizabeth lines stop at T4. No different from the others. Nor is it in the “ middle in nowhere”. It’s actually in Heathrow. No different from T5 being on the other side from 2 and 3. You could say the same of t5 at O’Hare and the international terminal Atlanta. Landside check in is also going to be refurbished in addition to a number of other changes https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/changes-to-terminal-4
Delta never loses. Ever. At anything!
not only that... but people pay dearly for crossing them.
why should BA's overflow flights not be the ones that are moved to T4?
Let’s face it if LHR built terminal 5D and moved all one world there this wouldn’t be an issue and would get BA out if Terminal 3
However sometime karma comes around and DL get a bad taste of it
JAL and Finnair going to Terminal 4 is nonsense. LHR is a Oneworld airport and all Oneworld carriers should be in T3 or T5 (or both). Virgin and Delta can go to T4 - who cares.
Typical British decision making brought to you by the same people who cannot run a subway system in the autumn because the leaves fall on the track.
I suspect during the consultation process VS and DL were offered a tandem move to T4 and Virgin resisted as it invested heavily in the Upper Wing and Clubhouse over the years. My guess they will again be offered that option or be split up, I doubt they have any legal recourse to appeal this decision. At least T4 has 4 hotel options directly connected to the terminal as well as the Elizabeth and Piccadilly lines into central London and the City.
Agree along these lines. With an extended timeline and properly coordinated approach, make T4 (with refurb/facilities to VS/DL liking) a Skyteam terminal and swap the other OW carriers over to T3
AA operates from T3, their joint alliance partner BA is in T5. To connect to BA, one must take a bus. Now DL will have to do the same. I can’t imagine how many connections there are as VS doesn’t have connections to the continent or anywhere in the UK. Worst case, the playing field has been leveled between AA and DL.
That's true, and one of my thoughts as well. That said, BA/AA announced a new joint First check-in area at T3, so, um, timing and all. Certainly odd to have OW in Terminals 3, 4 and 5 - would think as @Ryan suggested below they could be in T3 and T5. That could be accomplished by moving DL and VS to T4.
The lounges at T3 are excellent. The experience at the gates at T3 is not good - the hallways are closed off at times when trying to get to the gate, then you have to board into a holding pen... far from premium. T4 would offer a better all-around experience, frankly, but for the newly renovated clubhouse by VS in T3.
And as others have noted, is there really that much connectivity between DL and VS? There's a ton from AA to BA and it's actually annoying to transfer from T3 AA to T5 BA. But VS is long-haul only. From a quick scan of flight connections there are all of 9 routes that it *might* make sense to connect through LHR from DL to VS on, only one of which (DEL) has 2x frequencies, and a couple are not even every day. So from a paxex perspective - is this really a big deal?
This is just about cost saving for DL/VS and not wanted to be stranded in T4 (the 'guam' of LHR), not about what actually makes sense for passengers.
AY moving to T4 will be a bummer. Love the T3 OW lounge options.
This is a huge loss for Finnair and JAL passengers; CX lounges at LHR T3 are the best; now they won’t get access, basically. Moving SkyTeam nearly all over to T4 makes sense, just to keep them together. Regardless, change is hard; many won’t be pleased.
Virgin is a small airline with an outsized brand and a premium association with the 49% DL ownership. BA almost has as many seats per year - from T3 - as VS (3m vs 3.2m). DL only has 900k seats per year at T3, AA has almost 2mm.
So AA/BA together are ~5.2m seats per year from T3. DL/VS are like ~4.1m.
I'd love to see the connectivity stat between DL and VS at LHR. With all of 9 routes that DL could realistically feed, only one of which (DEL) has a 2x frequency right now, and 2 of which are not even every day, it's hard to really care about this from the passenger experience side of things.
Look, this stinks for DL, and will cost more money for them to have more staff and to run their own D1 lounge at T4 - unless VS agrees to move as well. And obviously VS just invested in refurbishing the clubhouse.
End of the day, if DL/VS can both go to T4, then AY and JL can then stay at T3. Certainly possible this ultimately accomplishes that.