We love British Airways but is Heathrow’s Terminal Three a fair payback?
A personal experience of Heathrow Airport’s Terminal Three, since British Airways (BA) moved its Ghana flights to and from London to that terminal last October was early December 2015. I passed through again just last weekend. On both occasions I felt disappointed.
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Disappointed because in life, one seeks progress and not retrogression. If it happens the other way round, then it means something is wrong. BA moving its flights to and from Ghana from the plush Terminal Five to quite less developed Terminal Three by Western standards and, which I experienced over the weekend, is definitely not an upgrade from economy to business class, to use the airline term that BA is familiar with.
Affinity with BA
Ghana and BA have a strong affinity dating back to the days of British Caledonia Airlines. There are people who, though regular travellers, would not travel any other airline into Europe and beyond except on BA. Their loyalty is without question. I have been one such loyalist.
So when last December my flight on BA to the US via London Heathrow touched down at Terminal Three for a connection at Terminal Five, I wondered without hesitation what influenced BA’s decision to push its flights to and from Ghana to where we find ourselves now.
Terminal Three seemed to me a forgotten terminal orphaned in some ways. Is that what Ghana deserved after they weighed the scales? I have always thought that Ghana was a good business for BA. At least from experience, I know that BA fares from Ghana to London, for example, are way more expensive than flights from say the East Coast of America to London even though the flight time is almost the same. The services offered on both routes are always not the same. We here are always short-changed.
Onward connection
An onward connection from Terminal Three to Terminal Five is a bit of a process. The free bus ride will take you there but did they need to get that far hopping on and off a bus, then the transit train, then another scan and finally a long walk to boarding gate. Travelling has become a burdensome project to undertake these days. So to belabour a passenger with additional hassle leaves one thinking twice if there are comparable options.
Departure from Terminal Three to Ghana is even more frustrating. Woe is you if you have been on a connection flight, which means by the time you arrive at Terminal Five you are already worn out. I overheard some passengers, possibly from Germany, berating their national carrier, Lufthansa, which has stopped flights to Ghana.
They were obviously not happy with the services received in their transit through Heathrow’s Terminal Three on BA. And I agree. Terminal Three does not give that picture of care and warmth that airports give, especially in these times of anxieties in air travels and which leaves passengers always looking for what is best.
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Whiling away time at Terminal Three
The opportunity for window shopping to while away the time and a free space to catch up with some work are not fully there at Terminal Three. And so for someone with long hours of waiting time for their connection, Terminal Three is a little hard.
But even harder is Gate 27 where some passengers and I coming to Accra had to use over the weekend. Chairs in the waiting area were scanty and so it means standing in long queues. What makes waiting even longer in the queues is the way BA calls for passengers to board the aircraft, an observation I have made over a period.
If BA’s ground staff can apply order by keeping to boarding by priority passengers and then use seating by rows in other jurisdictions, why, in the case of flights to Ghana, do they leave it to free boarding once they get their priority passengers in? This kind of boarding always creates unnecessary disorder. And their late departure from Heathrow, which means late arrival in Accra, seems never to get better.
Beloved Ghana Airways
But would anyone blame the bluff of BA? If our first love, Ghana Airways, were still on its feet as other African Airlines such as Ethiopia, Kenya and South African Airways are, loyalty would have been applied as a game changer.
If for nothing, Ghana Airways fares were reasonable plus they had some of the best pilots and airline engineers. One could, for example, sleep through a Ghana Airways smooth landing and only the loud cheers and clap of hands signalling respect and appreciation would wake one up. But yes, Ghana Airways disappointed us and here we are with “take it or leave it” posturing.
vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com