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While all the publicity at the moment surrounds the opening of Terminal 5, it is easy to forget that there are significant changes happening to the other terminals at Heathrow as well.

For starters, the opening of Terminal 5 marks the closure of Terminal 2 and the Queen’s Building ahead of planned demolition to make way for the new Terminal East. As a result, there will be a major re-shuffle with over half of the airlines that operate out of Heathrow having to move to alternative terminals over the next few years. I’ve listed below how this new configuration will look:

- Terminal 1 will host members of the Star Alliance including bmi, Lufthansa, SWISS and United
- Terminal 3 will host members of the Oneworld Alliance including American Airlines and Cathay Pacific
- Terminal 4 will host members of Sky Team alliance members including Air France and KLM

Star Alliance have recently announced that Air New Zealand and United will be their most immediate movers, moving from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 on June 10th. If you are unsure, I would suggest checking with your airline before you fly or check on the BAA’s ‘Which Terminal?’ tool.

One airline I haven’t listed is our partner Virgin Atlantic who will continue to depart from Terminal 3. They have also benefitted from a refurb with a brand new, brighter, more spacious check-in area that promises to be “fast, efficient and stress free”, taking most passengers less than 15 minutes to get from check-in to the departure lounge. Even cooler is the new state of the art Drive Thru Check In for Upper Class passengers arriving by a chauffeur driven car. Most of the check-in is done in the car before arriving, leaving just a check of the travel documents and the security questions to be conducted in the airport. From there, it is just a short walk through security to the Clubhouse. Nice!

That concludes my overview of the changes happening at Terminal 5. Please post your questions and I’ll try to answer them myself or I’ll speak to the relevant partner.

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