Meeting place - LHR - terminal 5?

[phabric]

My sister and myself are flying from Canada into LHR, terminal 5 (BA).

 

I arrive at 6:40 am and my sister at 9:10am on a Tuesday.  We plan to meet up and take the National Express if they riding or a car service.

 

We have to go through Custom/Immigration then pick up our luggage.

 

I was thinking meeting my sister at their luggage carousel since I will have their flight # then we will leave as a group.

 

Is there seats in the baggage area to wait for them?  Or, is there a better place to meet up?

 

 

[WatchHill]

If my memory is correct, you are still in a secure area when picking up your luggage and need to carry/roll it through HM Customs, through the exit door and into the terminal.   I would suggest you pull up a map of T5 and identify a coffee shop where you can relax and wait. 

 

Darcy

[phabric]

Thanks, I checked terminal 5 and it has seating in the baggage pickup area.

[John Bull]

First of all, I'm presuming that you are arriving at the same terminal as your friends, so I don't see any reason why you shouildn't be permitted to wait in the baggage hall.

 

But I can rthink of a few practicalities........

          I don't know whether there are any flight-arrivals boards in the baggage hall. If not, you could be sat in there for many hours if your friends' flight was delayed or cancelled 🙃

            I don't know whether there are seats facing the boards that indicate which carousel for which flight, so you could have to walk up & down every few minutes - and even then miss them in the crowds.

            I don't know whether Customs (immediately by the exit) or security might think you could be loitering for luggage-thieving or checking up on your drug mules. I guess if you felt  the jab of a Heckler & Koch assault rifle in your shoulder, that means they do 😂

          I do know that apart from currency exchange (awful rates) and toilets there are no facilities in the baggage hall, not even drinks machines.

          And there's limited seating in the baggage hall.

 

Much more sensible to exit the baggage hall, through Customs & into the Arrivals Hall.

There's a big Costa Coffee shop right where you enter the Arrivals Hall. 

 

Check out this video from about 11 minutes in (no filming permitted in Customs area).

 

 

 

JB 🙂

[phabric]

Thanks for all the helpful information 

[Cotswold Eagle]

There are two Meeting Points in T5 arrivals landside, one of which (South) is by the Costa that JB mentions. (For orientation, south is left as you come out of Customs). A meeting point is essentially a waiting area with a big sign hanging from the ceiling 😀
 

The seating in the luggage area is really only for those waiting for bags to arrive. I wouldn’t want to sit there for very long! 
 

Due to COVID, the airport discourages people other than travellers hanging around anywhere, but you should be OK as arriving passengers waiting for others. 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Cotswold Eagle

[phabric]

Thanks for the information.

[KBs mum]

If you have a long wait walk to the sofitel and wait in the bar, it's attached to the terminal. 

There are bar/restaurants landside in departures. Follow the signs after customs etc. Not of a high standard but will do as an identifiable place to meet. 

[Cotswold Eagle]

9 hours ago, KBs mum said:

There are bar/restaurants landside in departures. Follow the signs after customs etc. Not of a high standard but will do as an identifiable place to meet. 

Have they reopened? The options used to be Carluccios and the Five Tuns, but neither appear on the current list of restaurants on the Heathrow website. 
 

Edit to add: And on the current T5 map both locations are shown as “coming soon”. 

Edited November 12, 2021 by Cotswold Eagle

[KBs mum]

3 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

Have they reopened? The options used to be Carluccios and the Five Tuns, but neither appear on the current list of restaurants on the Heathrow website. 
 

Edit to add: And on the current T5 map both locations are shown as “coming soon”. 

I don't usually have to go near them, so good catch if they're closed. 

[fabnfortysomething]

the National Express coach/bus station is just outside the airport entrance exit

there is a variety of cafes/shops within the foyer area after you have exited with your baggage

That would be a much more comfortable area to wait then it's literally a case of crossing a road which is under cover 

[Cotswold Eagle]

7 hours ago, fabnfortysomething said:

the National Express coach/bus station is just outside the airport entrance exit

At T5, there is no National Express coach or bus station, it’s literally just several of the bus stands. Are you thinking of the Central Bus Station?

 

ETA: Oh, I think by “foyer area” you are describing the landside arrivals hall, which is what several of us have already suggested 🙂

Edited November 12, 2021 by Cotswold Eagle