Heathrow Airport — Attraction in London

Passing through customs, I was handed into Heathrow “care”, or rather, the lack of it. I had been emergency evacuated from Copenhagen to London with fractures to my hip and pelvis, and was left in Heathrow Airport’s disability care system.

What followed was deeply distressing. I was placed on a hard seat, completely unsuitable for my injuries. A kind staff member did his best to find me a softer chair, but even that was not appropriate for someone with my condition. For over an hour, frail, elderly, and disabled passengers were left sitting on hard chairs without access to bathrooms or even water.

My partner had to leave me to collect our bags, otherwise they would have been lost. This left me separated from my carer for around 1.5 hours, despite having two pieces of hand luggage and no safe way to transfer me. Only when I insisted on using the toilet was an inappropriate, unsafe wheelchair finally produced, and my luggage was piled on top of my broken pelvis during the transfer.

When I finally reached the disabled toilet near Costa Coffee, I found the door so heavy that I could not open it without help, a basic failure in accessibility for those who most need it.

Wheelchairs were in such short supply that the single staff member at the desk was frantically trying to cope, juggling complaints, phone calls, and desperate passengers. Adding insult to injury, the performance board on display boasted statistics about how well Heathrow claims to perform. These figures do not reflect the true situation. Disability care is not represented on these boards, and it should be. The way to judge a society is by how it treats its frail and vulnerable members. By that measure, Heathrow fails.

And the failure was not limited to my arrival. Despite calling ahead and organising a wheelchair for my departure to Australia a few days later, none was available as arranged. Yet another failure in providing the most basic level of care for disabled passengers.

The individual staff I encountered were doing their best under extremely difficult circumstances. One man in particular showed great patience and kindness despite being overwhelmed with complaints, phone calls, and a lack of equipment. His professionalism stood out. The real problem lies with Heathrow’s systems and resourcing. Staff are left without enough wheelchairs, support, or backup to meet the needs of frail and disabled passengers. This not only fails vulnerable travellers but also places impossible pressure on employees. If nothing changes, I imagine staff will eventually burn out — and that would be a loss, because the few people on duty were the only positive aspect of an otherwise distressing experience.

The real failure lies not with the hardworking employees, but with Heathrow Airport itself. Vulnerable passengers were neglected, denied dignity, and left without proper support. Staff, too, were failed — left to manage overwhelming pressure without adequate equipment or backup.

Heathrow must urgently address these shortcomings. Disabled passengers deserve safe, respectful care, and staff deserve the tools and resources to provide it.

And the failure was not limited to my arrival. Despite calling ahead and organising a wheelchair for my departure to Australia a few days later, none was available as arranged. Yet another failure in providing the most basic level of care for disabled passengers.

Business Class...

This is a huge, pretty new-looking and modern airport. There's a tramway that connects the terminals. But I do have a love/hate relationship with all European airports. Why can't we check in early and relax by the gate? Why does the gate # assignment have to be done only 20 minutes prior to departure? Why aren't there signs stating where to wait at the gate? Why is there no announcement stating what classes and rows are boarding? Why is everything so last minute? American airports rule.

They have the most efficient security screening machine (not system) I've seen. It's a double decker system. Empty trays are fed on a lower roller slide that comes from the end of the security line so there's no need for a human to constantly walk trays back and forth and trays are always available. They're big too, bigger than any airport I've seen. I thought everything was bigger in Texas only? If your bag is deemed searchable after going through the scanner, it gets pushed to the side and you have to wait for security to fine-comb through your bags. This is where their system is not the best. The workers are so slow and go through EVERY pocket in your bag, slowly but surely, swabbing and testing them in the machine. But the blame can be put on passengers as well, those who bring on numerous liquids and what not in little containers and hide them in pockets among pockets in their bags. We almost missed out flight due to a backpacking male who owned more products than Sephora.

The walk can be far despite being in same terminal! After going through security, we had to walk up, down, and all around THEN take the tram to yet another terminal within the same terminal. After being herded like cattle to the gate, grumpy British Airways gate agent Delilah barked out her commands and thoughts of the day. See the end of paragraph one for solutions on having a better work day, missy.

After all this hullabaloo, a lucky few of us get picked for random searches. We're taken down stairs (remember up, down, and all around) to a cold steel table. More unhappy workers bark out commands like basic training. Open this! If you can't turn on your dead iPhone we have to confiscate it! Take a step back! Take off your shoes! Arms out! Okay you're done! Yes drill sergeant sir!

10 hours later I was at LAX, happy as a clam.

TIPS: Take out tablet computers at security and allow yourself at least an additional 45 minutes to go through security.

Make sure all the devices you're carrying aren't dead or face possible confiscation and threats by the drill sergeant!!

There's 45 minutes of free WiFi in the terminal and totally free inside the British...

Nightmare airport. Please allow yourself at the bare minimum a 2 hour layover if you have one. I had a one hour layover last week. Flight attendants asked everyone to let us off the plane first. Even with that allowance, one hour became 24 minutes before doors closing. We thought having arrival and departure in the same terminal (3) would make things easy. Wrong. We sprinted with our carryon bags through what seemed like an endless maze of corridors and walkways. It was like being in Severance, hallway after hallway. We didn't really even know where we were headed because they don't have any displays showing you where your gate will be at this point in the journey. You just keep running following the purple signs. And then, there it is. You have to go through security AGAIN. Doesn't matter that you didn't leave the airport. After this, one would think that the gates are just around the corner. WRONG. Now you must continue through the maze of hallways, only to encounter a wall of screens with flight info, ordered by military time, not alphabetical destinations like in the US. Continue running, but now add in stores, shopping, restaurants and the crowds that go with them. Bigger crowds than normal, because at Heathrow, no one finds out which gate they are departing from until the boarding time listed on your boarding pass. If you have a decent layover, this means mingling aimlessly in this holding area of shops and restaurants, with a board letting you know that once you get your gate assignment, it will be anywhere from a 9-20 minute walk to your gate. If you are unlucky and are running full speed, just know you are nowhere near the end. There are more white hallways, more switchbacks, more agony. If you are headed to gate 24, surprise! The gates are not in numerical order. You will think the finish line is ahead, only to discover that gate 23 is followed by gate 25. But in the distance, gate 24...and a guard wanting to see your boarding pass AGAIN. We almost did not make it. We were the last two people to make it to the desk, and then realized there was no plane. No plane? Your journey is not done, friend. You must then get on a bus and be driven out onto the tarmac to board the plane, dragging your bag up the stairs, as if you have any strength left at this point. I am grateful to have had a 4 hour layover on the way back. Still not understanding how they expect to have everyone on the plane for timely departure when you get your gate assignment at the boarding time and they list doors closing as being 20 minutes after that. The whole experience is insane and I dread ever having to fly through...