Last visited April 23
Another big and not hugely kid friendly airport. Terminal 5 is basically all for British Airways. There is a checkin desk all dedicated to families, however sometimes the queue is longer than at regular desks. The oversized items desk is not far from the family check in desk, at the far end of the terminal. There is no family lane at security checks. Milk, water and pouches get checked separately, but buggies don’t need to be folded, just emptied and baby needs to come out. As in most UK airports there is a Boots for baby essentials and the usual airport restaurants including kid friendly ones like Giraffe. There is a really nice play area near gate A3, with separate soft play areas for under twos and older kids, and and lots of baby changing areas, but the ones I visited didn’t have chairs for breastfeeding, or kids toilets and sinks. Regular toilets are not great if you have kids. There are no chairs to strap baby to if you are alone with no baggy. There is nowhere to put things down, just a hook for a bag. The sinks and hand dryers are high up and there are no steps provided for kids to reach the sinks. However in the ladies toilets just after gate A3, the first cubicle on the left is very large, so it would allow you to walk in with suitcases and a pushchair.
Planes are usually accessed through a step free finger tunnel. Pushchair drop off (if you are leaving it at the aircraft door) is a bit before the aircraft, keep an eye out as if you miss it it can be difficult to go back against the stream of people eager to get on. If you left the pushchair at the aircraft door, and you have the right tag on it (the orange one) you can collect it back at the drop off point, a few meters after leaving the aircraft. It was a bit of a wait for us, but worth it given the distance you sometimes have to walk to get to passport controls and baggage reclaim.
Family passport control on the way out can be quite long. After passport controls there is limited seating while waiting for suitcases, and none near the carousels, which is not great for pregnant people or parents with kids strapped to their chest.
There are plenty of options to get to Heathrow, some of which are step free. There is the Heathrow Express train from Paddington, quick and expensive, or the tube (Piccadilly and the new Elizabeth line, the latter should be entirely step free). There are busses of course, and there is a Zipcar Flex drop off point which used to be inside T5 car park, and is now sadly a short bus ride away.
If you are flying BA and you live in London, you could also consider using Airportr, a service which comes the day before your flight (or the same day at a premium) to collect your luggage and check it in for you. It’s cheaper than leaving a car at the airport car park, and probably a similar price to renting a Zipcar.
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