Heathrow Inaugural: In London-Heathrow, London England (LHR)

30MAR08 London-Heathrow International, London Heathrow (LHR)

I made my way to the Immigration area where the line was building. I looked for the IRIS booth and yes, it was working! I was number three in line. The IRIS always gives me issues when I use it for some reason and after a while it worked and gave me my receipt. I saved at least 30 minutes by using this machine.

I went downstairs and cleared Customs and then headed upstairs again to the departure level. It had changed somewhat, but not too much; basically it looked like they squeezed Continental (CO) and Delta Air Lines (DL) in there, but in a good way. I did not see any setup for Northwest Airlines (NW), so I take it they are arriving elsewhere for the time being [I heard later that they are using the KLM area]. Once British Airways moves out entirely, there will be lots more room.

My initial plan was to take KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL) to Amsterdam Schipol (AMS) and then take a Continental flight to Houston. I bailed on the idea as it would be cool to be on the first flight from Heathrow to Houston.

I chatted with some friends who were there for work to support the inaugural and took some pictures, did the security checks for the 11:15a flight to Houston and then re-printed my boarding pass.

Delta's area with festive balloons.


Delta was still getting ready for their 1:50p and 5:05p departures.

A closer look at the Delta balloons.