British Airways is trialling a new digital wayfinding tool designed to help customers navigate their way through London Heathrow Airport.
The new technology offers maps of both London Heathrow Terminal 5 and Terminal 3, helping customers who are travelling through the British Airways’ London hub to locate their departure gate and points of interest including shops, lounges and restaurants. The new wayfinding tool enables customers to navigate the airport more confidently, saving time and reducing the chance of missing their flight.
The tool provides clear directions and information on the airport layout, allowing customers to have a more seamless experience through London Heathrow. Through an interactive map, customers can click on areas of interest, including shops, accessing information on the location, opening times, and a description of items that can be purchased. The tool also helps users easily locate bathrooms, seating areas and information points.
Customers who are connecting between flights can also input the details of their inbound and connecting flights and are then given step by step instructions along with an animated map showing how to get from the arrival gate through flight connections to their connecting flight departure gate.
We always want to make travelling through the airport as easy as possible for our customers
![British Airways Heathrow wayfinding app with person BA Heathrow wayfinding app with person](/sites/keyapi/files/styles/media_image_mobile/public/2023-07/british_airways_wayfinding_app_with_map.jpg?h=4e8d6f4c&itok=TqYrLOYI)
The new wayfinding tool enables customers to navigate Heathrow more confidently
Digitalisation
The trial, which began in June, is available to all customers who are travelling through London Heathrow and can access the tool through QR codes on digital screens in the airport or by visiting wayfinding.maps.ba.com. As part of the trial, links to wayfinding have also been sent to all customers travelling into London Heathrow and connecting from destinations including New York JFK, Dubai, Mexico City, Atlanta, Dallas Fort Worth and Houston.
Calum Laming, British Airways’ chief customer officer, said: “We always want to make travelling through the airport as easy as possible for our customers, so we’re really excited to be trialling a new wayfinding tool this summer. The interactive map is simple to use, allowing our customers to easily locate their departure gates and discover nearby restaurants and shops for some last-minute duty-free shopping, and for those customers who are eligible, our lounges. Of course, our fantastic colleagues will still be on hand to help as well.”
Elsewhere, British Airways has rolled out digital baggage receipts in the ba.com app, allowing customers to generate an easily assessable digital bag receipt, in addition to the physical copy printed at the airport. Through the ba.com app, customers at London Heathrow also now receive notifications when their bag has reached the arrivals hall. The notification includes which baggage carousel customers can collect their bag from, providing an improved seamless experience from the moment they land in London, through the airport to their onward journey.
Images: British Airways