Heathrow Terminal 5 taxi | U Want Taxi

Terminal 5 is reached via Junction 14 of the M25 and the A3113 spur, a more direct approach than the tunnel road that serves Terminals 2 and 3, which is one reason it's usually a slightly quicker last few minutes than the central terminals even though it sits further from the M4 itself.

The main building, T5A, handles check-in and the busiest arrivals and departures, but Terminal 5 also has two satellite buildings, T5B and T5C, linked to the main terminal by an underground train system passengers use after security — worth knowing if you're dropping someone off, since a lot of the terminal's gates aren't in the building you'll actually be parked outside.

Arrivals from the satellites still all come out through the same arrivals hall in T5A, so the pickup point doesn't change depending on which part of the terminal your flight actually left from — it's only departures where knowing your gate area matters, and even then it's mostly a question of which end of the check-in hall to aim for when we drop you.

The short-stay forecourt directly outside T5A charges after a few minutes, so as with the other terminals we hold at the free long-stay drop-off and time the approach for when you're actually out, rather than sitting on the forecourt meter waiting for a passenger still clearing customs.

Fares are the standard Heathrow rates: £18 saloon or £28 executive from Slough or Burnham, £16/£25 from Windsor, £22/£32 from Maidenhead, £30/£42 from Marlow, whichever of the three T5 buildings your flight actually uses. The price doesn't change; only the last stretch through the terminal roads does.

Terminal 5 opened in 2008 as Heathrow's newest building at the time and remains the largest single terminal in the country, with its own multi-storey short-stay car park connected to T5A by a covered walkway rather than an open forecourt walk. That covered link is useful in poor weather, and it's also why we recommend the short-stay car park pickup point over the open drop-off for anyone with heavy luggage.

Business and first-class check-in at T5A sits apart from the main economy hall, with its own separate entrance from the forecourt, so if you're travelling on one of those tickets it's worth mentioning at booking — the driver will drop you nearer that end of the building rather than the main doors.

Because Terminal 5 handles the largest share of Heathrow's total passengers, its forecourt and short-stay car park see the heaviest traffic of any of the four terminals at peak times, particularly early morning when British Airways runs several long-haul departures within the same hour. We treat any T5 booking before 7am as a peak slot and build extra time in as standard, rather than only doing so when a specific delay is known.

The satellite train linking T5A to T5B and T5C runs frequently, but it's still an extra few minutes on top of the walk from your gate, which matters if you've arranged to be collected at a specific time rather than simply booked for a flight-tracked pickup.