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British Airways have unveiled a tough security regime for the new terminal. Passengers will be turned away at security checkpoints if they arrive less than 35 minutes before their flights.

Passengers will no longer be given the chance to run for the gate but will be redirected to a BA desk where they will have to rebook. They may have to pay hundreds of pounds for new flights.

BA said the change was being introduced to prevent one late-running passenger from delaying up to 350 other people on a flight. The 35-minute rule is expected to be introduced gradually at other Heathrow terminals and other airports. The rapid growth in passengers checking in online the night before they fly is resulting in more people arriving late at the airport.

But the new regime will force everyone to spend at least half an hour in the departure lounge. Their boarding passes will be scanned as they queue for security checks. Those whose flights are departing in less than 35 minutes will be refused entry to the “airside” area.

Almost a third of BA passengers already check in for their flights online and therefore do not have to comply with the airline’s minimum airport check-in time of 45 minutes before the scheduled departure. Some people on business trips check in online but then failed to turn up at the airport and did not cancel their seats.

BA will continue to recommend that passengers arrive at the airport two hours before their flights.

BAA admitted yesterday that Terminal 5 was not yet fully completed. Ten of the 250 lifts and escalators were not working and other systems would need “a bedding-down period”.

More than 15,000 volunteers have taken part in several trials but this number is far fewer than the 70,000 passengers that the terminal will handle every day.

Andrew Wolstenholme, BAA’s capital projects director, said: “In order to test it we need the building to be at full load. And we won’t get that full load until we get through a hot summer and cold winter.”

About a fifth of Terminal 5 passengers will have to catch buses from the departure gates to their aircraft.

BAA admitted that some passengers were likely to go to the wrong terminal and could miss their flights. Some BA flights move to Terminal 5 on March 27 and others on April 30. Another 54 airlines will be moving terminals after Terminal 5 opens.

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