Heathrow Terminal 4 map: the main concourse, Victor Pier, and the levels

Terminal 4 is one building, not two, but it sits in its own pocket of the airport rather than alongside any other terminal. Geographically it is south of the southern runway, the only operating Heathrow terminal that is not in the Central Terminal Area or out on the western T5 spur. The road approach is from M25 junction 14 via the A3113 Airport Way and the Southern Perimeter Road. The airfield around it shares space with the cargo terminal.

Airside, the layout is a single broad concourse with the gate ring around the perimeter. Gates 1 to 21 sit on the main concourse. Gates 22 to 25 sit on a named extension called Victor Pier, reached through a corridor that branches off the main concourse near Gate 21. The split is the one structural feature of T4 worth knowing in advance, because the Victor Pier corridor narrows once you commit to it and is a one-way walk to the gate.

The terminal opened on 1 April 1986, closed during the pandemic, and reopened in June 2022. A £200 million expansion in the early 2010s added four A380-capable stands. It is the smallest of the four operating Heathrow terminals by passenger volume. For the operational view (the SkyTeam, Qatar, Etihad and other airline rosters; transport options; parking; security; lounge access), see the Terminal 4 page; the page you are on covers the physical layout only.

Terminal 4 uses its own level numbering, with the rail station at the bottom and the lounges at the top. From the bottom up:

• Level -1: the Heathrow Terminal 4 station, served by the Piccadilly Line Underground and the Elizabeth Line. Heathrow Express does not stop here.
• Level 0 (ground): arrivals, baggage reclaim, customs, the meeting point opposite the international arrivals exit, the drop-off forecourt, the taxi rank, and the bus and coach stops.
• Level 1 (mezzanine): the immigration hall that arriving passengers clear on the way in, the Yotel cabin hotel, and an arrivals lounge. This is the landside arrivals mezzanine.
• Level 1.5: the multi-storey car park, a half level sitting between arrivals on Level 0 and departures on Level 2.
• Level 2: check-in, security, the airside departure lounge, the boarding gates 1 to 25, the shops and restaurants, and the View Heathrow observation deck between Gates 15 and 16. The split-off to Victor Pier is on this level near Gate 21.
• Level 3: the airside lounge cluster, including the Qatar Airways, Etihad, and Plaza Premium lounges, above the departures floor.

So check-in and departures are up on Level 2, not on the ground floor and not on level 5 like Terminal 2. A passenger arriving by air comes off the gate on Level 2, clears immigration on the Level 1 mezzanine, and collects bags on the ground floor. A departing passenger reaches check-in on Level 2 from the station or the forecourt below, and finds the lounges a level up on Level 3.

The main concourse holds gates 1 to 21 around the perimeter of a single broad post-security plaza. From the security exit, walking time to a gate inside this range is typically 3 to 8 minutes depending on which side of the concourse it is on. Gates with low numbers (1 to 8) sit closer to the security exit; mid-numbers (9 to 17) are towards the middle and far perimeter; gates in the high teens up to 21 are at the far right of the concourse before the Victor Pier split-off.

The View Heathrow observation deck sits between Gates 15 and 16, signposted from the central plaza. It is free to enter for travelling passengers, with 270-degree views over the southern runway and the control tower, plus binoculars and flight-tracking touchscreens. The deck is one of the distinctive features of T4 and a useful place to wait out a long boarding window, particularly for travellers with children.

Pier numbering can have gaps, with a small number of gate slots used operationally rather than for passenger boarding; the headline range 1 to 21 covers the boarding gates a passenger is likely to be assigned.

Victor Pier is the named extension at the far end of the concourse holding the four highest-numbered gates: 22, 23, 24, and 25. The corridor branches off the main concourse near Gate 21, signposted with overhead "Gates 22 to 25" arrows pointing into a narrower passage. The visual landmark is the cluster of restaurants and seating in the central plaza right before the split.

Walking distances. From the security exit to the Gate 21 split is about 250-300 m. The Victor Pier corridor itself is another 150-200 m to Gate 25 at the physical terminus. Total walking time from security to Gate 25 is around 8 to 10 minutes, with travellators on parts of the corridor. Once committed to the pier, the route is laid out as a single straight walkway with no branches; returning to the main concourse is the same route in reverse.

Victor Pier is often used for long-haul widebodies, which is the reason for the late gate appearance on the screens. Allow time. Boarding closes at the gate, not at the split-off, so a passenger who arrives at the Gate 21 split with five minutes until boarding closes has missed the flight. Amenities thin out past the split: a small set of seating, washrooms, and a couple of grab-and-go options, but the sit-down restaurants, World Duty Free, and most lounges all sit back on the main concourse. Eat and shop before the walk.

Terminal 4 carries the second-largest lounge cluster at Heathrow after T3, on the main concourse rather than out on Victor Pier. The cluster sits on Level 3, above the departures floor, signed from the central plaza. Lounge access rules are on the parent terminal page; this section covers where each one sits.

• SkyTeam Lounge: the alliance lounge for Air France, KLM, Korean Air, Saudia, China Eastern, Vietnam Airlines and the other SkyTeam carriers, on the main concourse. The flagship Air France lounge opened separately in spring 2026 at around 8,000 square feet.
• Qatar Airways lounges: a Business Class lounge and a separate First Class lounge, both on the main concourse, both open.
• Etihad Lounge: the airline's Heathrow lounge for First and Business and Etihad Guest Platinum, on the main concourse.
• Saudia Lounge: opened 27 April 2025 with eligibility tied to Saudia operations and excluded for the SkyTeam Air France, KLM, Vietnam Airlines, China Eastern, and Korean Air arrivals into T4.
• Plaza Premium Lounge: paid entry from around £47.52 for two hours, also accessible on Priority Pass. The Plaza Premium Arrivals Lounge is currently closed.
• The House by Aspire: paid walk-up at £40 online or £50 at the door, open to anyone.
• Blush Lounge: the only Kosher-menu lounge at Heathrow.
• Aspire Lounge: paid entry or pass-holder access.

Lounge zone signage at T4 is simpler than at T3 (no equivalent of the T3 Lounge A through H letter system). Lounges are signed by name from the central concourse, with overhead distance markers.

Yotel Heathrow operates on the arrivals mezzanine, Level 1, the only embedded hotel inside a Heathrow terminal building. Rooms are cabin-format with a bed, a private shower and toilet, a desk, free Wi-Fi, and a small windowless space; sold in four-hour minimum blocks with hourly extensions, available 24 hours a day. The reception is landside on the mezzanine, a level below check-in and departures, signed from the main concourse.

The Yotel is the practical option for an early-morning T4 departure, a long airside layover (book the room landside before security), or a missed connection that does not justify a full hotel stay. Standalone hotel pages with rates and the rest of the airport-adjacent options sit on the sleeping at Heathrow page.

The retail and food cluster sits on the main concourse around the post-security plaza. The World Duty Free flagship anchors the centre of the airside floor, with luxury fashion and beauty units around it, plus a smaller selection compared with T5. Sit-down restaurants and bars cluster near the plaza; chain quick-food (Wagamama, Pret, Caffè Nero) fills in around them. Boots, WHSmith, and a handful of travel essential stores sit airside on Level 2, with mirror options on the ground floor landside for arriving passengers and meeters.

Victor Pier has noticeably thinner retail and food. A small set of grab-and-go options, washrooms, and seating clusters cover the basics, but the main shopping and the sit-down restaurants all sit back on the main concourse. The pattern is similar to T2 in terms of what survives past the split-off: enough to keep you fed and hydrated near the gate, not enough to make the walk worthwhile if you have more time.

Quieter seating sits at the far end of Victor Pier and at the edges of the main concourse away from the central plaza. The central plaza around the World Duty Free is the busiest part of the building at the morning long-haul departure peak.

Arriving aircraft park at any of the gate positions on the main concourse or Victor Pier. From the gate, the route to baggage runs down through the building: airbridge or bus from the airside gates on Level 2 to the immigration hall on the Level 1 mezzanine, the eGate bank and the staffed desks, then down to the baggage reclaim hall on the ground floor (Level 0), then customs, then out into the arrivals concourse and the meeting point. Travel time from gate to the exit is usually 25 to 45 minutes including any wait at immigration; the eGate queue clears in under 10 minutes off-peak.

The baggage reclaim hall has up to 10 belts and the belt for your flight is shown on the overhead screens in the immigration hall and the baggage hall. Bags appear on the belt 15 to 20 minutes after the aircraft is on stand, with the last bags 40 minutes or longer after a full long-haul wide-body. The airline's ground handling agent runs the operation; the agent's desk inside the baggage hall handles missing, damaged, or delayed bag reports.

The meeting point sits on the ground floor opposite the international arrivals exit, signed from the baggage hall. From the meeting point, lifts run down to the Heathrow Terminal 4 rail station on Level -1, out to the forecourt for taxis and buses, or across to the Terminal Parking lifts.

Terminal 4 is the most awkward of the four to reach from the others because it cannot be walked to from any of them. Connecting passengers on a single ticket with through-checked bags use the free airside Flight Connections coach, which links all four terminals every 6 to 10 minutes. Landside, the options are the Elizabeth Line shuttle between Heathrow stations (one stop and around 5 minutes between T4 and the central T2/T3 station), the inter-terminal coach from the central area (around 15 minutes), or the Piccadilly Line.

The most-asked T4 transport gotcha is that Heathrow Express does not stop at Terminal 4. Passengers who book Heathrow Express to T4 have to change at the central Heathrow station for the free Elizabeth Line shuttle, or take the inter-terminal coach. The direct rail options to T4 are the Elizabeth Line from Paddington (around 35 minutes, four trains an hour) and the Piccadilly Line from central London (every 10 to 15 minutes). For the full door-to-door bands by route, see getting between Heathrow's terminals; the airport-wide schematic is on the airport-wide Heathrow map.