I never made it to Gordon Ramsay’s. It all started well enough. The Heathrow Express from Paddington slid into Terminal 5 a full 90 minutes before my flight – ample time to get a taste of T5 haute cuisine and grab a free glass of Sancerre at the BA lounge.

True, the queues at checkin in the vast departures hall were a little disconcerting. Why had BA opened only a fraction of its desks? But I had done what I was told and checked in online. I headed straight for security.