Who paid for this? I frequently fly from Heathrow and it's a horrible airport, run into service problems almost every time. Yet they can do all this for one person.
The security "might" be impressive, but often there's no real coordination so I've felt this is largely theater. I was wandering around while looking for the security office and not once was I stopped and asked where I was going.
No one knew where the security office was. One of my travel companions got lost and wound up there and I had to ask 6 different people (I don't know if they were security, but had uniforms and radios) and all of them gave me the "try over there" treatment.
Gate announcements are invariably late so you either make it barely on time or not at all. I know this is something we have to keep an eye on, but tired people tend to fall asleep.
It also doesn't help that it's one of the most confusing airports I've ever been through. Probably only second to Charles De Gaulle. The language used on most sign posts is English, allegedly, but of no dialect I'm familiar with and with no obviousness at a distance.
I don't know if they've changed these things since the last time (it's been a couple of years), but it was really quite terrible.
I'll agree on the gate thing, though. They really want you to sit around in that god damned shopping mall for as long as possible. Get elite status and sit in the lounge. Much better.