50 minute connection time at Heathrow...is that possible?
 

I'm in the very early planning stages of a vacation to Greece. I've been looking at air fares and times from SFO to Athens. The best fare is a British Airways flight that comes into Heathrow at 11 am and departs at 11:50 for Athens. I don't see how they can get our luggage off and everthing else in that amount of time. Do you?

An option for us would be to fly to LAX in the morning and get into Heathrow at 9:30 but that would cost more. Any advice?

From the BA website, here are the minimum connection times at Heathrow:

TERMINAL 1:
From Terminal 1 to Terminal 1 - 60 mins
From Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 - 75 mins
From Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 - 75 mins
From Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 - 75 mins

TERMINAL 2
From Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 - 75 mins
From Terminal 2 to Terminal 2 - 60 mins
From Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 - 75 mins
From Terminal 2 to Terminal 4 - 90 mins

TERMINAL 3
From Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 - 75 mins
From Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 - 75 mins
From Terminal 3 to Terminal 3 - 60 mins
From Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 - 90 mins

TERMINAL 4
From Terminal 4 to Terminal 1 - 75 mins
From Terminal 4 to Terminal 2 - 90 mins
From Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 - 90 mins
From Terminal 4 to Terminal 4 - 60 mins

Maybe arriving in Heathrow one-two days earlier and spend one-two days in London. That's what we always do before traveling in Europe.
Sunshine gave you a great list and as you see 50 minutes is just not possible for connecting. What about if you plane is late arriving in Heathrow?
I just don't see how they can get your luggage off and everthing else in that amount of time. Good luck!

Thank you so much for that info. We don't have to leave terminal1 but 50 min. still isn't enough time anyway. Why would that flight come up on BA web site as well as others if it can't be done?
We just might stay a night in London if we don't take the flight from San Jose to LAX.

This isn't until June, but I'm an intense travel planner!

Staying in London for a day or two is a great idea. There are threads on this site that discuss how to do this -- try the Africa/Mid-East, Europe & this section for discussions on doing this.

As to being late & baggage, my plane arrived at Heathrow a half an hour or more late on a BA Seattle-London-Paris flight. They put me on the plane, but did not have time to load the suitcases. I reported this to Customer Assistance in the Luggage area in Paris & the bags were delivered to my hotel that evening.

I was a little disappointed that the bags showed up so quickly, I was hoping that I would be forced to buy new clothes in Paris & BA would have to reimburse me.

If BA's next flight to Athens isn't until the next day, then I would imagine that the bags would come the next day.

Sunshine not being a curmudgeon.

I have never flown to Europe so this is all new to me. I would not want our bags to come the next day since we will be leaving for Mykonos early in the morning. If staying in London doesn't work out than the LAX flight with 2 hours between flights should work out ok, right?

The minimum connection guidelines are that only - guidelines. These can increase/decrease depending upon the specific itinerary.

SFO-LHR-ATH will be Terminal 1 all the way and no need to clear immigration at LHR so the MCT for this itinerary would be 45 mins and therefore the choices offered on BA.com are perfectly valid.

50 minutes is definitely a tight connection but perfectly do-able. There is an evening flight to ATH if things did not go according to plan.

Have you checked out connections via Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt?

<I would imagine that the bags would come the next day>

No, they won't.

I agree, check connections in Paris and stay there for a couple days. I feel so bad for you, viamar, you have to stay in London or Paris. LOL!