Hello,

I posted these questions on the Europe Forum, I appreciate all of the comments that I have already received, but I hope others can help as well.

We are flying from London Heathrow to Paris on BMI. Our BA flight arrives around 6:40am into Terminal 4 at Heathrow. Our BMI flight departs Terminal 1 at 10:40am. My question is this..is there enough time to catch the flight? Also, how long does it take to travel from T4 to T1?

Never having had to catch a connecting flight before, what do we do once we have landed? (this may seem like a silly question, but I'm not sure what we have to do once we arrive at Heathrow...please help).

Unfortunately, we have to pick up our luggage before connecting to our next flight. Our ticket for our BMI flight is an e-ticket, do we have to go into the Flight Connection Centre to check in, or do we check ourselfs in at one their kiosks? If we check in ourselves, how do we check in our luggage.

I apologize for the number of questions, but we need all the help we can get. Thanks to those who respond.

http://www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/h...ion_frame.html

You'll find this link quite useful. If you browse around, all your questions will be answered.

Thanks djkbooks for your response. I had already reviewed the site that youhad suggested. I was hoping that people would let me know of their own experiences when connecting from T4 to T1.

Thanks again.

LHR connections are a bit of a flog. You arrive in one terminal and have to be transported to another. You also have to go thru security again. The good news is it is fairly efficient and the language is English.
Most US to LHR flights arrive early in the morning. Surprisingly busy time for LHR so there are crowds to get thru security.
We did this and did BA to BA connection (to/from Spain) therefore did not have to do the Immigration/Customs/luggage thing. It was easy and took about an hour. However if you have to claim luggage and recheck, it would add time. If you have 2 hrs you will be ok. I would worry if I had 1.5 hrs or less. Your stated times are ok. You will have time to get something to eat, etc.

I've transitted Heathrow many times and I'll tell you that four hours is ample time to connect -- so stop worrying.

The first thing is to make sure you need to collect your luggage. Whether you do or you don't will make a HUGE difference to how you transit through the airport. You may be travelling on two different tickets but sometimes when you check in they will ticket your luggage to your final destination. The airline isn't required to but usually as a courtesy they will (unless of course you're Alitalia but that is a whole OTHER story).

If your luggage is checked through to Paris then this is the process you'll go through:

1. get off your flight and follow the signs for "Flight Connections" and "T1".

2. follow the signs (they're very clearly marked) and you'll eventually come to security. They'll check you through and you'll be in the "Flight Connection" lounge. If you don't have your connecting ticket look for the agent that represents BMI. Stand in their line-up and get your ticket.

3. Once you have your ticket from the agent (or if you already had your ticket) follow the signage for "T1". You'll end up in a transit area and will be put on a bus to take you to T1.

4. The bus will take you to T1 and you will enter the terminal. This whole process depending on how busy it is will take between 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.

5. Once you're at your departure terminal the gate information for your flight will be posted on the screens -- usually about 40 minutes before your departure time. They will never post a departure time early because at Heathrow you go to your gate and you get on your flight. There is no waiting in the gate area as they want all passengers in the main shopping area of the terminal.

Now if you DO have to pick-up your luggage. Here is the process:

1. get off your flight and follow the signs for "Immigration".

2. follow the signs (again they're very clearly marked) and you come to passport control and immigration. The line you stand in will be dependant on whether you're an EU citizen, or Other. They'll check your passport and you'll head to the luggage carousels.

3. pick-up your luggage and look for and follow the signage that says "T1 Transfers". You'll end up in a transit area and will be put on a bus to take you to T1.

4. The bus will take you to T1 and you will enter the terminal. You will now need to look at the boards for the BMI gates. Go to the agent and check-in.

5. You'll then have to go through security again and enter the waiting lounge.

6. This whole process again depending on how busy it is will take between 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours.

The process from here on in is as per Step fFve above.

Don't worry -- millions of passengers transit Heathrow every year. With four hours you'll have ample time.

Thanks for the detailed information hydra.

I have a connection from LAX to Madrid in LHR in April (Virgin airlines to Iberia). I only have 1:35 minutes and was assured at booking (done all by Continental directly) that this would be plenty of time. Looks like the key for me is if my luggage will be checked through....if so, from your directions it looks like I wouldn't even have to go through customers/immigration.

(Sorry to jump in on your post Shevon!).

CathyM, transit between T1/T2/T3 is fairly efficient and can be done airside (meaning you don't have to go through immigration/customs, but you'll have to go through a security check upon entering the new terminal). It's T4 that's quite a distance from the other 3 terminals.

You should be able to check your bags through (make sure you show the VS check-in agent at LAX your connecting tickets). Your VS flight will arrive in T3 and it looks like your Iberia Madrid flight departs from T2. Assuming VS arrives on time at LHR, one and a half hours is plenty of time. Just follow the signs that say Flight Connections Centre as you deplane and do not head toward Baggage Claim. We made the T3/T1 connection in half an hour last November although this was at a time when security lines were very light.

If your flights are all on one ticket, they should be able to accomodate you on a later flight in case of any delays (did you check if there is a later flight?). That's what they did for us even though we had two separate tickets although I gather this isn't the norm. Before our check-in at LAX, VS already knew our flight would be delayed so the agent changed our BA connection for us and tagged our luggage for the later flight.

Thanks Patty also! Yes, I've got everything on one ticket so that's good. I've also checked and there are a couple of options for later flights. I'm going to bring these with me to the airport so if there's a delay with Virgin from the onset I'll know what options I can have. I'm hoping too that since we're getting in at 3:30 in the afternoon it will be a slow time.

Thanks again.

I have done transfers from T4 at Heathrow to T1 and T2, and by far the fastest and most convinient manner of transfer is by the Heathrow Express Train, which takes a mere 8 minutes and is free(Get off promptly to avoid paying ₤17 for a trip to paddington. Look at the Fodors London 2004 for more info, hope this helps, have a jolly good day!

BritBoy, I've used the express train to transfer from terminal to terminal -- but only when I've had to clear security (i.e. when my bags haven't been checked through). Please note that if you use the train you will be going OUTSIDE of the secure area and will have to go through security and passport control when you get to your terminal. This will add to your transfer time.

Where are you flying from on your BA flight?

BA have recently announced that a number of their flights will be transferring from T4 to T1 from the 28th March 2004.

Flights affected include - Hong Kong, LA, San Francisco, Moscow and a few others that I can't remember at the moment

Check out BA.com or Heathrows own web page. Your concerns MAY be at an end.