3 of us will arrive at Heathrow on a Saturday in March via American Airlines & leave about 8 hours later via British Air. Would appreciate suggestions on how to spend the 3 or 4 hours before we need to check in. We have been to London several times & always enjoy it.
Also, are there lockers at Heathrow where we could store our carry-on baggage for a few hours?
Thanks -

http://www.excess-baggage.com/airpor...l_services.php are the only place to store luggage that isn't checked through.

As for what to do

1) Good weather day - Tube to Hammersmith, walk to other side of platform for Tube to Westminster. Exit at BRIDGE STREET exit, look up, go WOW. Turn left, cross bridge, go on London Eye. Return across bridge, walk up Whitehall past Downing Street, then stroke horses at Horseguards. Keep going. When you reach Trafalgar Square turn left through Admiralty Arch and walk down the Mall to Buckingham Palace, turn left at the end and walk along Birdcage Walk back to Westminster. If you have time visit either the Cabinet War Rooms or Westminster Abbey.

2) Bad weather day - Tube to South Kensington, visit Natural History, Science and V&A Museums

Map of Central London - www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/pdfdocs/centlond.pdf

Since AA can give you your BA boarding cards when you first check in, you should do everything in your power (including bribery and/or the threat of kidnapping their pet cat) to ensure your bags are through-checked to your final destination.

Storing bags at Hesthrow is a pain: you need to go to the other terminal, wait while your bags are screened and then, when you try to collect them, hang round while everyone else is getting their bags screened or arguing about the extortionate price they'd not calculated properly.

You could ride the Tube to Piccadilly Circus, then the #15 bus (sit upstairs at the front) to the Tower, then the RV1 bus back to the Eye, and walk across the river to Westminster. Bus over to Victoria (W. Abbey & Cathedral), thence to Hyde Park corner and back on the Tube.

Tourist bus map (prints on one sheet): http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/cen_bus.pdf

You can also use the luggage storage company at Paddington (far left as you get off Heathrow Express). Though I won't recommend leaving valuables in the bag. I think Heathrow Express has a discounted round-trip fare for the same-day return. (Also check their website to see if they have discounts for internet booking).

Why use the Paddington left luggage office if you are returning to Heathrow?

And the HEX itself doesn't save much travelling time to the main tourist areas of London. In some cases it's slower

If you've been to London before, how about going to Windsor? There's an earlier thread here: http://fodors.com/forums/pgMessages....p;tid=34624492

AA will arrive at Terminal 3 and BA will leave from either T1 (walking distance) or T4 (a free trip on the tube). You might want to drop your carryons at the left-luggage place of the terminal you will depart from to save time on your return.

Flanneruk, will AA issue BA boarding passes in the USA?
How long does the trip into London take via the Underground?
Thanks for suggestions for how to spend our afternoon. Good to have bad weather/good weather ideas, too.

1) They might, try asking nicely, if not then get your onward boarding card BEFORE leaving Heathrow as it's one less thing to be worried about
2) Assume an hour (HEX / Tube routing isn't much faster).

Assuming you can't get your luggage checked through I'd deposit your luggage in your DEPARTURE terminal as that is one less journey you have to worry about when returning to the airport

And be sure to factor in generous time to both leave and pick up your bags. There is sometimes a queue at left luggage.

Another vote for taking a taxi to Windsor, which is only 11 miles from the airport.

And (yet another) reminder that arriving at/departing from Heathrow can be time-consuming. Don't expect crowds will be too huge on a typical March Saturday though.

Best laid plans sometimes go astray. Turns out we are flying into Gatwick on a Saturday morning w/10 hours until our outbound flt fr Heathrow. Our thought is to go to Heathrow & see if we can check us & the luggage in, maybe put carry-ons in left luggage, & then sightsee for a bit. Assuming we get through Gatwick & to Heathrow (via coach?) at a normal pace, any thoughts on how much time we have before we have to be back at Heathrow?
Thanks to all who have given suggestions!

I would seriously focus on getting to LHR with bags disposed, and only then think about onward touring. But then Windsor would be my choice.

There are numerous coaches from Gatwick to Heathrow, such as www.nationalexpress.com. It looks like the trip typically takes 1.25 to 1.5 hours. But if you go anywhere in between, you'll have your bags with you; yuck.

Perhaps you could take the Gatwick Express into Victoria Station and leave your bags at the Left Luggage facility there. Remember that you'll want to collect them at least three hours before you fly, to leave time to collect them, take the tube to Heathrow, and check in for your flight.

I would leave more than that; it's a lot more pleasant to wait around in Heathrow than it is to panic on the streets of London when you're running behind.

W/ ten hours I would not try to go into London after transferring to LHR. That is a lot of time to kill - but you really need about 5 hours just for LGW/LHR connection.

An hour or there abouts at LGW for luggage/immigration/catch coach. Up to 1.5 to 2 hrs enroute and 2-3 hours at LHR for check in/security etc.

Then you wouldn't have enough time to really go anywhere.

The other option is to take the gatwick Express to Victoria, wait in line to leave your bags, do a bit of sightseeing, queue up again to retrieve your bags, the take the tube to LHR. This works out 1 hr+ at LGW, 30 mins+ on the train, futzing time at Victoria checking/picking up your bags, 1 hr on the tube, 3 hrs at LHR - leaving you about 3 or 4 hours total free in London.

So I'd just bite the bullet and plan on chilling at LHR. Do you qualify for any of the airline lounges?

We have the same situation this summer, but we are flying into Heathrow and out of Gatwick. Our layover is more like 10 hours or so. We're going to spend the day in Windsor. I checked out the thread someotherguy posted and there are plenty of good suggestions. Windsor is a very pleasant little place to spend the day. I think going into downtown London for 3 or 4 hours would be a hassle unless you decided to see something specific...ie. the British Museum, or a particular shopping district, or the Tower of London.

I think we're going to gather our things at Gatwick and head to Heathrow to check in us and our bags. If we have a few of our 10 hours left, we'll take the advice of several who suggested Windsor because it is so close. We haven't been there since the fire.
Thanks, everyone, for your help!