cod

I will be meeting my daughter in Heathrow off a flight from San Francisco arriving at 13.20, in Terminal 3. We are due to leave on a flight to Belfast from Terminal 1 at 17.20. Having regard to baggage claim, customs, check in etc., is that enough time in Heathrow to make the conection?

Grasshopper

4 hours? That's loads of time and then some.

cod

That's great, Grasshopper. Thanks for the prompt reply. She's all set now for the trip of a lifetime.

xyz123

I was going to post on my experience at LHR last Saturday morning...4 hours should be enough time; however...

1. I was scheduled on a connection JFK-LHR-DUB (Dublin) departing JFK 1900 Friday evening arrival LHR 0655 Saturday morning connecting to an Aer Lingus code share flight with BA at 0910...left the gate at JFK exactly on time but it took one hour of taxing and queing before we could take off and there wasn't even any sign of a weather problem that evening. Made up a little bit of the time but with the usual ATC problems around Heathrow didn't arrive at gate in Terminal 4 till 0733...ran off the plane, followed signs for flight connection to Terminals 1 & 2 and there as a queue at least 30 or 40 deep waiting for the bus...three buses later at intervals of abuot 7 or 8 minutes I finally got on a bus and by now it was well after 0800...got to the BA connecting flight centre at 0810 and there was a security check (I know we all want security security security but why did we Have to go through another security check if we had cleared security previously)...10 more minutes off the clock...then a horrendous queue at passport control...now why do I have to go through a passport check as my destination was not within the UK but rather the Republic of Ireland (I understand you're going to Belfast which is in the UK)...especially since later on there would be a passport control to enter the Republic of Ireland. No airline personnel at the passport control trying to get people on tight connections a priority place on the queue...30 minutes of queing and I was through at 0858...now I was in terminal 2, a long and I mean long walk through the corridor to Terminal 1 and they were just announcing my flight to Dublin was closing at gate 88, naturally at the end of the next long corridor in Terminal 1....huffing and puffing I got to the gate at about 0905 expecting them to tell me the flight was closed but I got on and then we sat for about 15 more minutes as I guess other connecting passengers already had their luggage on the flight and it would be necessary to off load the baggage...so sitting there sweating from my long run, the air conditioning on the plane thank god worked and I made the connection but no thanks to the incompetence of the baa...not having enough buses to connect terminal 4 to terminal 2 & 1 and not having personnel to sort out the passengers on the tightest connection...a moronic security check even though we had already gone through security in NY, a questionable passport control despite the fact we were transit passengers heading to the Republic of Ireland (passengers for other European destinations did not have to go through the passport6 control going into Terminal 2, not having personnel at the passport control to once again sort out the passengers on the tightest connections...so nobody can guarantee anything at Heathrow when it comes to flight connections.

Grasshopper

Yes, XYZ, that sounds very stressful. But you had 2 hours and 15 minutes. Cod has nearly twice as much time. So Cod, I think you have nothing to worry about. I've made those connections many times. Xyz's experience was at the bad end of the experience.

I hope your daughter has a great time!

Alec

xyz123
At least on a topic other than mobile phones!
There are some good reasons on some of your rants about Heathrow. 'Moronic' security check exists because they (rightly) believe that security check at some overseas airports isn't as rigorous as it should be (SFO should be fine but there is no way of separating pax from different airports). 'Questionable' passport check takes place because flights to the Republic of Ireland are treated as domestic, as both UK and ROI are in common travel area (a bit like US and Puerto Rico) and there is no route immigration check when travelling between the two. But I do agree that Heathrow suffers from overcrowding (busiest airport in the world in international passenger number) and the worst congestion is early morning when many long-haul flights arrive. Recently I transited at Heathrow at lunchtime from Terminal 3 (Air Canada) to Terminal 1 Domestic and it took only about 45 min door to door.

my2cents

Okay...now I'm getting a little worried here...We're on a United flight from SFO this summer arriving at 06:45 at LHR and then connecting to a British Midlands flight to Glasgow, leaving at 08:50. Does anyone know which terminals I'll be traveling into and out of? I was told 2 hours would be plenty of time to connect but now I'm not so sure...

Grasshopper

Don't worry. You do have plenty of time.

LaVisiteure

And will we regret arriving at 1 pm on BA at LHR Terminal 1 for another BA flight to Paris at 2:15 from Terminal 4? I'm assuming BA will assure easy connection in this case, and I'm not inclined to fret, but I haven't flown through LHR in years.

nibblette

United and BMI are star alliance partners. If you are on one ticket you should be able to have your luggage checked all the way through to your final destination. Even if you don't, because of the alliance, they may do so anyway but you'll have to ask. Check the luggage tags too to make sure. And you should be able to get your boarding passes for both flights at check-in.
That way, besides changing terminals, you only have to go through immigration and security. With 4 hours, shouldn't be a problem.

Grasshopper

That one I might ask BA about. But if you miss your scheduled flight, there is sure to be another soon after and since both segments are booked on BA they'll probably accommodate you. Give them a call to be sure.

xyz123

Alec...

I trust you can understand what a harrowing morning that was and I suppose it was nobody's fault in certain respects...security is security and I find most security checks these days what with taking your shoes off (I know the Paris shoe bomber) and opening this and that kind of harrowing but I intellectually accept it is for all of our good...likewise the passport control although forgive me but what I could understand in the whole thing is if when we flew into Ireland there was no control but we had to go through a passport control in Dublin also (the passport inspector there, though, was funny and said to me don't worry, he wouldn't be taking my picture).

But there was no excuse for not having bus after bus ready knowing the number of flights that come in early in the morning and not having some sort of way to prioritorize the people on the tightest connections at the passport control which is the responsibility of the airport staff, not the immigration officials.

I suppose all international connecting airports are like that, I also had a tough experience transiting through Frankfurt a year ago and of course when it is happening to you, it is not an exercise in accepting what is inherently correct but rather damn this red tape....

Yes I agree four hours should be enough and flight delays are things nobody can control.

Oh well...I wanted those British Airways FF miles which flying non stop on Aer Lingus wouldn't have given me so I guess everything has its price

BTW the transfer this morning from EI landing at Terminal 1 to my BA flight to JFK at Terminal 4 was somewhat less stressful...at least no passport control and the bus was waiting but long long walks and for some reason the flight to Kennedy did not have a jetway so we had to bus to the plane once we got to terminal 4.

Can't win them all but I arrived at both destinations in one piece and relatively on time so I guess there was lots to be grateful for but Heathrow and Frankfurt are among the worst transfer points in the world, I am sure we can all agree on that.

nibblette

Oops, sorry, my responsse was supposed to be directed to my2cents. Your 2 hours is still plenty of time.

To cod, check to see if you can check your luggage all the way through. That way you can skip a lot of steps (see my repsonse to my2cents).

Barbara

my2cents, two hours may be enough time..so long as your United flight is on time and even then you willhave to hustle. BMI are very strict about when they close boarding so that they don't miss their take-off slot. If you are too late, they will just put you on the next flight. It's a pain, because you can't be sure where your bags are and if someone's meeting you in Glasgow you may have to call them. But you will get there, so don't worry about it. On the plus side, if BMI are still serving breakfast, they have the best bacon rolls!

my2cents

Thanks, Barbara, Grasshopper and Nibblette. I'll try checking our bags straight through and hope our flight from SFO is on time. We don't have anyone meeting us in Glasgow, but will be trying to catch a 12:40 train from Glasgow to Oban. If we have to catch a later flight we'll just catch a later train (and call in late to our B&B). I hope we get to sample BM's bacon rolls though -- sounds yummy!

Grasshopper

Bacon Baps! What a guilty pleasure. 2 cents, I am thinking you're taking UA 930. I've taken it many times and don't think it's ever been late. The only time there was a glitch was when we were too early for the 6 am landing curfue in London and had to circle over the city for a little while. It was a grand bird's eye view of the city! Enjoy.

Kate_W

LaVisiteure:

I'd worry a little about that 75 minute connection. From where are you flying into Heathrow? I usually find that trans-Atlantic flights aren't more than 30 minutes late because they seem to have shorter flying times than scheduled (which makes up for the frequent delays on take-off and landing). However, transit times (even from one BA flight to another BA flight) are variable. Sometimes, I've gone through in half an hour (e.g. I got off the plane first because I was in Club World, I caught a bus as soon as I got to the stand and then sailed through security etc in less than 10 minutes). At least once, I spent over an hour in a security line-up in the same terminal that I arrived at.

Usually, I try to have a least 2 hours and fifteen minutes to connect at Heathrow (2 hours for a connection within the same terminal). It's easy to be entertained by the window shopping at LHR, so I don't mind the wait.

Are you checking luggage all the way through? That will buy you a little more time (since they'll be reluctant to throw your luggage off the plane since that, in itself, will cause a delay).

daph

I've already posted on this forum how we missed our BA flight home after leaving CDG late [on a BA flight]. We were told upon exiting the plane that we would get help but there was none. We fast walked to the gate [same terminal!] but the plane door was shut. In August we'll have 2:55 hours [if our flight leaves LAX on time, which it never does] to go from T1 to T4 and we'll only have carry-ons, so I hope that we don't get hung up at security, as we did in June 2001. I'm dreading it!

LaVisiteure

Thank you, Grasshopper and Kate. Our flight is overnight from SFO; we'll each have a checked bag and a small carryon (but that's another thread). It sounds like we'll need to hustle and hope for the best. Meanwhile, I'm calling BA.

But hey! I'll have my Modal phone (thanks to Fodor folk), so I can call the apartment rep in Paris if it doesn't go well. Apparently no one here has used this agency (welcome2france). Aah... another thread...

my2cents

Yup, Grasshopper -- UA #930 it is! Glad to hear it's usually ontime or early -- it's so hard to tell with UA these days. But I'll be flying in the summertime, so little chance of bad weather delays at SFO unless there's a freak bought of early afternoon fog. Bring on my first class seats and Bacon Baps -- I'm all ready to go!