4khansen

Our college aged daughter is making her first trip abroad for a studyabroad course. Unfortunately, she is traveling alone until she arrives at Heathrow. She is to meet up with the group escort in the arrivals hall. What exactly is the arrivals hall at Heathrow and is there more than one? Is this where she gets her luggage (baggage claim), or will she already have her luggage at that time?

janisj

Heathrow has <u>five</u> different terminals, and each one has its own arrival hall. We need more info - which terminal does your daughter's flight arrive? Which terminal(s) is the rest of the group using?

highflyer

Your daughter will collect her baggage and then will proceed to the Arrivals hall. There's a designated meeting point in the arrivals hall but as she enters the area there will be tons people meeting others and waving name placards including taxi drivers etc.

She can't miss it but it will be busy.

4khansen

I looked and she is arriving Terminal 5 at Heathrow. She is to meet an escort there as other students are arriving at various other times that day. As far as she knows she will be arriving alone but &quot;hopefully&quot; meeting up with more than just the escort from the school.

yk

Yes, there are 5 different terminals at Heathrow, so it's crucial to know which terminal she's arriving vs the group.

After she deplanes, all she needs to do is follow the signs for arrivals.

She will first get to the immigration hall - she will need to go to the &quot;other passports&quot; line. She should have filled out her landing card already, as the flight attendants are supposed to give them out on the plane for pax to fill them out ahead of time.

The wait for immigration is quite variable, can be 10 minutes, can be 1 hour. Really depends on how busy when she arrives.

After she gets thru immigration, she'll go to baggage claim to get her luggage. Then she'll need to exit thru Customs - take the &quot;nothing to declare&quot; green exit (assuming she isn't bringing in huge amts of alcohol, LOL).

After she gets out the green exit, she will arrive at the Arrivals Hall, which is outside of the secured area.

4khansen

Thank you for your help! That will be useful for us as well as her to get her off to a good start if she knows what to expect. I will warn her on the alcohol!!! If she is filling her suitcase with that, that is a WHOLE different discussion I need to have!

PatrickLondon

There are maps of the terminal layouts at
http://tinyurl.com/297lby

joebear

We flew into Heathrow last month, our family's first trip abroad. Very easy, I was surprised. She will go to customs first thing, explain reason for travel. That only took maybe 10 minutes max, then got to luggage claim which was close by and she is done. We were ready to go within 30 minutes of arrival.

yk

&lt; She will go to customs first thing, explain reason for travel. That only took maybe 10 minutes max, then got to luggage claim which was close by and she is done. &gt;

Like I wrote earlier, after deplaning, the passenger will first go through <b>immigration</b>, not customs. Immigration is when the officer examines your passport and ask why you're visiting the UK. Customs occurs AFTER luggage claim, just before the passenger leaves the secure area. Customs is where the officers check if you are bringing in &quot;illegal&quot; items, that's why it occurs after baggage claim. For the most part, going thru customs is just a matter of walking thru the GREEN channel, with the officers waving people through.

joebear

Oh sorry wrong term. You are right immigration is correct...but it still only took a few minutes and was no trouble. I had dreaded it was my point and no reason to at all.

janisj

joebear: You were very lucky. Immigration could just as easily have been a real mess. It can take a minute or two - or it can take an hour or more.

nytraveler

She should be aware the Immigration officers often ask many more questions of young people than older travelers - on the assumption that they are more likely to be planning on staying longer than allowed.

She will be asked:

The reason for her visit
How long she will be staying (and may have to show return or ongoing ticket)
Where she is staying (hotel or hostel)

If she is joining a group with a specific plan she should have that info handy.

How long Immigration takes (and she must go to the non EU line) depends on how many places have landed at once and where they are from. I've had it take 5 minutes - or more than an hour.

janisj

re the &quot;where are you staying?&quot; question - she should know exactly where she is staying - the street address/name of school etc.

joebear

I saw that happen to a fellow traveler...she didn't know her exact desination so she was turned away until she could verify her address she would be visiting. I saw her later on the plane so she got it worked out....

SusanSDG

When we landed at Heathrow in September, it was 3HOURS to the immigration desk. Hopefully, your experience is better, but be prepared to wait.

WillTravel

Yikes, SusanSDG. What airline were you on, and what time of day did you land?

SusanSDG

Virgin, a weekday morning. Excrutiatingly long, then no justairports driver when we got through.

travelgourmet

<i>When we landed at Heathrow in September, it was 3HOURS to the immigration desk.</i>

Wow. That is long. Even for Heathrow. But waits of over 1 hour are pretty commonplace.

I couldn't believe my last trip, where I breezed right through in less than 5 minutes. And then the bags arrived promptly. Gate to tube in less than 30 minutes.

yk

I guess that's another reason I prefer the day flight from US to London. Arriving LHR in the evening is usually less busy than the AM when many more US flights arrive.

4khansen

She arrives at 10:00 a.m. on a Friday, so hopefully it won't be a huge wait at immigration....

Thanks for everyone's help...