dhuebler

I will be arriving at Heathrow from Malpensa airport on British Airways and transferring to Virgin Atlantic for flight to Los Angeles. I'm informed that I have to pick up my luggage and check in again. There is a 2 hour layover. Is that enough time?

P_M

Did the airline tell you that you have to pick up your luggage and re-check it? If you heard that from any other source, call the airline immediately and ask. If you do have to do that, your odds are not good, especially if it requires a terminal change. But call the airlines first.

rkkwan

That is correct. BA will not forward bags to other airlines at LHR.

I will say you don't have enough time, as you need to go through immigration, baggage claim, and customs. And most likely you need to go from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.

2 hours is not enough.

Principessa1

Hi,
It might be tight, which I say based on my bad experience in July missing my connecting flight, going the opposite direction -- Virgin Atlantic from NY, connecting to Alitalia at Heathrow.
I thought 1 hr 45 min would be enough, but our flight was 20 minutes late landing.
But the real problem was utter chaos at the security "lines" (I use the term "lines" very loosely, it was more like a mob scene!) at Heathrow. And, going through all the various processes took time and we got no help or information from anyone.
Perhaps the process has been improved in the past month, but if not, I'd suggest trying for more layover time.
Maybe if you only have carry on, it might be ok.
I know this isn't very helpful, but I don't know what else to suggest to improve your chances!
Good luck!

janisj

BA luggage at LHR is an utter disaster area (they have actually trucked mislaid bags to Milan to be sorted and then forwarded to the correct destinations). Unless you are lucky - you may not even have your bags until check in is closed for the Virgin flight.

I assume this is two different bookings - right?

janisj

oops - didn't mean to click post . . .

If you can, I'd change the BA flight to earlier in the day -- or even the day before.

pirouette

Check out the Airlines forum. I went through LHR last weekend (two separate tickets-collecting luggage, going through customs, checking in and going through security after walking from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. I had no problems and time to spare. It all took between 60-90 minutes.

TimS

You'll need to reschedule one of your flights.

Here is a quote from the Virgin Atlantic Web site: "Our check in facilities close 60 minutes prior to the scheduled departure times of our flights. If you fail to complete check in procedures by this time you will not be able to travel. We suggest you check in two and a half hours prior to your flight to allow for security and check in queues."

alanRow

Befo9re someone mentions online checkin with Virgin - their fast bag drop also closes one hour before departure

https://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/g...ckin/index.jsp