My wife and I are celebrating our 25th., wedding anniversary in April by planning a
trip to Paris. Since neither of us have ever been out of California we are apprehensive about several items and are requesting advice;

Heathrow customs - Is this a nightmare? What should we expect and how much time should we allow? (We are arriving 11:00 a.m.) British Air Premier Economy is currently $2,442 for two. Is this a decent fare or should we wait awhile to see if it drops? Any advice would be so much appreciated. Thank you.
George

Heathrow Customs is a cakewalk. There's a sign saying <b><font color="green">Nothing to declare</font></b> which gets you through without stopping.

If you mean <i>immigration</i>, the answer isn't as straightforward. You may wait ten minutes or fifty, depending on arriving passenger loads and the staffing on hand to handle them. But if your flight to Paris departs from the same terminal as you arrive, you <i>might</i> bypass it altogether - more likely if both flight legs are on one ticket.

That airfare sounds about right - but the recent volatility in the oil market suggests that waiting might be your best strategy.

Will you be spending any time in London or is it just a layover? If it's just a layover, then your bags will be checked all the way through to Paris, so there is no reason you will have to clear customs at Heathrow.

Customs isn't what you are concerned about - Customs is basically nothing. The time crunch happens at <u>Immigration</u>. But how long it takes varies from terminal to terminal, day to day, hour to hour.

We would need more details to give you good info. You say you are going to Paris - but are asking about Heathrow. Are you flying straight to CDG from LHR - or are you going into London first?

If you are transiting directly to Paris - is that flight also on BA? Are both flights on the same ticket?

If you are arriving at Heathrow &amp; then immediately flying to Paris you will pass neither Immigration or Customs. You will stay airside for the whole process. It is described on the www.heathrowairport.com website - click on &quot;airport information&quot;, then &quot;Flying into Heathrow&quot;.

If you staying in London for a few days first then you DON'T fly to Paris but get the Eurostar - www.eurostar.com - you'll probably BTW find it cheaper to buy a return ticket.

BTW you have heard of &quot;open jaw&quot; tickets - where you fly into one city &amp; out of another. Generally the prices is the same as for flying in &amp; out of one city and it can save several hours of travel and hence increase your holiday time.

On the BA website it's described as &quot;multi city&quot;

&quot;BTW you have heard of &quot;open jaw&quot; tickets - where you fly into one city &amp; out of another. Generally the prices is the same as for flying in &amp; out of one city and it can save several hours of travel and hence increase your holiday time.&quot;

Flew into LHR and out of Standsted this summer on my way to Bergerac, Dordogne. I found travelling between those two airports to be expensive and time consuming. Next time I'll fly directly into CDG and train down.

What you are talking about isn't open jaw. It is just transferring from one airport to another enroute to your final destination.

Open jaw would be something like flying into LHR then flying home from CDG or GLA or wherever.

What you did is called &quot;not doing your research&quot;, few people, if any, on this forum would recommend transferring between airports

An open jaw (multi city) is where you arrive at one airport at the start of your trip &amp; leave from another airport at the end of your trip

It means you don't have to do get back to your original airport for your flight home.

Coming into Heathrow is normally ok. Queues form when you arrive at the same time as arrivals as flights from high drug supply areas.

Going out from Heathrow at the moment is not good due to queues so before you plan your trip back ring the handling staff and check how bad it has been. Also check the web site or even just look at the notices. If it says One bag only it means 1. Most time has been wasted recently by people not able to count above 1.

Price is good, unlikely to come down.

George Bernard Shaw once said that &quot;Hell was like a railway station waiting room.&quot; Shaw never lived long enough to see Heathrow Airport.

I've just got off a BA flight from California. Average waiting time at LHR for people going through security to make a connection was 30 secs. Average waiting time for non-Europeans going through immigration was zero.

At T1, where BA flights from California arrive, it is actually possible to see whether there's an immigration queue before deciding whether to make an airside or landside transfer. If there isn't an immigration queue, it's faster to go through immigration, walk to the Heathrow Express station and get the (free) train to T4.

Incidentally, the security queue going out of Heathrow the other day took five minutes. It would have been a lot less if I hadn't chosen a queue that consisted of just one family group who believed rules on limited cabin baggage don't apply to people with babies.

$1221pp is a decent fare for WT+ (premium economy) from California. I doubt it will drop by much, if at all.