Message: I will be landing in Heathrow on a Saturday Morning at 8:55 AM on American Airlines and I need to catch a British Airways flight to Rome at 10:30 AM.
Will this be enough time?
These flights were ticketed by American Airlines, and are on the same ticket.
I hope to be able to carry on only, but sometimes my wife's roll a board weighs too much and needs to be checked, will it be transfered to the BA flight by baggage handlers, or do I need to collect it from a carosel, and re check it?
Thanks to all for the help

You have 2 problems - 1) the two airlines use different terminals and BA's termiinal 4 is far away from the other 3 terminals. And 2) BA has a very strict 6 kilo weight limit for cabin luggage so you often have to check even normal carry-on type bags.

Assuming your AA flight lands on time AND it immediately gets an arrival gate you should be able to make it. But it will be close.

If you can carry your bag on AA, BA will take it from you at the gate and check it. That should save you a little time.

I guess cyberUK will need to take one of those really "nice" shuttles between the two terminals? That's one of the reasons it may be time consuming.

I booked this trip through American Airlines on the phone, The connections were set up by them, I was not even aware that British Air was involved. I am surprised that AA would set up an itinerary with no room for error

BA and AA are probably partner airlines. All airlines seem to set up tight connecting times here and there. They don't take the actual time to connect into consideration. This was a concern I had with Lufthansa a couple of years ago. Luckily we made it in good time for our connection. When I expressed concern to the agents all they said was that the airline wouldn't have setup such a flight time if it was not possible.
I know that taking the shuttles are sometimes push and shove-it was not a fun experience for our family of 5 when we had to do that as it was crowded with everyone else trying to get onto the first shuttle. We had to make sure we were all going to be able to fit onto the same shuttle and not get separated. Hopefully for you since it will be early it won't be so crowded then.

Have no experience of Heathrow, but how does this work when most airlines ask for check in 2 hours before departure?

Even if a flight arrives on time I don't remember ever getting through passport control/customs and waiting for baggage etc, and getting out in less than 45 minutes.

Good luck!

Is it not possible to walk between terminals?
Are these shuttles easy to locate?

In your experience, will my checked luggage be routed through to Rome, or will I have to collect it before the shuttle?

Sorry about all the questions, but I leave in less than two weeks, and I thought that I had taken everything into account. But I went to the Airline message board and saw that my transfer could be a problem. Who Knew?
Sometimes too much information.....

Anyway, thaks for your the helps

I've done this transfer lots of time. It's really not too bad. You will follow signs for the shuttle transfer and won't have to go through customs or immigration. You will have to go through a security check at the new terminal. You <b>don't </b> want to walk because that means going through immigration and security again and will take hours! The shuttle is very easy.

I've never checked my bags in the US, but have checked them in London (had the desk people take it.) So I don't know if they'll check it through.

Can you call your airline reservations and ask them if they might find a flight to Rome that gives you a little more time?

I think the cost to change my ticket is almost as much as I paid originally.

I had the option to leave NY earlier, 7:30 as opposed to 9:00, I choose the later flight because I hate hanging around in airports. With the check in requirements for international flights now,I will be spending about 12 hours for my trip to Rome as it is.

I realize now that it may have been foolish.
I will just hope for the best.
At least I am aware now of the time constraints because I checked on Fodor's, and as they say, &quot;forewarned is forearmed&quot;

Thanks to all.

I'd give your airline a call, on the off chance they might be willing to make the change without a charge. I don't think it was reasonable for them to allow you to make that connecting reservation.

Good luck!

Walking is NOT even an option on this one. Check with BA to be 100% sure which terminal your flight is out of, but BA uses terminal #4 for most of its flights and #4 is very remote. It is a couple of miles from the other terminals.

You must take the shuttle bus. Anything else definitely insures you won't make the connection. Even using the shuttle will be cutting it short, depending on how security is flowing at term 4 . . . . .

You'll find helpful information

http://www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/h...ons_frame.html

This is a historic post. Janis is wrong (about the first time in recorded history that's happened). Indeed she's got the whole thing upside down

Forget about Terminal 4. BA uses T4 for some flights - but Rome's not one of them. BA uses T1 for Rome, and T1's a short (by our standards) walk if you want to walk. Here's what happens:

You check your bags through to Rome in in the US. AA should give you your boarding pass for the LHR-FCO segment in the US (the two airlines are partners).

At LHR your bags get transferred automatically. If you'on more or less on time, you follow the signs - BEFORE going through immigration - for transfers, take the inter-terminal bus, go through security again again, and follow the signs for the gate for your Rome flight. The connection without going through Immigration (&quot;airside&quot; transfer in the jargon) cannot be done on foot.

If you want to walk, you need to go through Immigration (which may take some time, though if you're in the posh seats you can get a Fast Track pass to speed this up. No one will show any surprise that you're in the UK for ten minutes), then follow the underpass/travellator for a few hundred yards to T1. Then go through security again (caution: the security queues at T1 this way will be longer than if you'd made the airside transfer). and on to the gate. Doing things this way will risk your missing the flight

Heathrow's the airport everyone loves to hate. It also handles more international-to-international transfers like yours than anywhere else in the world - most of them painlessly, and most of them with an hour or two between the flights.

Transfers are especially painless if they're on one ticket and a &quot;legal connection&quot;. That doesn't stop your incoming flight being late, or your inter terminal bus being struck by lightning. But it does mean the ongoing carrier accepts responsibility for getting you to Rome if you miss your flight.

And that can be a useful experience. You may have to wait in T1 for the next plane. And that'll cure you of any interest in shopping for the rest of your life. And think how much money that will save you.

Go to the BA web site and check for the time of the next flight (from Heathrow!) to Rome. That way if your flight is delayed, you will have some remote idea as to the next flight you SHOULD be booked on. Hopefully this will ease your stress if there are delays.

Thanks flanneruk. ( Rare, I know but I have made a mistake or 2 )

That's why I mentioned checking w/ BA to be sure. Every time I've used them it was through T-4 and didn't know the Rome flights used T-1. T-1 makes this a much easier connection . . . . . .