Steve

This may be a dumb question, but any problem making the following connection?<BR><BR>Arriving Heathrow (from Wash. DC on Virgin Atlantic) at 7:05 AM<BR><BR>Departing Heathrow (to Edinburgh on British Midland) at 10:30 A.M.

Love

No problem.

Ann

If your flight arrives on time, you should be fine. It takes a long time to tranfer at Heathrow, but 2.5 hours should be long enough so that you don't have to race through the airport.<BR><BR>I'm doing the London-Heathrow with a connection to elsewhere in the UK on Wednesday, with an hour of about 2 hours myself.

elvira

In fact, get to the British Midland desk as soon as you land. There might be an earlier flight you could make (example: an 8 o'clock flight - too tight for a legitimate connection, but if you happen to show up and they've got empty seats...).<BR><BR>Otherwise, plenty of time to make your flight and still get something to eat, buy a paper, etc.

Gregory

Hi Steve,<BR><BR>No problem with your connection but there is an earlier bmi British mildand flight to Edinburgh (BD 53 at 8:35am most days) which is still above the minimum connecting time. I dif the VS flight from Boston arrived Heathrow at 7am and was connected onto the 10am flight at New Year. <BR>There was an 8:35am flight and could have connected but my bags were checked through from BOS-LHR-EDI so I could not- but I used the lounge for 2 hours.<BR>If you want to take a change going on the 8:35am flight just get your bags checked thorugh to LHR and pick them up at baggage reclaim and lug over to T1 bmi check in. It is a bit tighter this way but still doable as long as the VS flight is on time.<BR><BR>Regards<BR><BR>Gregory

Steve

So it's possible to have bags checked all the way through to Edinburgh even if it's different airlines??? I didn't know that. I was planning on picking them up after landing at Heathrow and then rechecking them with BMI.

Gregory

Hi,<BR><BR>Yes you can check bags thorugh as long as the airlines have an interlining agreement (Virgin, BA,Bmi have and most major airlnes do).<BR><BR>If you do check your bags straight through to Edinburgh , after disembarking you will want ot go to baggage carrousel 6 ( for arrivals from outside the EU) and you bags should be there rather than the main reclaim belt -No problems with customs ( I have never seen a customs officer at that reclaim belt)<BR><BR>Regards<BR><BR>Gregory

Sue

I think the connection is a bit tight. If you are flying on a work day you might be dealing with commuter traffic. I seem to remember a 4-hour min. for transfer. At least that was what it was when I was doing it a few years ago. Maybe things have changed.

Steve

Sue, is it really 4 hours?!! It's not like I'm going to Gatwick. If it takes 4 hours to change planes at Heathrow, that would be amazing. But that's why I'm asking, I guess.

Gregory

Hi,<BR><BR>The 4 hour minimum connection time applied for Heathrow/Gatwick Connections after Sept 11 but has now reverted to 3 hours.<BR>While going for the 8:35 is tight it is doable as minimum connection times T3-T1 are 75mniutes and mimimum check in times for BD domestic flights are around 30mins.<BR><BR>If I wad doing the journey in reverse, ie EDI-LHR -onwards to the states and did not have a seat assigned then I would allow 3-4 hours to connect at Heathrow especially as if you missed the flight it could be the next day before you could fly.<BR><BR>Regards<BR> <BR>Gregory

Steve

Are Lufthansa and BMI the same for purposes of flying from LHR to Edinburgh? I'm looking for flights and keep coming up with the same times for each of these airlines. Either it's an amazing coincidence, or they're partners or something (please excuse my ignorance). Does it matter if I book through Lufthansa or British Midland for flight to Edinburgh? Thanks.

Gregory

Hi Steve,<BR><BR>It is a bmi British midland operated flight LHR-EDI ( LH and other sirlines codeshare on that route)<BR>LH & Bmi british midland are members of the Star Alliance<BR>It should not matter what you ticket it as but for through ticketing it might be slightly easier to book it as the bmi flight.<BR><BR><BR>Regards<BR>Gregory

Steve

Thanks. I booked with BMI because you get a discount if you book on their website, and Lufthansa has no similar thing. So it was actually cheaper to book the same flight through BMI.