TassieTwo

We are booked on a Oneworld trip to fly Qantas from Hobart - Melbourne - London Heathrow (terminal 3) and then 7 hours later on to Zurich with BA (from Terminal 5). My question is once I check in my luggage in Hobart, will it go straight through to Zurich? Or.... do I have to claim it at Heathrow and go through customs there, change terminals and check in again? If that's the case, will we have to clear customs etc again in Zurich?

TassieTwo

Oops! Hobart - Sydney - LHR - Zurich. (Melbourne coming home!)

flanneruk

You can change terminals in London airside (that is, without going through immigration) if you want to: follow the Flight Connectuins signs and get the inter-terminal bus.

If you want to leave the airport (there's loads of threads here about the practicalities) go through immigration at T3, do what you want to do, then after you've done it, get the train or bus to T5 to go through security

Your bags just get transferred automatically whatever you do, though it's always a good idea to check that the people at Hobart have actually put a "ZRH" tag on the bag. In practice, you'll be subject to no Customs inspection anywhere, but Zurich is where you pass a "Do you have anything to declare?" sign which you, and Swiss Customs, will ignore.

TassieTwo

Thanks flanneruk for that. Interesting! We'll be really tired and I can't see the point of a rushed tour to Windsor (even if I do love it there)or anywhere else close by to Heathrow. So if we decide to transfer to Terminal 5 without going through Immigration would we have to do that in Switzerland??
We then plan to travel through Switzerland and Italy and then fly back to Gatwick from Rome. So, now we're in Europe, do we have to do Customs and Immigration again on return to UK for two weeks?
So much to look forward to!

hsv

"So if we decide to transfer to Terminal 5 without going through Immigration would we have to do that in Switzerland??"
You will have to go through immigration and customs in Zurich - regardless of whether you decided to remain airside in LHR or whether you decided to leave the airport in London for an excursion.

"So, now we're in Europe, do we have to do Customs and Immigration again on return to UK for two weeks?"
If you plan to enter the UK (as opposed to jsut transferring to your outbound flight) coming from Italy you will have to clear immigrations and customs.

In all likelihood there will be no issues. The queues in LHR will move pretty quickly and Zurich is a very efficient airport, too. Customs in normal circumstances should not be an issue either - you won't even have to stop.

hsv

And to avoid misunderstandings: coming from Italy into the UK, you would choose the "Arrivals from within the EU" lane at customs - making any random check even less likely.

love_travel_Aus

Hi TassieTwo - are you absolutely committed to flying into Heathrow? Qantas also fly to Frankfurt - and it is only a 4 hour (or a bit more more) train ride to Zurich. It might even be possible to get a connecting flight in a shorter time - I am not sure.

We have often gone to Frankfurt and then onward by train - or only a few months ago we flew onward form Frankfurt to Vienna - and this was an add on after flying with Qantas from Australia. In this case we had the option of having our luggage sent direct to Vienna.

It is quite pleasant to arrive very early in Frankfurt, have breakfast as the sun comes up - either in the airport or on a train- and get to your destination by the middle of the day.

Whatever you do - have a great holiday.