Anna1013

Our flight arriving into LHR on a United flight arrives at 10:05 a.m. We need to catch another flight from LHR to CDG on either Air France or British Airways.

I'm not sure which terminal United flies into, but Air France flies out from Terminal 2, and British Airways flies out from Terminal 4.I'm pretty sure United does not fly out of either these terminals.

So here is where I need some advice - since we are going to change terminals, wouldn't we also need to pick up our bags and go through customs?

Since we need to change terminals, how much time should we allow ourselves to catch a flight from LHR to CDG? We have a couple of options:

1. British Airways leaving LHR at 2pm, arriving at CDG at 4:20 p.m.(they have an earlier flight at 12:05p.m., but I don't think we will have enough time for that one.)

2. Air France leaving LHR at either 1:05 pm, arriving at 3:15 pm or leaving LHR at 2pm, arriving at 4:10 pm

Right now, expedia is showing that the Air France flights offer a total savings of about $40 over the British Airways flight.

I'm not sure if it is better to fly out of Terminal 2 or 4 considering we are arriving into LHR on United - waiting to hear some advice.

suze

Have you already purchased the first ticket?

I think it is most important to have both flight together on the same ticket, or at least the two airlines have a baggage arrangement...

rather than focusing on which terminals you are using. It's perfectly easy enough to make the transfers at Heathrow, in my experience.

I think you are fretting about the wrong issues

Gardyloo

United will arrive at Terminal 3. Terminal 4 (BA) is on the opposite side of the airport and requires a bus connection or worse (if you need to claim your bags.) Terminal 2 will be an easier connection in general; walkable if need be (in the event your bags aren't checked through.)

As Suze says, try to make sure both flights are on the same ticket and that you watch the UA people tag them through to CDG when you check in initially. That way, you aim for "flight connections" at LHR, go through security and then straight to your onward gate with minimal fuss. I don't think you'll have any difficulty making either the 1:05 AF or the 2:00 BA flight, and on such a short hop (presuming economy) the seat/plane comfort won't make much of a difference. I'd go with T2/AF.

Anna1013

Our tickets to London have already been made through milege points.

Can United put your bags all the way through to CDG even if you are flying another airline such as Air France or British Airways?

Gardyloo,

Did you say you would take the 2pm flight on AF instead of the 1:05 flight?

DMary

UA has flights to CDG from ORD and IAD daily - wouldn't it be easier to fly direct to CDG from one of those cities instead of transferring in LHR?
I think you have to clear customs in LHR before you can connect to CDG. UA does not have an alliance with either BA or AF but then there's always the oft chance they might check the bags through to your destination.

Anna1013

We are stopping in New York for a few days. We leave from JFK, have a stopover in D.C., and then arrive in LHR.

We are using miles, and we couldn't travel all the way to Paris, only to London.

We I have enough time to make the 1pm Air France flight?

Gardyloo

If your bags are checked through then you will clear customs in Paris, not the UK. You will just be transiting and will never enter the UK.

UA and AF should have an interline baggage agreement; most airlines do.

Yes, I think 3 hours ought to be doable without question.

mpprh

Gardyloo

Not sure it is counted as transit if you have to leave the terminal to catch a bus ?

Peter

doug_stallings

2 hours is plenty of time to change terminals in Heathrow if you don't have to pick up luggage and re-check it, and 3 hours should be sufficient on a normal day if you do have to re-check. The question is whether you can check your bags through on Air France or BA, and I'm not sure whether these airlines have interline baggage agreements, though I think Gardyloo is correct that they will probably have the agreements. But either way, 3 hours is plenty of time to make this connection, even though you will have to take a bus (these come very often). I did the connection through LHR to Rome 3 weeks ago and made all the connections in a little more than an hour during a busy part of the day, leaving some time to have a sandwich at Pret a Manger.

Gardyloo

The buses between terminals for transiting passengers are "airside" meaning you don't go through passport control when transferring. No street time.

Occasionally the security lines for the inter-terminal transfers are so long that it's actually quicker to go through passport control and hoof it to the other terminal (never the case where T4 is one of the terminals) than to wait for the transfer bus, even though that means you have to go back through the "departure" security when you get to the other terminal. But with 3 hours there's really no issue about you being able to make the 1:05 plane. I'm virtually certain your bags will be checked through if you're checking them with UAL in the US before flying to London. Just make sure you see them tagged for Paris when you check in for your first flight.

suze

<<Can United put your bags all the way through to CDG even if you are flying another airline such as Air France or British Airways?>>

Anna, I see this as the key to your question. You need to call United and find out if they have a "baggage arrangement" with Air France, BA, or others. That will determine whether you have to claim baggage, clear customs, etc. or not.

mjs

This summer we flew UA to LHR than BA to BUD.
Luggage was checked through to Budapest. This involved a 6 hour layover in LHR which I will never do again.

Anna1013

mjs,

How did the process go? We have a 5 day stop in New York first, and we leave for Europe at JFK - will they still send your bags all the way to your final destination(ours is Paris) even if you have a stopover like we do?

flanneruk

Anna:

Sadly, the Fodors editor is confused, so let's try to explain how bags work at Heathrow.

Virtually all airlines, except the new generation of low cost airlines like Ryanair, have interline arrangements with each other. So traditionally, if you were making an international connection at a major airport in the civilised world (or even in some back of beyond places like Tashkent), your bags would be checked through to your final destination from your initial airport.

Heathrow still works on that assumption, at least in theory. So if you get the desk clerk at Obscureville Intl Airport to through check your bags to Timbuktu, changing at Toronto, Heathrow and CDG, those three airports will automatically just put your bag on the connecting flight (yes, even in Toronto, though many Air Canada aircrew don't understand that).

However, it's a lot more difficult to get desk staff to do the through checking these days.

First, many of them are just too badly trained. That's good, because you can browbeat them into through checking your bags even when one of the airlines in the systerm doesn't want that to happen. <b> The important thing here is that, whatever the airlines' policy, a bag arriving at LHR with a tag requiring it to be transferred, will be put onto the connecting flight &lt;/b) Unless of course the baggage handlers mess it up - which has NEVER happened to me on a Heathrow connection.

Second, airlines have got meaner as they face growing competition. BA in particular hates taking other people's bags, and tries to disccourage through-checking. <b> Even with airlines that you might think are its One World partners, but it knows are really competitors </b>. Interline agreements, code sharing, whatever: BA won't through check a bag onto another airline unless it's on the same ticket as the BA flight. Some (actually most)other airlines WILL through check onto BA, so a UAL-BA connection at LHR will often let you through check the bags one way (where UAL is doing the initial checkin in) but not the other way (where BA will usually refuse to through check onto a UAL plane).

BA are the world leaders in being downright obstructive about all this. But some others will follow

Third, security is often prayed in aid as a coverup for airlines' anti-customer policies. But many of them DO claim that there are security issues is through checking bags on two different tickets.

So what dooes this mean?

<b> 1. Interline arrangements are irrelevant to this question. </b>
2. A connection on one ticket through LHR will almost always involve bags being through-checked to the final destination. I can't think of any circumstances where a single ticket bookingh</b>

flanneruk

A complicated answer wasn't helped by my pressing the wrong key. So let's try it again:

Sadly, the Fodors editor is confused, so let's try to explain how bags work at Heathrow.

Virtually all airlines, except the new generation of low cost airlines like Ryanair, have interline arrangements with each other. So traditionally, if you were making an international connection at a major airport in the civilised world (or even in some back of beyond places like Tashkent), your bags would be checked through to your final destination from your initial airport.

Heathrow still works on that assumption, at least in theory. So if you get the desk clerk at Obscureville Intl Airport to through check your bags to Timbuktu, changing at Toronto, Heathrow and CDG, those three airports will automatically just put your bag on the connecting flight (yes, even in Toronto, though many Air Canada aircrew don't understand that).

However, it's a lot more difficult to get desk staff to do the through checking these days.

First, many of them are just too badly trained. That's good, because you can browbeat them into through checking your bags even when one of the airlines in the systerm doesn't want that to happen. <b>The important thing here is that, whatever the airlines' policy, a bag arriving at LHR with a tag requiring it to be transferred, will be put onto the connecting flight </b> Unless of course the baggage handlers mess it up - which has NEVER happened to me on a Heathrow connection.

Second, airlines have got meaner as they face growing competition. BA in particular hates taking other people's bags, and tries to disccourage through-checking. Even with airlines that you might think are its One World partners, but it knows are really competitors . Interline agreements, code sharing, whatever: BA won't through check a bag onto another airline unless it's on the same ticket as the BA flight. Some (actually most)other airlines WILL through check onto BA, so a UAL-BA connection at LHR will often let you through check the bags one way (where UAL is doing the initial checkin in) but not the other way (where BA will usually refuse to through check onto a UAL plane).

BA are the world leaders in being downright obstructive about all this. But some others will follow

Third, security is often prayed in aid as a coverup for airlines' anti-customer policies. But many of them DO claim that there are security issues is through checking bags on two different tickets.

So what dooes this mean?

<b>1. Interline arrangements are irrelevant to this question.</b>
2. A connection on one ticket through LHR will almost always involve bags being through-checked to the final destination. In my experience, a single-ticket booking on BA or BA and a OneWorld partner will always result in bags being checked through.
2. A connection on different tickets, or on one ticket with a non-partner airline will almost always result in through-checking at LHR. You might have to cajole staff over this, though
3. But a connection on differernt tickets, with a non-partner airline, will often result in through checking being refused. And it will almozst always be refused if BA's doing the original checking in. One frequent poster here discovered that even BA will through-check if you're paying full fare in a BA premium class. But few of us can afford their First Class fares.

Last point: all of the above applies even if the final destination is another UK airport. If the bag's checked through, say, to Manchester you clear Customs (but not Immigration) at Manchester.

Clear as mud? Well, the real world is always complicated

mjs

I booked a flight SFO-LHR round trip. Separate BA ticket one way LHR-BUD. Checked baggage with UA in SFO through BA to BUD. No problems in this situation.