My husband and I are traveling to Germany in April and my younger brother is coming with us. Our flight itinerary includes a 4 hour layover in Heathrow and I'm trying to decide if we have time to leave the airport for an hour and a half or so.

I have been to London several times and I am very familiar with Heathrow as we layover there often. Normally we would never really consider leaving the airport, but as my brother has never been to the UK (this will be his second trip abroad, as he went to Rome with us in 04) I'm now considering it and wondering what fodorites thoughts are on this? I don't think that going all the way into London would be an option, as we would have to switch trains in Paddington (assuming we would take the Heathrow Express) and overall it's just not enough time to really see anything. I seem to recall Windsor being fairly close by. Are there trains to Windsor often and how long do they take? Any other options? I tried to use the BritRail website but it's not proving to be very helpful.

Obviously a lot of this would have to be played by ear, as one never knows if the plane is going to land on time and how long it will take to get through passport control.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice!

Tracy

What's BritRail? There's no company of that name operating or coordinating rail services in Britain, so I'm not surprised it's no use.

Trains from LHR go only to Paddington. The ONLY interesting stop on the way, if you want a decent Indian meal, is Southall on the Heathrow Connect (you'll recognise it because the station sign is in Hindi). At the right time of day, I'd go there - but I'm signed up with the Iris recognition system, so I get through immigration in seconds.

THe ONE possible alternative is to go to Paddington on the (expensive but fast) Heathrow Express, take the bridge at the west end of Platform 9 towards Waterside, then walk along the canal. YOu've probably got a total of 30-40 mins fresh air walkimg

But, in four hours, nowhere else. There are no trains to Windsor: you might just manage a bus or round trip taxi, but by the time you got there you'd have to come back again.

If any of you has a non-European passport, I wouldn't even think of leaving the airport. There are more than enough shops and pubs to keep you occupied, if not necessarily interested.

flanner - BritRail is a site for non-brits to get deals on rail passes and other tourist stuff. It's not good at details, however.

tcreath - I don't think there is a quick way to get from Heathrow to Windsor. By train or bus, you would go into London and then back out again. The bus schedule takes 3-4 hrs to get one way. I really don't think you have time to leave and then go through all the security on your way back in. I don't think your brother would get any great English experience.

Maybe a close-by pub??? According to the internet :^) There is a pub, The Tin Goose in Terminal 1 that is themed as a 1930s-40s-ish pub.

This website has a list of nearby pubs off the airport premises: http://www.milesfaster.co.uk/informa...-pubs-bars.htm

Playing it by ear is your only option. If your transfer involves a change of terminals (it would be good to know what carriers and what times of day) then leaving the airport is pretty risky stuff.

If you decide to go out, however, then I think a cab to Windsor/Eton is not just the best, but probably the only attractive option. From the terminals (1-3, haven't done it from T4 and nobody's done it from T5) it's around 20-30 min. optimally, so with an hour in Windsor (time for a pub lunch or a look at the Castle or Eton) you've whacked two hours of the 4, leaving you with a minimum amount of time to go through security, and "enjoy" your pre-departure time. (As if.)

I personally wouldn't do it, and you should only attempt it if your incoming flight is bang on time or early, which is also something of a rarity at LHR.

Note you'll need to make a command decision on this right upon getting off the incoming plane, because you'll need to decide whether to proceed to "flight connections" or out to HM immigration. You won't have any time to dither.

However there are lots of flights between LHR and Germany. Could you reschedule to a later departure and take some of the pressure off yourselves?

Thank you all for your help.

Flanner, I used http://www.britrail.com/. I'm not familiar with it at all; I just simply typed in "trains in Brittain" and it came up.

Our AA flight arrives in LHR at 6:50 am on Saturday, April 19. We fly BA to Frankfurt four hours later. Too early to grab a drink at a pub! I would try to change our flights, but we are flying on FF tickets and that was the best they could do.

Because it's a Saturday I'm wondering if we may have time to head towards the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, both of which I'm sure my brother would love to see, but I'm a little concerned about time so we may just have to stay put.

Thanks for the comments!
Tracy

If you're arriving on AA at 6:50 it must be the Chicago flight, transferring to the BA flight to FRA leaving at 10:40, right?

So (a) not 4 hours, but 3:50, and (b) a transfer from AA at Terminal 3 to BA at Terminal 5.

Nobody knows yet how the connections to/from T5 will be (it hasn't opened yet and will have been open only three weeks when you arrive.) BA and BAA promise to make it a smooth process, but, well...

To be brutally honest, I'd use that almost-four hours to fetch my bags from AA (have them tagged only to LHR) and do a land-side transfer to T5, rather than leaving them to the mercy of BA bag handlers. A couple hours' worth of bag schlepping around LHR is a small price to pay versus having your bags end up in a pile in Barcelona or Milan or Hounslow.

Gardyloo, actually our flight is coming from Raleigh, not Chicago, but the times you mentioned are the same. I never thought about picking up our luggage at LHR, and we've never had problems in the past, but I don't want to deal with a luggage nightmare in Frankfurt (since we will be immediately heading to Cochem) so that's probably a good idea. Thanks for the tip!

I think we are just going to wait it out at the airport as I would feel more comfortable. I was hoping for something a little bit closer to the airport, and we drove past Windsor on a 02 trip to England and Wales so that's why that came up, but it does't seem as though there is a quick train that gets us there so I think just staying put may be the best option. We will just grab some breakfast somewhere and maybe look around Harrods and the other stores if they are open. I told my brother that he can just pick up a few London souvenirs at the airport and tell everyone that he bought them when he was in London....they don't have to know that he never left the airport!

Thanks again everyone!
Tracy

British Air in particular has been having egregious luggage problems at Heathrow. I think hand-transferring your luggage would be the best use of your time. With 4 hours the most you could do is a taxi drive-by of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Not worth chancing missing your next flight.

4 hours layover at LHR - if you go landside you'd be lucky to get outside the front door before you had to come back

Don't even bother trying unless you are a fan of long queues

Four hours is not nearly enough time to leave the airport.

Even if your plane lands on time, by the time you get through immigration and out to the land side you would have perhaps an hour before you need to get back on security lines for your on-going flight,

4 hours is about 3 hours too short for any sort of trip into London and 2 hours too short to think of going to Windsor.

And since one of your flights involves T-5 and <b><u>no one</u></b> yet knows how well T-5 will work -- my guess is your 4 hours will be just about enough time to make the transfer and maybe have a cuppa (or stiff drink)

Of course, T-5 may come on line w/o any snafu's and you'll have 2 hours to kill. Still not long enough to leave the airport.

Thank you all again. As I mentioned above we are just going to hang out at the airport.

Tracy

I also think it's probably not enough time because flights tend to land at Heathrow late and there's the need to clear immigration.

However, I'd do the research in case something unexpected happens and there ends up being enough time.

I don't know whether Heathrow Express still offers that same-day express ticket. If they do, then take that to Paddington and back. Then cab to Hyde Park and back to Paddington. Hyde Park is pretty close to Paddington Station.

During one very time-sensitive trip, I went straight to Serpentine Gallery via Heathrow Express and cab.

If you opt for this option, make sure you have good maps to know where you're going. Opt for seeing one thing -- like the Diana Memorial Fountain, for example.

&lt;&lt;&lt; there's the need to clear immigration. &gt;&gt;&gt;

Which is a very good reason for staying airside and following the signs to &quot;Flight Connections Centre&quot; - unless of course you are collecting your luggage and rechecking it, in which case - good luck

You really are between a rock and a hard place . . . .

If you collect your luggage/re-check and go through all the formalities, your 4 hours might be tight, depending on immigration/security and such.

If you check your bags through - then you have to rely on BA and a Brand new luggage system to get your stuff to Frankfurt.

You pays yer money and takes yer chances. Neither option would thrill me. But If I had to - my choice would be to check the bags through and stay airside. (My REAL choice would be carry-on only - but that is a different tread)

We have traveled with carry-on's only, and given this situation we may do just that. To be honest I was not aware of the new terminal until I read the responses to this thread. That kinda sealed the deal for me on whether to stay or go during my layover.

I'm assuming that others will be traveling through this new terminal before I do. I'm hoping that there will be some posts giving us an update on how everything went so I can get a feel on what I should do. Otherwise I may just try to pack everything into a carry-on, which sounds enticing anyways because we would be able to pick up our rental car in Frankfurt without waiting for our luggage. I just worry about BA's strict weight restrictions for the carry-ons.

Tracy

T-5 is scheduled to open in March so there will likely be lots of posts about well its working before your trip.

BA doesn't have strict weight restrictions for carryons. I think it's about 23kg. The luggage size may be more of an issue though.

BA does have restrictions for carry on luggage, both for size and weight. We are also going thru T5 this summer and will be watching how it plays out.

This is the rule for our flight

* one standard-sized bag - maximum size of the bag must not exceed 56x45x25cm (22x17.5x9.85in) (including wheels, pockets and handles)
* In addition, one laptop sized bag, handbag or briefcase
* A 23kg(51lbs) maximum bag weight applies and you must be able to lift the bag into the overhead lockers in the aircraft cabin unaided.

that is a very generous allowance. 23kg would be <b>massive</b> for carry on. And most Stateside carriers have a 21 (or 22) X 14 X 9 inch limit.

Mine usually weighs between 20 and 23 lbs - sometimes 25 tops. . . . . .