ibz40

Happy New Year. We will be flying into London (international) arriving around 8pm. We have an international flight out of LHR at 12:55pm the next day. My thought is to check in at a hotel somewhere near the airport and take the tube into London for a late dinner, with maybe a cab back to the airport and nothing in the morning other than getting ourselves together. This is not a trip to see London (no time due to other commitments.)

1. I've heard LHR checkin lines are a nightmare- any recent experiences? Is 3 hours (as LHR suggests) reasonable?
2. Experience with any of the airport area hotels? Nicest not cheapest.
3. Favorite London restaurants (accessible from the Piccadilly line would be nice).

Thanks!!

janisj

No way at all to tell what immigration and check in queues will be like on your days of travel -- one day LHR is a breeze and the next there are lines out the door. Are you flying in Business or First -- that helps a lot for both immigration on arrival and security on departure. Assuming you are Americans, you can use the immigration Kiosks . . . IF they are working when you arrive, which isn't always the case.

At which terminal(s) are you arriving and departing. That would make a difference which hotels are convenient. Me personally -- I would not plan on taking the tube and trying to have dinner in central London with an 8PM arrival. Even IF you land on time and even IF immigration is quick you really can't plan on getting to central London util probably 10:30 PM if you travel by tube.

The new Elizabeth Line is faster and will whisk you to Bond Street or Tottenham Court Road much quicker than the Piccadilly Line to Green Park or Covent Garden.

One thing in your favor is 8PM is not a particularly busy time for long haul arrivals (Noon IS a busy time for departures though)

ibz40

Thank you so much. We are flying Delta One (first class long haul brand), which I understand has immigration priorities. The flight arrives at Terminal 3. I will look into the Elizabeth Line.
I appreciate your information.

janisj

OK -- being in the pointy end of the plane gets you expedited immigration and (more importantly at least IMO ) expedited security on departure. Should only take minutes.

If you arrive on time I'd drop my bags at the hotel and jump on the Elizabeth Line and eat either in Covent Garden or Seven Dials (get off at Tottenham Court Rd) or in Mayfair (get off at Bond Street) With such a late dinner -- think 10PM

A Hilton Garden Inn is attached to Terminal 2 and is about a 10 minute walk from T-3. There is an Aerotel inside Terminal 3 but it is not much more than sleeping pods -- like barely 100 sq feet.


OR a totally viable option would be to book a hotel near Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Rd, or even Faringdon stations -- all are Elizabeth Line stops. Check in, have a late dinner, then back to LHR in the morning. With a 1 PM departure and being in a premium Cabin you wouldn't need to be at LHR until around 11:30 AM so wouldn't have to be on the Elizabeth Line train until around 11AM. Paddington to T3 takes just 20 minutes.

VANAARLE

I think you are mistaken. That is not for the UK-
https://www.delta.com/us/en/check-in...avel-to-the-us
More here

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/t...-and-delta-one

PatrickLondon

I'd suggest travelling at the rear of an Elizabeth Line train so that you"re nearest to the Dean Street exit at Tottenham Court Road - that puts you in Soho, and you could almost eat your way around the world within ten minutes' walk.

What sort of meal would you be looking for?

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janisj

VANAARLE: "I think you are mistaken. That is not for the UK-"

No, ibz40 has it right -- First Class (and Business Class) travelers arriving at LHR do have expedited Immigration. My last 6 or 7 flights into LHR have all been in business Class except for one when I was upgraded into First Class . . . and in each case either via my boarding pass or an 'invitation card' distributed on the plane before landing allowed me to go through the priority immigration line (the same queue air crews use - priority passengers and crew members split off from each other at the top of the queue). Essentially there's no queue at all - longest I've had to wait was about 5 minutes, and sometimes less than one minute.

stokebailey

I found a 3-hr arrival worked well at LHR this September. Steerage class, though. It's a good place for people -watching.

rialtogrl

Can you check your luggage all the way through or do carry on? Immigration can be super fast but collecting luggage can take awhile.

There is another Hilton Garden Inn in Hatton Cross, apparently a lot of people confuse the two so if you book the terminal 2 Hilton make sure you have the right one. I stayed at the Hatton Cross one last month and saw a lot of reviews about the mix ups.

it took 2.5 hours to get my luggage but something was seriously messed up at Heathrow that night, on normal days it can take an hour…

janisj

Good point -- I sometimes forget about luggage issues because I always travel carry-on only and never have to deal with that s#it show that LHR baggage collection sometimes is. If your flights are all on one ticket you can have your bags checked through since your connection is short enough. So all you'd need is a change of clothes and basic toiletries in your carry ons. If they are separate bookings you can't check your bags through and that could be a total deal breaker.

Some days last summer and fall it was so bad everyone was told to leave the. airport without their checked luggage because there weren't enough baggage handlers to deal with it. Bags would be delivered to their homes or listed hotels in 'a few days'.

At least that hasn't happened lately (that I know of)

HappyTrvlr

When staying overnight at LHR, we always stay at the Sofitel at Terminal 5 no matter which Terminal our flights are into, out of

balthy

I travel in/out of LHR regularly, as in every month if not more. If I try hard, I can also recall past examples of delayed delivery of luggage to carousel due to baggage handlers issues or delayed luggage that never made the inbound flight, delays at immigration for one reason or another, but 95% of the time, things go smoothly. I travelled quite a bit last summer and fall and never had a situation where I could not drop my bags. I do get the occasional text however to inform me the flight is full and would I check in my cabin luggage instead of trying to take it onboard. Or the airline tries to get volunteers to check in their cabin luggage at the gate, FOC. I'm very lucky as despite travelling regularly in/out of LHR, I have not got caught in the issues the occasional visitors to the UK seem to have encountered and remember forever.

Even when I arrived into LHR on Dec 23, when there was a strike by immigration officers, I got thru the airport much quicker than usual. Seems the Army was more efficient than the immigration officers. Baggage was delivered quickly. An hour is not typical to wait for luggage, that is a very long time. I've never arrived at LHR 3 hours before a flight, to anywhere. I check in online and use bag drop.

Departure terminal was not mentioned, nor the destination. International flight doesn't mean anything, is it international to the US or international to elsewhere in Europe? At T5, BA bag drop is self service & that tends to work well unless you are behind someone in the line who is clueless on using technology. Today I departed from T2, no issues, delays, all fine. And I almost always have luggage, as I did today.

Sofitel is a great option at LHR, so are several hotels along the Bath Road. The Wolseley is a nice place for a late dinner in London, last orders 11pm, close to Piccadilly. The Palomar, in Rupert Street. esp if you would like small plates rather than a big meal, not sure what time last orders are though.

Janeyre

We had a very positive experience at the LHR Hilton Garden hotel Terminal 2 in August the night prior to our early morning departure. Clean and quiet room with view of runways, plenty of space, short walk through the parking garage (returning to LHR on the Heathrow Express) from airport to hotel lobby. We were in United's Premium Economy so we had an easy time checking in and going through security beginning two hours before our 9AM flight. When we arrived at LHR eight days prior, exiting the plane to exiting baggage was only about 45 minutes. We were fortunate!

ibz40

Thanks for your tip. What do you like about Sofitel

ibz40

THANK YOU ALL- lots of helpful info. We are coming in from Tel Aviv on British Air on Thursday, and flying to the US on Delta on Friday. We hoped to take the pressure off luggage pickup etc by breaking up the trip.

janisj

"Even when I arrived into LHR on Dec 23, when there was a strike by immigration officers, I got thru the airport much quicker than usual."

Thats's because the Army was handling border control and almost all reports are that immigration ran much more smoothly then. The Times/Telegraph/Guardian/FlyerTalk -- all said about the same thing - that Border Control could learn a thing or two

Today @ Terminal 5 it was taking 1 to 2.5 hours for luggage to hit the carousels.

VANAARLE

Thank you for the information I have to ask with what airline? There is nothing on deltas website or blogs or You Tube about the service which suggest passengers get priority, at the UK border. It is more about "luck" if you get through quickly. As others have said baggage may take a while.
Any how all this talk about Delta's services could be irrelevant as the OP now says they are ling into London from Israel with BA.
,

janisj

It really has nothing specific to do with Delta (or BA or UA or AA, etc) it is just a benefit of flying in the premium cabins of most any airline. I don't believe there is info re this on the AA or BA websites either - but I can assure you it happens.

HappyTrvlr

What do I like about the Sofitel?
Nicely appointed rooms, helpful staff, excellent dining options especially Le Belle Epoque.
I became ill as soon as we arrived at the Sofitel one time. I had food poisoning from our last dinner in southern Italy. The staff got an MD to come, brought bottled waters and crackers, checked on me constantly., changed our flight reservations, and our additional nights there were half price!

rialtogrl

it happened to me, and hundreds of other travelers, on December 11.

I agree with balthy that 95% of the time things can go smooth but I will also say, your luck will eventually run out. And when it does, you will be shocked at the chaos and confusion.

The staff in the baggage area were telling everyone to leave and go to the website and fill out a form. They said we could wait, but they had no clue if or when any luggage would come. I did not trust them at all to get my luggage anywhere so I waited. Then I overheard a guy (not one of the exhausted, angry baggage people, some other employee) say he called his buddy who worked outside and we would get our luggage in thirty minutes. And we did! Only 2.5 hours after landing, at 11.15 pm.

Definitely a rare (for me) occurrence, one that I hope does not happen to the OP or anyone else.