# Connecting flight at Heathrow - sufficent time between flights?



## Josey Wales (26 Feb 2007)

Hi,

I have a quick question on something that is worrying me slightly.

We are flying into Heathrow arriving at 8.05AM and we have to get a connecting flight to the US at 9.55AM. Does anyone know if that is a sufficient gap in time to disembark the first plane and get to the next terminal?

Thanks.


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## Lauren (26 Feb 2007)

You should be ok as long as your first flight arrives in time. Generally takes about an hour to transfer.


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## Deirdra (26 Feb 2007)

Get  seats near the front of the plane so you can get off quickly, you should be OK


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## zag (26 Feb 2007)

It depends on the terminal you are connecting to, and also on local conditions on the day.

The queue to process through the connections centre can take a longish time (up to an hour or more on a bad day) and then you have to wait for a bus to transfer you to the other terminals.

If there is a delay on the bus or if your inbound flight is delayed or if there is a delay at the transfer centre you may miss your connection.  If all three happen you probably will miss it.  Given a choice, I would go for an earlier flight into LHR, but there aren't any earlier flights unfortunately.

You could consider taking the flight the night before and staying in an airport hotel.

z


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## EvilDoctorK (26 Feb 2007)

You should likely be okay with that  - The first flights of the day tend to be more punctual (as delays tend to accumulate during the day) unless there's serious fog etc. problems at Heathrow which are fairly rare (and your onward flight would be likely delayed too)

Are you travelling on one ticket or have you purchased your Aer Lingus Dublin-LHR ticket separately to your ticket to the US ?

If you're travelling on one ticket I'd definitely go for it (as if the connection goes wrong they'll reaccomodate you on another flight)

If you're on two separate tickets I'd consider flying to London the night before (since if it goes wrong then the airline taking you from Heathrow to the US isn't obliged to do anything for you - not saying they won't do anything for you in those circumstances but they don't have to)


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## Josey Wales (26 Feb 2007)

EvilDoctorK said:


> Are you travelling on one ticket or have you purchased your Aer Lingus Dublin-LHR ticket separately to your ticket to the US ?
> 
> If you're travelling on one ticket I'd definitely go for it (as if the connection goes wrong they'll reaccomodate you on another flight)


 
I'm not sure about that. We got the tickets through American Holidays. We're using British Airways from Heathrow to the US. I'll have to have a look.


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## EvilDoctorK (26 Feb 2007)

I'd say it's likely to be one ticket then if it was sold to you all as one by American Holidays. .. so you should be okay there.

Where in the US are you flying to with British Airways ?... if you're going to San Francisco or LA the flights go from Terminal One - this means you certainly shouldn't have a problem as you don't have to change terminal (so no bus transfer involved)

If it's to another US destination with BA that will be from Terminal Four (apart from Miami which is T3) - this is a bit of a hike away on the bus - but as I say you should have enough time and you've got the "safety net" of being on a through ticket.


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## Josey Wales (26 Feb 2007)

We are flying to LA so that is good to hear that we will most likely not have to change terminal. 

Thanks for the info. EvilDoctorK.


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## hansov (26 Feb 2007)

Have you checked the itinerary that AH gave you. It usually says on that "arrive Terminal 1, depart Terminal 4 etc."


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## Josey Wales (26 Feb 2007)

hansov said:


> Have you checked the itinerary that AH gave you. It usually says on that "arrive Terminal 1, depart Terminal 4 etc."


 
It was only this morning that someone mentioned that it might be a problem. My itinerary is at home so I will have to check it later.


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## ciara_gmail (26 Feb 2007)

We had a problem before where our flight to Heathrow was delayed and we only arrived 45 mins before our connecting flight to Bangkok. Our baggage was left behind as a result. I would suggest when you check in at Dublin you ask them to put the 'Rush Baggage' tags on your luggage so in the event of a delay, they will prioritise your baggage.


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## EvilDoctorK (26 Feb 2007)

Josey Wales said:


> We are flying to LA so that is good to hear that we will most likely not have to change terminal.
> 
> Thanks for the info. EvilDoctorK.



You shouldn't have a problem then as it's all within Terminal One ...  make sure you get your bags through checked and get your boarding pass for Heathrow-LA issued in advance (no disaster if they can't do this but they should be able to)

You can either go through the flight connections centre or exit to the public area .. walk along the check in hall and go in the "International Departures" entrance at the far end of Terminal One  - probably six of one / half dozen of the other which way you go - the queues will surely be shorter whichever route you don't choose


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## ClubMan (26 Feb 2007)

You may also be able to clear security via the priority channel if you ask nicely.


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## redchariot (26 Feb 2007)

You have to wait to get to LHR to have your onward boarding pass issued; BA don't have this facility at Dublin Airport (or at least they didn't last year).

The only real delay you can encounter is queues at the connections desk at LHR; but generally the BA staff will rush you through if your flight is due to leave soon so you should have no real problems there. As a previous poster has stated, the BA flights to LAX leave from Terminal 1. Also if you miss your connection due to the flight from Dublin being delayed they will accommodate you on a later flight (I think BA have 2/3 daily flights to LAX)


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## gdf (27 Feb 2007)

If you are ticketed DUB-LAX via LHR with Aer Lingus and BA then you will be issued your LHR-LAX boarding pass at check in Dublin along with your DUB-LHR boarding pass.  The same applies for the return trip. BA's LAX flights depart from Terminal 1 so you will have plenty of time to transfer even allowing for the usual 20 mins holding delay on incoming short haul flights into LHR.


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## Josey Wales (27 Feb 2007)

I checked my itinerary and the flight from Dublin to LHR is with British Airways. The connecting flight to LAX is with BA too. Hopefully that means we will arive into the same terminal that we will depart from to LA.


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## MugsGame (27 Feb 2007)

> the flight from Dublin to LHR is with British Airways.


You are probably aware of this, but that means it's actually an Aer Lingus flight to LHR with a BA code-share. As gdf says, it should mean you get LHR boarding card in Dublin.


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## Brooklyn (27 Feb 2007)

I always leave 1.5 hours to transfer at Heathrow and I've never had any problems.


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## addob (27 Feb 2007)

MugsGame said:


> You are probably aware of this, but that means it's actually an Aer Lingus flight to LHR with a BA code-share. As gdf says, it should mean you get LHR boarding card in Dublin.


 
I flew Aer Lingus from Dublin to LHR and then BA onwards from LHR to North America. As I wasn't flying Aer Lingus all of the way they were unable to issue me my onwards boarding card. But told me I would have to pick one up in LHR. Last summer I was able to check in online the day before and then collected the boarding card from a customer service agent in the terminal and not from the check in counter which was faster. 
When I flew again at christmas I was able to print my boarding card from home. and then sailed through, so if you're short on time this might be your best option.
Although Aer Lingus can check your bags through, they can't issue you a BA boarding card.

Have a nice holiday!


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## Lauren (27 Feb 2007)

Aer Lingus CAN issue a BA boarding card and if they tell you otherwise, they are just being lazy. The boarding card will be on Aer Lingus paper but will reflect the BA flight number etc. I have had this occur more times then I care to remember when travelling from Dublin to Oz on BA.


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## MugsGame (27 Feb 2007)

Aer Lingus in Dublin have issued me a BA boarding card for LHR to US (both flights were booked through BA), but this was a few years ago before the 'tighter security measures', so maybe things have changed.


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## EvilDoctorK (27 Feb 2007)

Josey Wales said:


> I checked my itinerary and the flight from Dublin to LHR is with British Airways. The connecting flight to LAX is with BA too. Hopefully that means we will arive into the same terminal that we will depart from to LA.



This means you're booked on the BA "Codeshare" on the Aer Lingus flights from DUB-LHR  - it's still the Aer Lingus flight but BA can sell some seats on it on their "BA" code ... quite normal and the good thing is it exempts you from the Aer Lingus baggage charges  - 

Downside is though you'll probably have to use the manual checkin though (last time I did this anyway I couldn't use the self service machines) they should be able to issue you the onward boarding card (if they can't for some reason it's not the end of the world anyway - but i've certainly got BA and other boarding cards from Aer Lingus in Dublin on many occasions)


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## MugsGame (27 Feb 2007)

> I always leave 1.5 hours to transfer at Heathrow and I've never had any problems.



Back on topic: I have 100 minutes to make a transfer from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. I'm planning to go out to T1 arrivals and walk (briskly) from T1 to T3 landside, rather than go through the FCC (and risk a delay waiting for a bus.). I can checkin online, so won't have to get a boarding card in LHR. 

I assume from the above this is doable, even if my inbound flight is delayed 20 minutes? What if I add that it's mid-morning on a Saturday in July!? 

It's not the end of the world if I miss the onward flight, so I don't really want to change the DUB-LHR leg to an earlier flight, unless someone says it's unlikely I'll make the transfer. When I booked it originally I relied on the transfer times on the BAA Heathrow site, which in retrospect seem to be wildly optimistic.


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## EvilDoctorK (27 Feb 2007)

Should be fine really... indeed you can go back outside and avoid the FCC altogether ...  simplest way to get to T3 landside is to go via the tunnels through the tube station .... walking in the open air is possible but it's not very well signed and doesnt' seem to be particularly encouraged.

I'd say if you're not picking up luggage then you'd easily walk all the way from the arrivals at T1 Gates 80-90 to the security entrance in T3 in about 15 minutes ... Of course how long it may take you to get through T3 security may be another story .. the queues in Heathrow can be awful (but then they can be tiny sometimes - I went through T1 this morning in 45 seconds)


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## MugsGame (28 Feb 2007)

Thanks for that. Hand luggage only so should be OK. I've seen some horror stories on the web about 2-3 hour waits in FCC/security at peak times, and this is the first summer with the hand luggage restrictions in full force.


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