conklaven

Hi all

I am flying into London from DFW. I land in the morning and don't leave until 11PM at night. My plan is to land and go through as a transit passenger so I can go to the lounge and put my stuff down and grab a quick bite.

I then want to leave LHR and travel to London and return to LHR later in the day.

Is this possible? Is there a way to exit LHR after coming into the departures terminal?

rcspeirs

May not be as easy as you expect to get to a lounge. Which airline, which terminal, which travel class?

conklaven

I already have lounge access. I am not worried about that. I am trying to figure out how to exit after entering airside via transit passenger.

Sorry in my haste to post I meant to include....

I will be arriving at Terminal 5 on BA and accessing a lounge at terminal 5 and my flight leaves from terminal 5

nux

You need to be escorted out which I think is done every hour.

If you have BA lounge access you are far better off going to the BA T5 Arrivals Lounge landside.

conklaven

I am meeting someone airside.

So it can be done? will i loose my seat assignment or have any issues reentering later in the day?

konagirl2

So you are arriving from DFW at LHR T5 and departing onward from LHR T5 later the same day?

I am sure someone with better knowledge of the Ready to Fly system will confirm this, but in going through transit and entering airside, if you subsequently want to leave there is a risk of being offloaded from your onward flight. There is some discussion of escorted groups (via passport control) every hour or so for smoking, but I have no idea how that would work if you don't want to come straight back through security. As I say, I think they will offload you if you scan your boarding pass but then leave the building. (You could search the BAEC forum for relevant terms like 'ready to fly', smoking in transit etc.)

I think rcspeirs was pointing to the fact you will have access to the BA Arrivals lounge if you are flying business or first class. If you are flying economy, it would be a lot less risky getting a day room at the Sofitel or simply grabbing some food there. It is accessed by a walkway from T5.

NWIFlyer

You will categorically not be offloaded (particularly if you take the unofficial option below, because no-one will actually know you've left), although you may have to explain to the security people when you re-scan your boarding pass as to why it has already been logged through transit security. 'I popped out for a smoke' should suffice, although in this case the truth will work just as well! Alternatively, if you have access, just pass through the UK Border when you first arrive and use the arrivals lounge. Just make certain that you come back in time to meet conformance, and allow some extra in case there's a query raised over your boarding pass.

There is an easier, unofficial way of exiting the terminal whilst airside - which is to hop on the transit train to T5C. Don't leave the train when everyone else exits, and it'll drop you at the UK Border from where you can obviously enter the UK.

Plenty of examples on this in the BA forum if you need more precise detail.

henry999

Thanks for clarifying that. Otherwise we might have thought you meant 11PM in the morning.

stut

You're really going to make it much easier for yourself if you can use the arrivals lounge. Don't forget that, by going the transit route, you'll have to clear security (which can be quite a lengthy process) before reaching the lounge - and will need to do so again when you return in the evening.

Non-NonRev

Even if flying from DFW in Y, the OP would also have access to BA T5 Arrivals if he is AAdvantage EXP.

UKtravelbear

I hope you don't mean 'leave my stuff there for the rest of the day whilst I go into London' because that really isn't what the lounge is there for and can cause all sorts of problems if someone notices that it has been there for several hours.



There is away of leaving T5 that means your 'ready to fly' record is adjusted to allow you to re-enter T5 security / conformance and keep your seat assignments. There are a few threads about it on the BA board.

stut

Indeed, I think the experts on this will be on the BA board, so let's take it over there.

Please continue to follow this topic in the BA forum. Thread to automatic, and cross-check.

stut
Moderator
UK & Ireland

corporate-wage-slave

Yes the advice has been correctly given above, it really is not the recommended way to enter airside and then leave, though it is certainly possible to do so.

The transit to T5C and out via the UK Border is one approach (but will risk losing your seat assignment), and you are much better off going to the customer service desk by gate 13 about 10 minutes before the top of the hour (e.g. 09:50) and asking to be escorted out then via the UK Border. Don't say you're going for a smoke, that facility has been withdrawn.

And don't leave anything airside - what would happen if your flight was cancelled, among other scnenarios? Your boarding pass would not allow access airside as soon as that happened.

ajeleonard

Use the arrivals lounge and avoid the hassle

flatlander

Also, don't leave bags in the arrival lounge while you leave the airport. If someone notices that, there'll be a security alert (and it closes at 14:00 in any case). You won't' be popular if you cause an evacuation of part of LHR.

If you want to leave bags, use the left luggage facility at the north end of the arrivals level (left out of the customs exit).

So the sensible thing for to do is: go through UK arrivals and UK Border, go to the arrivals lounge, optionally leave bags at left luggage, go into London, come back, optionally retrieve bags from left luggage, go through security and go airside to go to the lounge and leave on your next flight.