catocony

Apologies if this has been asked and answered elsewhere, but I have a simple question. I'm flying into Heathrow from the US on United, and am arriving about an hour before my girlfriend who's coming in on TAP from Lisbon. With the new T2, can I hang out at a United/*A lounge and wait for her, then go through customs and immigration? Or are you shuffled directly to immigration as you get off the plane?

Mrp Alert

T2 does a passport check on arrival for transfer passengers. You may be able to sweet talk your way into the terminal stating that you do not yet have your boarding pass.

catocony

As a clarification, we're both terminating at Heathrow, so we'll both go through Immigration and Customs there. Neither of us are transferring to another flight. I would just like to remain airside and wait for her plane to arrive, at a United or *A lounge in T2b or 2a, then go through immigration at the same time.

nux

Arriving passengers are separated from the departures area. There is no lounge on the airside arrivals side.

You are best off clearing immigration/customs and waiting landside.

hagan73

There is a *A arrivals lounge after you leave immigration if you are eligible for entry. If not, there is a Plaza Premium arrivals lounge accessible by a number of lounge programs (priority pass included) or a paid fee.

These would be your best bet.

NWIFlyer

You really have no realistic option but to clear immigration and customs, given it's not practical to hang around an arrivals corridor just outside Border Control for an hour in the airport - I imagine, in the current security climate, questions might be asked as to what you were doing if nothing else.

Assuming your girlfriend is starting her journey in Lisbon, you would also actually have to pass through different customs channels anyway after passing through the baggage hall - you through the 'Declare/Not Declare' channels, your girlfriend through the 'EU Arrivals' channel, although they do end up in the same place.

If you're travelling in UA Business or above, they have a very nice arrivals lounge which is located almost immediately after the customs exit to landside. If you're not entitled to use that, a few yards further along is the new Plaza Premium Lounge which takes all the usual lounge cards if you hold one of them (along with cold hard cash, obviously). The showers are good, the drink selection is quite extensive and they will give you a 3-course meal at lunchtime (or breakfast if you have an early arrival). From my experience, using a lounge card gets you everything from the a-la-carte services menu, whereas paying cash for each bit would become very expensive.

catocony

Thanks guys, I wasn't sure what the layout was in the new (to me) terminal.

I gave up my paid United Club membership a few years ago, so I'm just *A Gold these days. No arrivals lounge for me, so I guess I'll hang out at Caffe Nero or somewhere for a while.