Tornedaling

Me and 2 of my friends are travelling alone for the first time in 2 weeks, our destination is Los Angeles. We are connecting through London-Heathrow, we land 9.05am @ Terminal 5 & takeoff is scheduled 11.30am @ Terminal 3, so the time between our flights is 2 hours and 25 minutes.

Now according to the Heathrow webpage a minimum of 90 minutes is required so we should be able to make it according to them but i am still worried it will not be enough so im just wondering if anyone with experience of travelling through Heathrow knows if that is realistic or not?

I know it might vary depending on how busy it is from time to time but i still thought it would be worth asking.

Thank you in advance! //A worried treveller

The _Banking_Scot

Hi Tornedaling,

Welcome to flyertalk !^

2 hours 25mins should be plenty of time even allowing for a delay ( which airlines are you travelling with as if it is on one ticket or the same alliance ( ie BA to AA) your bags ( if any ) should be transferred directly without you having to pick them up at LHR)

Regards

TBS

Gamecock

I think it is perfectly doable. I've don that a time or two. Just move out smartly and don't stop for anything to eat or to do any last minute shopping.


Oh, and welcome to FT!

Gardyloo

Welcome to FT!

Yes, it's quite easy. I did a similar transfer yesterday and from the time I got off the plane at T5 until I was through security at T3 around 25 min. had elapsed. (Note I was lucky in that there was a T3 transfer bus just about to leave when I walked up; if I had missed it the transfer would have taken another 10-15 min.)

sparkchaser

My turn: my wife is arriving at LHR at 6:30AM in Terminal 3 (YYZ-LHR). Her connecting flight departs at 8:20AM from Terminal 1.

Will she be OK time-wise?

WHBM

Hello from London, where these questions come up from time. It is always useful to give your actual itinerary and airlines. For example in the first question we don't know if the travel is arriving UK domestic or international. Likewise, if you have bought a through ticket (in which case your bags will go through as well) or two independent tickets (in which case you have to wait for your bags, exit, go to the check-in counter, and start again).

Any airline that sells a through ticket knows what the appropriate minimum connecting time is, because if the connection is missed on a through ticket they are in for all sorts of additional costs to reaccommodate you, which, if nothing else, absorbs all their profit. So if it is an allowable Minimum Connecting Time, then it will be reasonable.

2 hours 25 minutes for the first one is fine, just follow Flight Connections and you will be transferred by a bus between the terminals. It's quite a distance between Terminals 5 and 3 but the bus gets through fairly promptly.

For the second one, 1 h 50 m is normally OK, again it depends if you are connecting to a UK domestic flight (NB this includes flights to the Irish Republic as both countries operate a Common Travel Area) as in this case you will be directed through Immigration, which is often the step with the longest queueing. Terminals 3 and 1 are adjacent but the transfer bus makes a short connection.

Regarding not stopping for eating or shopping, normally that is fine when done in the final departure terminal, when you have gone through all the steps and can see how much time is left. There are not a lot of opportunities beforehand anyway. Don't forget to tell the waiter in any restaurant what time you have to be out again - they are of course completely used to this. Payments for anything, if you are just passing through the UK, need either a standard credit card or UK cash.

JY1024

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Tornedaling! As your query is specific to an airport, we'll move this over to the UK/Ireland forum for further discussion. Thanks! /JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

sparkchaser

Thanks WHBM. Her connecting flight is to Frankfurt.

stifle

Is it a single ticket?

sparkchaser

It is. Lufthansa ticket but Air Canada from YYT-LHR.

WHBM

No problem at all then. All on "one carrier", ie Star Alliance airlines, one ticket so bags checked through, international-to-international, so so immigration wait, and an 0630 arrival, when there is little inbound congestion because, as there are not many outbound departures at that time, both runways are allowed to be used for landings between 0600 and 0700.

Enjoy a proper English breakfast in Terminal 1.

sparkchaser

I know it's crazy but she doesn't like the "full English breakfast" -- she's happier with a bowl of porridge and some tea.

mickeydfly13

I had a schedule change going dub-lhr-ord (EI transfer to UA). Looks like terminal 1 arrival and departure, but my time went from 2 hours down to 1:10. I have a confirmed business class seat from lhr to ord, so don't want to miss out! Is this doable or should I fuss and change flights? Thanks for the advice in advance.

Swiss Tony

That's going to be quite tight. EI did have a system in place where they would bus connecting passengers straight to the flight connections centre, as you otherwise get decanted into the landside area at T1. Not sure if they still have that set-up.

70 mins would be a bit tight for me, especially as the downside seems to be a Y seat on the TATL flight! See if you can get on an earlier departure from Dublin, maybe?

stifle

The bus still runs, and 1 hour 10 should be just about enough as long as you don't hang about.