jordandawg05

We have a layover on our next trip in LHR for 9.5 hours. We will not be able to go out of airport due to timing of tourist visa so we will be at the airport.

any advise as to what to do in LHR from experienced travelers there? we have priority pass lounge access.

thanks !

Gagravarr

Which terminal(s)? That'll make a huge difference to your options...

jordandawg05

we'll be arriving in 4 it seems and then next flight from LHR will be from terminal 3

UAPremExecflyer

9.5 hours is a long time to be spending at LHR!
I understand from your other thread that you are limited by visa situation.
Basically, follow Flight Connections from T4>T3.
Check out what PP lounges you have access to in T3.
There's a fair amount of shopping, if you or your partner are so inclined.
You can also eat and drink.
But, boy, 9.5 hours ... enough said.

jordandawg05

ha yeah i hear ya ! then we haev a 13 hour flight to BKK...its gonna be a long 36 hours (overall trip time)

lhrsfo

This is one occasion where you might hope that the inbound flight is several hours late so that you can explore the origin airport as well.

Gagravarr

As long as it's that way round, you'll be OK on the Priority Pass front. There are Priority Pass lounges in T1 and T3, but not T4 or T5. There will be a third party lounge in T2 when that opens, but it hasn't been confirmed yet if they'll take Priority Pass or not.

In T3, there are two lounges available to you, the Servisair one and the No.1 Traveller. I'd strongly suggest the latter, No.1 lounges are generally some of the best third party lounges out there, should be miles better than Servisair.

With a 9.5 hour layover, you would have time to see a bit of London, or something nearby (eg Windsor), assuming you get let in. Plenty of threads on here with ideas if you do think you might be allowed (eg under the Transit Without Visa landside concession or something). Otherwise, you may well find that 7-8 hours in the lounge (taking account of change-of-terminal times, security clearance times, getting to plane etc) is rather long...

cheaptom

The lounges provide you with anything you'll need as far as Internet, food, drinks, and booze. 9.5 does seem like a long time, but lounge access will be priceless, especially compared to all the other people outside who have to sit in a hard chair in a noisy terminal. Not sure if you're an experienced Euorpean traveler or not, but one thing to look out for is that they do NOT announce what gate your flight leaves from until about 40 minutes ahead of time. And sometimes, they won't announce the gate until 15 minutes ahead. That means you may literally have to run to your gate. As an American, it seems impossible to me that I have 9 hours to kill, but then I still have to run to my gate. But that is a strong possibility in Europe. Especially at LHR. YOu simply can't go sit by your gate, because they don't tell you the gate.

jordandawg05

great tip, def lounge access will be nice. i looked at the No 1 Heathrow lounge and it seems nice, they do have showers so thats good. as far as gate announcement, when it comes close to departure within the hour i will def have my app up on my phone and watch the screen for gate announcements. i am sure we will be ready to leave the airport at that time !!


Gagravarr - i don't think we'll be able to go visit london with that time, my wife needs a transit groundside which i don't think we'll be able to get without paying an expedited fee so it won't be that big of a deal to get it. i will try to see if we can get a visa there but i highly doubt it ...i can get a TWOV as a US citizen but my wife isn't a US citizen yet.

well , i guess it'll be booze, sleep, and shop for that time haha.
does anyone how can i extend my stay at the lounges? fo rexample , the No. 1 Heathrow has a max of 3 hours...so would i be able to 'leave' the lounge and re-check in after lets say 15 min? never done or have any experience in doing though so i was wondering.

thanks for all the tips and help so far !

Gagravarr

It might be worth approaching the border anyway together and asking. IIRC they have some discresion on issuing a 24 hour landside transit visa, and if it's quiet and you show both passports and explain what you want to do, you might get lucky. Someone may be able to comment on how easy it would be to get back to Connections from the UK Border bit if they say no. (To a certain extent, I'm told they do a bit of a risk assessment, and hopefully in your case you'd come up as a low risk pair)

Partly I think it's to stop the lounge getting too busy with cheaper guests (walk up pay them more than PP do), and partly it's to get some more money to cover what you use (if you re-enter and re-swipe, they'd get paid again). I'd suggest just asking the staff at a quiet time, and seeing what they say

jordandawg05

yup, this is exactly what i plan to do...i'll go test the waters and hopefuly get a low risk and they would allow us for the less than 24 hour transit visa for my wife. my wife is from jordan so am not sure if they would be more concerned ...i am a US citizen and we are married and will have her green card to show them if needed ( its not like it will help or have any influence but you never know it may ).
I haven't really looked or explored what to do in London if we do get in. Any quick tips? we wana take a quick tour and have a bite to eat probably. We get in at 12 noon . Maybe a city bus tour of some sort? if we decide or able to get in town we will probably spend 4 hours or so just incase so we are able to get back to airport with plenty of time .

As far lounges, i will ask front desk as well and tell them the situation. if we have to check out and come back in that is fine with me. PP is paying .

Gagravarr

Just take a look through some of the other threads in the forum, plenty of great advice in there recently on things to do on a short-ish layover, how best to get in/out of the city etc!

jordandawg05

gotcha ! i'll look around the forum. this is my first post in the UK forum so i'll see what i can find

thanks for all ur help !