goksucats

Hi all. Was referred over here actually by somebody at CruiseCritic. We are going on the two week Viking Homelands tour aboard the new Viking Star May 30th. We booked our flights through Viking, and upgraded to premium economy and Viking set us up with British Airways World Traveller Plus. I had a couple of questions if somebody could help. We have only a 1 hour and 5 minute connection once we arrive in London (assuming we arrive on time travelling 8 hours from Chicago). On BA.com it states we are arriving in Terminal 5 from Chicago and then have 1 hour and 5 minutes to make our connection (also out of Terminal 5) to Stockholm. How difficult of a connection is this going to be for us to make? I presume we shoudln't have to go through Security, or anything as our connection is in the same Terminal. There is a flight a couple of hours later from London to Stockholm, and thought about contacting them just to move it back if possible, but we would like to get on the ship as early as possible. As it is, we land in Stockholm almost 2 hours after our allotted embarkation time on the Viking Star.

golfmad

Hello goksucats and a warm welcome to Flyertalk.

In relation to the connection at LHR, the minimum connection time is 60 minutes. You have 65 minutes so it's a valid connection. You will have to pass through security again but if your inbound flight is on schedule there should be no problem making your connection. Assuming your flights are all on the one ticket then BA will put you on the next flight to Stockholm (space permitting) if you don't make the connection.

Have a great trip. It sounds like fun.

UKtravelbear

There is a handy guide on the LHR website that will explain the process.

The minimum connection time is related more to the time length the airlines and the airport are prepared to offer not in moving baggage, being at the gate etc than the physical time for a passenger to complete the process. Many people complete the connection process in a much shorter time and it is not like the USA where you are forced to go through immgration and customs etc even if you are only in transit.

goksucats

We are very excited. Thank you. It's my first trip to Europe. There are three more flights that afternoon, so surely we will make one of them. The ship doesn't actually leave Stockholm until the following day.

goksucats

That is great to know. Thank you. Trying not to stress out with all of the connections, and even switching airlines. We are flying American Airlines from Kansas City to Chicago, then British Airways to London, then to Stockholm. Gonna be crossing my fingers I see all my bags when we arrive in Sweden. The American Airlines flight is a partner flight with British Airways, and was actually booked through British Airways, so I am hopeful.

UKtravelbear

What I would do at both ORD and LHR is at the gate for your onward flights ask the staff to check that your bags have been loaded.

DaveNCL

Whilst this is a valid connection it is on the tighter side of things depending on your arrival time into LHR.

You wil land into either T5B or C and will need to take the transit to T5A where you will pass through security and its likely that your Stockholm flight will depart from here. Check the departure boards when you deplane to check it is leaving from B, sometimes early morning flights to Europe do depart from B but it is not that common.

When heading for the transit use the escalators rather than the lifts, as they take longer due to people walking up and pressing the button just as the doors are closing. Again 65 mins is easily doable but I would be making an effort to move quickly to be on the safe side. If you just miss a transit it could be 5 mins until the next one.

Once up to the connections and passport control level, walk past the passport area on the left to the connections area following the signs. Keep to the left as the queue will normally start here.

When going through security the furthest lanes tend to be quieter as people connecting tend to bunch at the few lanes at the top of the escalators. You should be through about 30 mins before departure if all goes well but that would mean walking straight to the next gate. If you have the BA app this will be displayed on there or you can check the boards.

Edit to add : if you did miss this flight BA would put you on the next available flight, so its not the end of the world. I'm sure after a long day traveling this would be the least preferred option though.

goksucats

That is great information. Better use the bathroom on our international flight just before we start descending. Lol. Alot of times airlines are aware of these problems too aren't they? Won't they invite passengers with tight connections to deplane first? We are sitting in World Traveler Plus.

DaveNCL

It will be First, Club World and the WT+ in order of getting off which essentially is front to back. I've never seen any preference for tight connections. Sometimes at the connections line they are calling out flights for people to jump the queue but this is normally for long haul in my experience.

If you land on time you will be fine, short of a big cock up at the connections area. I would imagine the lines will be longer off BA294 than later in the morning after 296.

Just be quick on your feet so you don't lose silly time where you could easily get ahead. After all of that you will probably have time to spare but I always prefer that option.

Travel K

I love seeing fellow Cats on here. I am from NE KS, but now in ID.

The others all have great response. My general advice is having your stuff together, ready to go, and don't dawdle making the switch. If all things are normal, you should be fine.

Have a great time on your trip! I have a deep love of Scandinavia as my grandpa immigrated from Sweden, so if you have any Sweden questions, feel free to PM me or email me at katie at travelbykatie.com I have been many times and know it well.

goksucats

Thank you so much, I might take you up on that. Great to see a fellow Wildcat on here too.