krispy84

I have never been encouraged, or seen any other bona fide traveller encouraged, to leave any LHR terminal overnight, I'd be very very surprised if this was the case.

Costa Coffee is open 24/7 in T3 departures before security

Overnighting in an LHR terminal landside may not be that comfortable but it is perfectly do-able.

NWIFlyer

To be clear, the holding area option was for a very specific circumstance - that of someone routinely arriving at the airport on schedule and needing to go landside to their hotel having booked a connecting flight for the next day, but not having the required entitlement to do so. UK Border Force might well decide, particularly given the current hysteria over immigration, that they need to know where everyone is and I doubt they'd be terribly keen on sticking people from four other terminals on a bus and putting them landside in a single other terminal overnight given it was the traveller's fault their documentation was not in order in the first place - but they would still need to house them somewhere secure.

Where there are Irrops, clearly it would be morally wrong to hold someone in less than ideal conditions and in those circumstances alternative arrangements would likely be made - quite probably, given the low risk with an onward flight confirmed and no intention to enter if everything had run to plan, a temporary entry so a hotel could be arranged. If there was mass disruption, then it might be necessary to supervise an extraordinary airside stay until the following morning, but that is not the circumstance the OP detailed.

Nearly everything in LHR, the 24/7 Costa in T3 aside which I wasn't aware of, is set up to encourage people not to stay in the terminal - just as an example, there aren't many seats landside compared to airside for a start. It just isn't at all a comfortable place to be for more than a handful of hours - I recall, having arrived at 4am for a 7am flight from T4 a awful lot of years ago having driven through the night, just how painful an experience that was and not one I'd want to repeat in a hurry! So yes, it's do-able but it's not something I'd ever recommend for the sake of shelling out a relatively small amount of money for a hotel, and there's still a risk you'll be moved on because you're in the way of something operational (even as mundane as floor cleaning).

aktchi

Interesting discussion and I have learnt many things. Just a few observations:

1. I believe it to be a misunderstanding that people who do not want to book a hotel are necessarily being cheap.

Last flights land at LHR around 11 PM, could easily be midnight before you exit immigration.

First flights leave around 6AM, lounges open at 5AM, so you might want to get there by 4AM.

It is not crazy for someone to want to stay at the airport for 4 hours instead of running to/from a hotel in the middle of the night for what might be a 3 hr sleep at best.

2. Just for my curiosity, I'll "research" this during my transit, just what options would officially be available if I wanted to stay airside for those 4 hours, and report back here.

3. Nevertheless, I'll book a hotel myself. Yotel is clocking at GBP 71. Outside ones are cheaper, but by the time you add transportation expenses and time, I am not sure they make much sense.

4. I don't understand Yotel's pricing. I have tried 3 hrs, 4 hrs, 5 hrs, 6 hrs etc, it is always GBP 71. Not sure what kind of "hourly" chart is this.

Non-NonRev

I think that the basic price is about £9 per hour - daytime has a 4 hour minimum, while night has an 8 hour minimum. I'm not sure at what time the different minimums kick in.

LondonElite

What time is your AA flight from T3? Unless you like to be very early, there really is not much point in getting to the terminal more than 90 minutes before departure. It is quite quiet at that time of the morning, and security should be swift. Given the choice between an extra 30 minutes of sleep and 30 minutes in the AA lounge, I'd always pick the former!

aktchi

My incoming flight will reach T4 around 11pm. Disembark from the back of the economy class, long walk, immigration, etc, I expected to be out by midnight.

My departure is from T3 around 7AM. I like to leave enough time for peace of mind and to recover from at least one hiccup (bus cancelled, taxi got flat tire, I board the wrong train/bus, etc), so would have aimed to get to BA lounge at 5AM when it opens (I too am no fan of the AA lounge, preferring CX and BA instead).

Had there been HKG or SIN style sleep worthy couches at T3 or T4, I would probably have chosen that option. Lacking that, as Non-NonRev said, it seems to be "an ideal situation for the Yotel."

Aviatrix

That is my understanding too (I did read up on it some time ago) - and this includes landside transit in certain sets of circumstances such as

- staying at a hotel overnight
- getting from one airport to another (e.g. LHR to LGW)