pbh220

Hi All, (please forgive for re-posting, did not enable email notification previously)

Have a return flight in February: LIS-LHR-SFO, currently ticketed as a TAP flight (LIS-LHR is TAP) from LIS-SFO, but the LHR-SFO leg is on UA Business--all on one ticket. Question: will we have to go through customs in LHR?

Wondering if any of you can venture an opinion whether Brexit would make it more time consuming to get through LHR (as by February, LHR may not allow easy transit from EU). LHR not my favorite airport! Have zero experience on TAP-though they are in the same terminal as UA.

All thoughts welcome...!

aacharya

Brexit is nonexistent as of February 2017. They haven't even formally begun the process.

WineCountryUA

As this question is about Brexit and its impact on travel between UK and mainland Europe, will move this to the UK & Ireland Forum where folks will be better equipped to answer.

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

alanR

Brexit will make no difference to transit passengers, they will stay airside and won't have to pass through immigration checks.

Ldnn1

As above, Brexit is irrelevant here. You have one ticket LIS-LHR-SFO, your bags will be checked straight through and you'll just need to go through flight connections at LHR T2 . This involves a security check of your hand luggage but no immigration/customs.

LondonElite

No Brexit and no customs.

Ldnn1

But remember, Brexit means Brexit.

lhrsfo

And the UK has never been part of Schengen in the first place.

UKtravelbear

Even after Brexit the UK government would be stupid to require all passengers travelling through LHR to pass through immigration and customs if they are simply in transit and their luggage has been checked through.


It is more likely that airline policies on not interlining bags will cause passengers more grief by forcing them to pass immigration / customs and then recheck and reclear security.

pbh220

Thank you for the intell on Brexit...guess I should not believe what I read in the NYT! Also sounds like as long as my bags are checked through to final destination, then there will be no long custom process.

But I am wondering, lets say my tickets were separate and I had only carry-on. with my next flight in the same terminal (LHR T2), would my final destination determine where I go through customs?

Many thanks for the procedural clarity!

LondonElite

There is no customs whatsoever. On separate tickets with no checked luggage you could also go through flight connections if you had your BP. Again, no customs. Unless you are bringing stuff into the country which you shouldn't, there is never any 'customs' issue.

pbh220

Sorry, but what's my "BP" (British Passport)? I have a USA one.

Ldnn1

BP = boarding pass.

On international-international connections like yours, with carry-on only, there's no customs/immigration. You just go through flight connections. The destination only matters if you're connecting to the UK or Ireland, as LHR would then be your point of entry.

It's different if you have checked bags and separate tickets - then you couldn't use flight connections and would instead have to pass through immigration, collect your bags, pass through customs, recheck your bags and re-enter departures.

Also to clarify, Brexit really isn't relevant here at all. At LHR the procedure is the same for both EU and non-EU, since we never have been and will continue not to be in Schengen. So at T2 for example, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Oslo, Istanbul, San Fran, Beijing, Addis Ababa, Cairo, Bogota, Singapore = all the same.* The only practical difference is for UK/Ireland.

(*There is a technical difference if going landside, in that if coming from an EU/EEA country you go through the blue channel whereas from non-EU you go through the green channel, but for connecting purposes there's no difference.)

UAPremExecflyer

What did you read in the NYT that led you to believe that Brexit would be an issue in February?

LondonElite

Maybe it was the North Yorktown Tattler?