septembergirl

Has anyone done the other way recently T5 to T3. the Heathrow website says allow 90 minutes but if the shuttle from Manchester to London is late as has been our experience in the past we might not get our connection to Sydney and onwards to NZ. If it can be done quicker please let me know then I won't be worrying unnecessarily.

Degan

I have done this 5-6 time a year. Ninety minutes seems reasonable to me.

This is true. It depends on many factors. How late? Is this all ticketed on AA? If so, I expect that they would be aware of your connecting flight being late and might accomodate you.

You have to go from your gate (or bus from plane to T-5 for planes that do not get a real gate) to flight connections and then there might be a line for your bus, meaning that you would not get on the next one. The bus ride is about ten minutes. Then you have an undetermined amount of time clearing security at T-3.

I generally expect to be sitting at a T-3 lounge withing 45 minutes of landing at T-5, but I walk quickly.

I expect that if this ticket is a legal connection you should feel comfortable with it.

carlosdca

Last time I did the transfer between T5 and T3, I spent a lot of time at the AA "airline desk". ( IIRC, this was after clearing security at Terminal 3 and before proceeding to the gate).

I was first asked the security questions (for flights to the US "who packed your luggage", "has it been with you at all times", etc) and then got my AA issued boarding pass. There were lines for Biz/First class pax which I used but still it took so long that I had to run to the gate and skip the lounge.

On this same thread, I believe, I was told that I could have skipped the airline desk and proceed directly to the Admirals Club (AC) to do the security questions and get my boarding pass much quicker.

GadgetFreak

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Yes. Last time I ran into a line at the airline desk they told me to go to the AC. No line there.

Degan

My suggestion, when you come out of security at T-3, you will pass directly by the AA desk, assuming you can access the AC, only use the desk if there is no one in line. There can be a line to get interogated at the AC.

I have never had the interogation process by AA take more than two minutes. With some other airlines, the process is more thorough. I actually appreciate this part of the process, as I know that, if the interviewer has been trained, the security process is effective, unlike our TSA irradiate and grope "security theater".

flyfaraway

Hello all,

I am traveling in F from MIA -> LHR on AA, and then transferring to BA for LHR-> FCO (8-10 hour layover).

My reading shows that we will land in T3 and depart from T5. Is that correct?

A couple questions:

Can I check in for the BA portion of the flight online? Or do I check-in at MIA?

Will AA check our bags all the way through to FCO?

Do we need to recheck our bags in LHR?

If we don't check our bags, is BA's carry-on rules (sizes/weight limit) the same as AA?

We are planning on going into the city for the day. So we will need to clear immigration in London and then back through security to get into T5.

Since we are doing that, will we need to go through immigration again in FCO?

I appreciate all the help! We're contemplating whether to check our bags or just do carry-on (and possibly store bags at Paddington while we're in the city).

JY1024

Yup - that's right.

You'll be able to do both, I believe.

Yes they will. (So no, you won't have to fetch your bags at LHR.)

Do check the BA website for the latest carry-on size/weight limits. I've always found them MUCH more strict about hand-baggage than US airlines. Every time I fly them, they make me check my rollaboard to see if it fits in the sizer. (It doesn't fit, btw, but usually after they see my status or that I'm traveling in J/F, they let me take it on board anyway. YMMV.)

Yes. You'll have to clear immigration/customs when you leave LHR to go into the city. Then you'll have to clear immigration/customs when you land in FCO.

Have a great trip!

jiacono

I've never stopped at the airline desk at LHR T3 when transiting and never suffered any ill effects. Seems like a waste of time. They will ask questions at the AC and/or at the gate and often exchange your non-AA BP for one with an AA logo. And if time is tight, it is certainly much better to be physically at the gate.

PassatDoc

In the UK, cabin bags are limited to 22 inches/45 cm long--including wheels and handle. There is a diagram on the BA website that shows that they include wheels/handles in their definition of length. However, there is no warning for connecting passengers that UK regulations differ from most of Western Europe and North America. In the US, the body of the bag must conform to 22 inches/45 cm, but they don't include wheels/handle in the measurement. This means that on an AA-BA combined itinerary starting in the US, the bag is "legal" on AA in the USA, but during the T3 to T5 transfer, your bag becomes "illegal". AA used to mention this discrepancy on their website, which made sense given the volume of their AA-BA connections at LHR, but now their site just says "45 inches" without a definition of how it's measured.

I first did the AA T3 >> BA T5 transfer a few months after T5 opened in 2008. I used the bus transfer to T5. The next stop in Flight Connections was the "ready to fly" line, where they inspect you to be sure you have your boarding pass (sometimes the AA counter back in the US could not generate a BA boarding pass, etc.) and that your luggage is legal. In my case, I didn't know that the UK included wheels/handle in the bag measurement, and the employees spotted my Kirkland (Costco) 22" bag in a heart beat and said it couldn't fly. If the bag could not lie flat inside one of their 22"/45 cm trays on the screening belt, it was too large.

They gave me a free zipper tote in BA colours and asked me to remove any essentials or valuables. Then the employee took me to an adjacent BA desk where they checked the cabin bag for me. I had already checked two bags at my origination, but I was not charged for this (third) piece of checked luggage. Whether they took pity on me because I'd flown in on a BA partner and they knew my bag was legal SNA-ORD-LHR, I'm not sure. And I don't know today if they would charge a 22" bag as excess luggage, but I was flying Economy on that trip back when two pieces were free but they normally charged for a third piece. When I arrived in Kiev I had three pieces to retrieve at baggage claim.

In retrospect, they were firm but fair. They seemed to understand that my bag did meet AA regulations, and they could see from my bag tags that I began the journey with AA. Nearly all of the passengers in the "ready to fly" line were people who had been on my ORD-LHR flight, and I would surmise that the employees knew that some of the bags were oversized for UK but US-legal. The employees who spotted my bag as being too large did so just by glancing at it (when you've seen one Kirkland bag, you've seen them all), he didn't need to use a sizing device.

On subsequent transits via LHR, I have used a 20" wheeled backpack as my cabin bag, mindful of the UK rules, so I haven't tested what BA does to arriving AA passengers with 22" bags (standard in the USA, and they fit most bins other than some MD80s). Some luggage companies sell what are called "international sized carry on bags" (with wheels and handle) which are 20" rather than 22" and which presumably meet the UK regulations.

FYI my AA flight was on time. I only waited a few minutes for the transfer bus and there were enough seats on the bus to accommodate everyone waiting in line at that time. I was delayed about ten minutes due to having to unpack my cabin bag essentials/valuables and then making a pitstop at the BA desk next to the "ready to fly" line (agent was very nice, did not charge me for the extra bag, and even checked to be sure my other two bags had made it to London---they had). After being cleared by ready to fly, I could proceed to security which took no more than ten minutes (this was at 06:30). All told, the process took about an hour---and I had a three hour connection, so the real issue at that point was finding a comfortable place to rest without any lounge access. At that point, the shortcomings of T5 became apparent: too few (and too small) restrooms, poor signage, etc. Well, it's hard to spot the signs for "escalator" and "WC" among all the gaudy signs for Harrods or other luxury retailers. To me, it's a shopping mall masquerading as an airline terminal. I've read that the BA lounges are nice, but for those without lounge access due to flying Economy, it can be hell. The restrooms commonly would have 5-6 toilet stalls maximum, and there would be queues stretching out into the lobby. Hell, my local SNA airport has restrooms three times the size of what I saw in one of the largest public buildings in the UK. If the building were 50 years old and operating beyond its anticipated life span, like say Terminal 1, I could understand, but this terminal was brand new. They had hordes of green-coated guides trying to direct people, because if you'd never been there before, the signage and navigation was not intuitive, and there were queues for everything, even for the escalators to go to the lower floor of departures. Later on the same trip, I flew into the new DUS terminal (first time I had used it since it had been rebuilt post-fire) and it was so intuitive and easy to navigate (ok, I can read German, but everything was marked in English too), even though it was my first time in the new terminal. That's when I realised what a poor design they did in T5 in terms of being user-unfriendly.

brp

We did it recently at the airline desk in T3 simply because the line was short. Had it been longer, I would simply have done it at the gate. One walks right past the airline desk in T3 when coming through Flight Connections, so it is easy to decide on the spot.

Cheers.

ffdom

Just did MAN-LHR on BA connecting to LHR-LAX last week. The connection time was 1:45. We made it with 30 minutes to spare but that was only because the flight was on time and we had no lines at any point. This doesn't however leave much room for error. I printed boarding passes at BA.com and it gave is them for both flights. At MAN we could therefore avoid the BA desks, and there was zero line at security and it was efficient (you don't have to remove shoes only laptops and liquids, and there are plenty of staff and automatic tray system that works far more efficiently than most U.S airports. I had two carryons, a 20" Tumi and a "laptop" back - no issues this time. Boarding the BA flight can be something chaotic.
At LHR, there are long long walks in both T5 to get to the bus to T3 (depending on arrival gate); you have to show your onward boarding pass or ticket.
No wait on bus to T3 but it does take a while or the journey. At T3 you have to rescreen your bags etc so that can take a while if there is no line. Then as others have noted, AA puts you through a security check etc. Again there is lots of walking in T3 between all the elements. Then again when you head to the gate itself in T3 you will experience another set of security questions and there can be lengthy lines to pass into the gate area.

If the MAN flight had been delayed by much more than 20-30 minutes (which the pilot suggested was actually pretty common), we probably still would have made it but it would have involved a major hustle and stress. I think if we did it again, I wouldn't risk it. In part the calculus depends on what other flights are available if you miss the connection; in our case there were no other nonstop LHR-LAX flights and I did not want to end up making connections in JFK or ORD just to get home (and I doubt they would have put us on the later BA nonstops since we had upgraded business seats).

flyfaraway

Thank you so much for the information! The most important thing was that the bags would be checked all the way through. That will save us a BUNCH of time!!

Artur

Obviously the one world reciprocal elite recognition does not work on all levels, especially when it counts. Once it took me 55 minutes to go to security when denied Fast track which takes 10-15 minutes. It does make a difference when your incoming AA flight is delayed and you have only 90 minutes to catch your BA connection in T5.

While as Emerald we are welcome to use the First class lounge on an international itinerary, the Fast Track, the elite access for connecting passenger excludes any other elites but BA. On the other hand, BA elites have unfettered access to Priority access lines when flying AA in USA.

So what really gives? I mentioned it to AA customer relations but did not receive any reply whatsoever.

Does anybody know why BA still feels it does not have to honor equality to all one world elites?

GadgetFreak

Im not sure if it is BA or the BAA. I have actually found it a bit spotty. Last year on one or two of the times I connected at LHR I had a boarding pass from JFK for my BA flight as I recall that said priority access. In any case they sent me through the priority security line when I got to the gatekeeper. But you are right it is very unclear.

dmsdfw

I agree that this is a stupid way of doing things. For what it's worth, I've had some success using the fast-track lines when connecting from T5 to T3, but never when originating from T% (even though they are essentially the same line).

Another minor silly at T5 is that to get your checked baggage priority tagged it seems that you have to check in at the business or first check ins. If you check in at an economy desk they will tag the bag but ask you to take it to one of the other desks to put on the conveyor.