Microwave

This first part of your trip makes sense to me, though what you've described is a major pain for sure. Because the UK is in the Common Travel Area, you need to clear immigration in London before boarding your flight to Ireland. The thing is, the Irish will check your immigration documents upon arrival again, for reasons that seem to vary depending on who you ask. This is a definite pain in the backside.

This part confuses me, a lot. Coming in from Dublin on BA and connecting to an AA flight leaving from Terminal 3, the usual flow should be that you follow purple Flight Connections signs and get on a bus which drives you to Terminal 3, where you'll go through transit security then head to your gate. From what I can tell from your description, you had immigration at Heathrow (presumably at Terminal 5?), then went through security (also presumably at Terminal 5?), then had your photo taken, then got on a train, then after arriving to the new terminal (and presumably without having to reclear security?) you departed for the US. This makes no sense, for the following reasons: Heathrow has no immigration formalities for departing passengers, irrespective of destination; there are no photo checks for flights departing Heathrow to the United States, so I don't get how a departure photo would have been taken let alone mucked up; transit security is always done at the terminal you'll be departing from, not the one you arrive to; and, most odd of all, there is no airside inter-terminal train at Heathrow—transit passengers moving between terminals take a bus.

Can you clarify what happened here? I don't want to sound rude but are you certain you transferred at Heathrow?

RichieMc

OP seems to have mistaken the train from T5A to T5B or T5C.

And maybe OP thought going through immigration and then re clearing security from landside would be quicker - it usually is if you can use the First Wing; not sure but guess it can depend on the day if using fast track. The overzealous pat down is rare. But over the last 10 years of regularly using T5 I’ve had 1 of these. Pretty much exactly the same as OP describes: got yelled at for not holding my arms up long enough and had to stand around aimlessly while they got someone to frisk me. I guess they have to do a certain number of these and sometimes your number is just up.

Also there are no TSA agents in T5!!!

Microwave

I think you're onto something: I assumed a T5 to T3 transfer, but perhaps this was actually a T5 to T5 transfer. Answers some questions, but not all...

Except there's no inbound immigration when flying from Ireland to Heathrow; at T5 if you're planning to go landside after arriving from Ireland you just follow the yellow Arrivals signs and end up at the far end of the T5 arrivals level.

Ah ok, "didn't get a good picture" led me to believe the poster was having a UK/Ireland departure photo taken, rather than going through a millimetre wave scanner. This makes more sense (though I've never had a problem getting a good scan from the millimetre wave machines and I've lived in London for longer than I care to admit).

Or anywhere at Heathrow, thankfully!

RichieMc

Yeah, good point on no immigration. I guess not super important to the story. OP just ended up in the transfer security.

TSA would just start shooting if they don't get a good scan.

jlemon

Looking for your thoughts and advice here....

We'll be traveling to Rome this fall via a connection at London Heathrow. We'll arrive into LHR from DFW in business class on AA and then have three hours and 15 minutes to make our connection to a BA flight in business class to FCO. It appears we will arrive into Terminal 3 and then depart from Terminal 5.

We would like to visit the AA arrivals lounge at LHR for a shower and a quick bite to eat before proceeding to Terminal 5 for our flight on BA to Rome.

So here's my question.....

Do you think we will have enough time to do so?

Many thanks in advance.....

copyace

We have an upcoming AA flight into Heathrow 6:50 AM from Chicago on August 12th, connecting to a BA Budapest flight at 9:50 out of T5. I was planning to check our two bags through, but with all I'm seeing about baggage problems I'm now wondering if we should carry them on -- they're proper overhead compartment sized. Will having carry-ons significantly slow us down at T5 security? Or am I overreacting since we'll be on an early morning flight presumably before the day's overcrowding begins? Thanks!

enviroian

Plenty.

JJeffrey

As long as your carry-on's are proper sized (which you said they are) then they will not make any material difference in the time it takes you to go through security.

JJeffrey

I don't know that I'd say 3:15 is plenty of time given that will involve clearing UK immigration at T3, going to the arrivals lounge to shower/eat, then taking the train over to T5 and clearing security there.

DMPHL

If you'll have your BA boarding passes and really want a lounge other than the BA lounges, I'd just go through T3 connections and use the QF or CX business lounges in T3, then go back into the T3 arrivals/connections flow and take the bus to T5. Rome flight should leave from T5A, anyway. You likely won't have LOADS of time for either option, though, depending on how full transit security is.

I'd come back and see how things are looking in the fall close to your departure. If it were anything in the vicinity of what traffic looks like now, I would say absolutely no way, and just to head directly to T5.

enviroian

i'm basing that on the assumption they will be out immigration doors in 15 minutes from leaving their plane. At least that's how long it took me arriving at T5. Can T3 be that different?

jlemon

This sounds like a good alternative. And we'll already have our boarding passes for the flight operated by BA to FCO.

jlemon

It appears the time it takes us to get through immigration will most likely dictate what we are able to do in terms of visiting either the AA arrivals lounge or another lounge in T3. I've never been impressed with the BA lounges in T5 with the exception of the Concorde Room.

ryanbriar

Consistent with last Friday morning for me. That said, there was a decent sized line for non e gate users.

I wouldn’t waste your time with the T3 lounges given timing, having to go through the security mess, and the fact that you can get a solid sit down breakfast at AA arrivals. I meant to take a picture of the menu last Friday, but it looked consistent with pre-COVID (e.g., eggs Benedict).

I posted above, but I was able to do plane to AA arrivals for a shower to the CCR in just over an hour (had breakfast there) on a two hour connection.

jlemon

This sounds like an optimal plan for us as we've found the AA arrivals lounge at LHR to be just fine in the past. However, if we do use it, we'll also plan on being there for a rather short interval in order to provide enough time to make our connection at T5 to the BA flight to FCO.