ppotter

This will be our first TATL flight since before the pandemic and I was wondering how travel has been though LHR over the last couple of months or so? I’ve seen the BBC news horror stories of lost bags, customers, planes, etc, but was wondering whether this was isolated cases, based upon region (flights arriving from Europe, Asia, for example), or just the very bad, odd day.

We will be flying CLT to LHR next week, presumably arriving at Terminal 3. My daughter will be taking her battery-operated wheelchair, so ensuring that this goes in the cabin would be a huge bonus. Does anyone have any tips/tricks for a smooth journey through LHR?

TIA

enviroian

Allow me to chime in.

I flew last week to LHR and back from DFW. I arrived into T5 though at 1 PM and walked right up to an e-gate and went through no lines. I haven't checked a bag since the Clinton admin so I can't comment on baggage delivery times.
On the way back it was a piece of cake from 5 at least.

JJeffrey

In order to get the most help you really need to provide more details about exactly what you're doing at LHR, as a lot of the incidents are isolated to specific areas of operation at the airport.

For example are you just flying CLT-LHR and exiting to go into London, or are you connecting at LHR to another destination? And return flight the same way? Checked baggage or carry on only?

I flew through last month CPH-LHR-RDU with an overnight in London and didn't have any issues, both with T5 arrivals or T3 departures.

ppotter

Thanks. We are visiting family in the UK, and as we are all British citizens, we hope that passport control will be easy(ish). We (3 adults and one child) will have two checked bags and 4 carryons. We are renting a car offsite, so we will need to get a taxi/Uber to the car rental location.

our return is via DFW, so we will be arriving in T3 and leaving from T5.

jljones78

Can't speak to T3 as I arrived and departed out of T5 in May, DFW-LHR RT. There was a pretty long security line on the return, and the fast track line was opened for all travelers, so no luck there. We got to T5 around 1h45m before our flight and got to the gate (T5C) as boarding was underway. We checked a bag for this trip, and didn't have any issues with it on the outbound. However, on the return the bags took about an hour to get from the plane to the carousel a DFW, so if you have a connection you should build in some extra time to be safe.

ryanbriar

I can speak to T5 as I’ve been through there several times in the last couple of months and dropped off a rental car two weeks ago.

T5: Seems to be day / time specific (e.g., when the morning / early afternoon flights head to the US). If you have access to Fast Track North or the F Wing, check in and security should be relatively straight forward with limited to no wait. But as noted in the other post, there could be long queues, compounded by the trek to T5C.

Rental Car: I dropped off at Avis just behind the Holiday Inn Express and the shuttle bus was standing by. I don’t recall if it was handicapped accessible, but it looked like it may have been and it was pretty quick to T5. Alternatively, there were cabs in the front of the hotel.

UKtravelbear

On Monday I arrived at approx 7PM into T5 off an European short haul on BA.

Was quite surprised when bags arrived after approx 10 mins waiting at the belt.. Was expecting it to be much longer.


TBH there is no such thing as a generic LHR 'experience' as it varies so much between airlines and terminals and even time of day.

Even if you hear that say T3 has issues they could be restricted to VS baggage or KLs baggage or AAs baggage as they are not dependent on each other.

One day VS could have staff problems then next it could be AA and so on.

wrp96

Please be aware that all AA operations are moving back to T3 as of 7/12. So if traveling next week or beyond keep that in mind.

ppotter

Thanks for the very help info. I didn’t think AA was moving until the end of the summer, but we’ll definitely check ahead of time.

We are flying back business class, and if we travel from T3 ( I assume that the AA lounge is still closed), are we limited to the BA zoo? I have Gold status, but I don’t have AC access. Any chance we can use the Cathay or QA clubs?

Thanks!

wrp96

If you are flying business, you have access to Cathay, QF, and BA. Definitely choose QF or Cathay over the BA lounges.

wrp96

It was only recently announced (last week) but the move is definitely happening 7/12 https://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInform...hr-airport.jsp

ppotter

Thanks everyone for their prompt, helpful and informative posts. Fingers crossed for a smooth and safe trip!

umaa83

One potential complication depending on when your going to be travelling home is that one of the fueling services at LHR that handles AA (and a number of other airlines) has voted to strike and has called their first strike action to begin on 7/21 lasting until 4:59AM on 7/24. Of course the dispute could be settled by then or not, which will lead to more strike dates being annouced. I do believe they have to give two weeks notice prior to any action taking place. Five of us are flying ATH-LHR-ORD on 7/21 so can't wait for the fun if the strike goes ahead as planned.

JBauer

It’s bad. Especially with families. If I’m going for work — fine. But with three kids…we did a few weeks in EU and did carry-on and we were so thankful after. We hit LHR twice but all the EU airports were understaffed as well. Baggage lines at LHr were insane. At baggage claim it looks like Goodwill with bags piled up. We heard announcements at FRA and LHR basically saying go home and we’ll find your luggage — don’t bother waiting.

At LHR we boarded on time but our pilot said we don’t have enough ground staff and they can’t find anyone at LHR so that took an hour to push back.

it was a great trip but prepare accordingly. Twice at LHR friendly security staff allowed us a “family line cut” when the Fast Track priority lanes were snaking through the terminal. So don’t be ashamed to play the family card with multiple small kids.

skunker

As I posted in BA forum:
Did a T3 -T5 connection on Wednesday 6/15 the line for security was backed up all the way to the BP scanners just past the transfer desk. Fast track was closed. Only 2 lanes leading to 4 scanners were running. An absolute cluster. Took about an hour to clear. Should have cleared immigration.
So many missed connections and the staff did not care. Luckily I had 4 hours so all it did was cut into my time in the Flounge.