carrotjuice

I'm flying into T3 on AA (morning arrival) and transferring to BA in T5 (evening departure same day). I'd like to ideally store my carry-on bag in the BA T5 departure lounge after clearing my transfer, leave for central London for a few hours, then collect it before I board my flight later that same evening. (Understand isn't possible to store in T5 BA arrivals lounge because it closes at 2 pm, and I'm unable to get back to LHR before then).

Is this a good plan? Is there a better arrangement without having to fork out £15 for storing luggage at the left luggage place in T5 arrivals?

Is it easy to leave LHR from the T5 BA departure lounge?

theultimateflyer

Frankly, I don't think you can do that. Left luggage place in T5 arrivals seems to be the best option.

FWIW, you wouldn't have access to BA Arrivals Lounge if arriving with AA.

Filthy Monkey

In theory, yes, it is possible. You would need to clear security at Flight Connections then leave your bag in storage in one of the lounges. To get out of the airport would require you to go to the C gates on the train, come back to the A gate then leave the airport via passport control. You would no longer be consdiered a passenger in transit, so would need to officially enter the UK.

When you come back to the airport you would need to explain to BA what you had done and have them issue a new boarding pass, as your original pass would flag that you had already been through security, so would not let you back through. It will most likely raise a few questions and cause you more hassle then the £15 or so it would cost to store your bag for the day. It would also waste a lot of time, probably an hour plus, that you could be spending in London. I wouldn't recommend it...

theultimateflyer

FWIW, I think the train is security swept every time it "turns around" (or is that only at A gates?), so you'd also owe an explanation to the security team.

Airprox

Only at the A end, to prevent arriving passengers who are not security checked from mixing with departing passengers who are. If you go from A to C and stay in the train there is no check and you effectively become an arriving passenger, so that once you get back to A again you have no choice but to get off and either go through passport control or flight connections.

I agree that the hassle of doing all this just to get into the lounge to store the bag and save a few £ is not worth it, and I would just use the landside Left Luggage place.

I have no experience of immigration at T3 at various times of day or for non-EU passport holders at either terminal, but one option for the OP is to get on the flight connections bus over to T5 and clear immigration there, which could save a little time over finding and waiting for the HEX to make the journey landslide.

layz

IDEA!: Pay £15 to use the left luggage place, then the time you save having to get in and out of terminal 5 can be used to get the slightly slower tube into Central London (saving almost £20 on a single ticket compared to the HEX) making up for the cost of storing your luggage.

If you plan to use the tube, etc when in Central London you'll save even more because if you use Oyster or contactless credit card (these operate the barriers directly now) you will be price capped. Your journey to/from Heathrow on the tube will count towards this cap, but the HEX obviously won't.

EuropeanPete

To get into central London you will almost certainly be taking the Heathrow Express. There is a quite good luggage storage venue a hundred metres from the HEX arrival spot at Paddington which I would recommend as a good place to keep your luggage (follow the taxi signs and it's on your right before the escalators).

If you're OneWorld Emerald you may in theory be able to scam a place to keep your bags in Heathrow, but it's much more effort than it's worth.

LondonAndy

Why not just check your bag in at T5? If you have status or are travelling Club / First then you can drop it off from 05.00 on day of departure:
http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/...on-heathrow-t5

EDIT: Whoops, seen it's your carry-on bag you are wanting to store....

carrotjuice

Thanks for all the insights. Tremendously useful.

By the way I'm arriving on a BA prefixed flight but operated by AA - do I have access to the AA arrivals lounge in T3, or should I need to head to T5 for the BA arrivals lounge?

layz

You'd use the AA arrivals lounge.

When BA had longhaul flights into T3 they also used the AA arrivals lounge.

Tobias-UK

The left luggage charge is only £10 for up to 24 hours. Well worth paying than messing around trying to get out of and back in to T5 departures.

KARFA

If you are getting the HEX to London there is a left luggage at Paddington, so you could use HEX from Heathrow T123 to London, drop your bag, and then collect it on the way back before taking the HEX to T5. This would save you some time comapred to either arriving at T3 and going to T5 first to leave your bag, or leaving it at T3 and having to stop off on the way back to collect it before heading to T5.

Cost at Paddinton is £6 for up to 3 hrs, and £10 for 3-24 hrs.

Filthy Monkey

That's a very good suggestion, KARFA, as it would save a lot of time going between terminals.

frb98mf

FYI, also left-luggage facilities at most London mainline stations, so if you are trying to save money, which it sounds like you are, you could get the Tube into town and pick a more convenient one depending on your plans. [EDIT] Then I noticed GGL/CCR status - I would be surprised if a return HEX ticket is going to put you in overdraft!

Alternatively, you could read all the threads complaining about people taking massive carry-on bags that clog overhead bins, and reflect that if it's small enough to carry onto a plane, maybe it should be small enough to sling over a shoulder around London for a day

Globaliser

And funnily enough, they're operated by the same company as operates the T5 facility: http://www.left-baggage.co.uk/locations.php