rouleur

I have a flight from Dublin arriving at LHR T2 at 0915 and a flight leaving to the US from T5 at 1050. What's the fastest way between the two? http://www.heathrowairport.com/heath...-international appears to suggest the connections bus but then talks about going through security so I assume this trip isn't fully airside. I have memories of driving around LHR in a bus for (what felt like) ages on a connection before so if I have to go landside anyway I'd be more inclined to take the HEX between the two.

What do you do?

(Sorry if not strictly the right forum -- I'm posting where I think there's the greatest chance of a useful reply. I did search but "lhr connection time" is pretty search-resistant.)

UKtravelbear

The trip using the connections bus is fully airside despite the security check.

corporate-wage-slave

Unless the T5 flight is with Iberia then you're in the right forum!

The airside bus is quicker than HEX. Is this one ticket? In which case it's a very do-able connection. If it is 2 tickets with checked baggage then it is not do-able. Two tickets and hand baggage only then possible but risky. It would be massively easier if you flew BA from DUB to LHR.

The bus leaves from the lower level of Flight Connections in T2. There's a bit of walking involved but it's clearly signposted and I don't think it is possible to make a mistake there. Buses leave every 6 minutes or so, and the bus journey is about 11 minutes long. It dives around the aprons of LHR so you'll get to see the aircraft very close up.

When you get to T5 it's up the escalators, continuing on to Flight Connections (straight on and then left). If Fast Track you need to head to the far wall. If it looks very busy in Flight Connections, due to security holdups upstairs, and you have a chipped EEA passport, then you can consider using the e-gates to go landside in T5 and then up to South Security, but don't do this if you have less than an hour before your T5 flight.

If you don't make it, and you are on one ticket, then BA will just rebook you, but for 99% of passengers that's not necessary.

rouleur

Great. Bus it is then. It's all one ticket and yep, a (real, not EI codeshare) BA flight would have been easier but it wasn't my choice

Thanks!

Slotski

Slightly off subject. I am thinking about booking a flight Dublin-LHR-JFK. The DUB-LHR is an Aerlingus flight but with a BA flight number, will I get BA tier points? Also will my BA silver card grant me access to the Aerlingus lounge at Dublin?

wadewadewade

Yep

Want to say yes but not 100% if it's a codeshare...

Speedbird876

BA silver/gold card grants access to the Aer Lingus lounge at DUB if you're travelling to LHR/LGW.

Airbridge

The fastest?



You are welcome

Aztec_Flyer

Even the security team at Dublin would probably notice the tanks in your 1L clear plastic bag though....

QueenOfCoach

I invite corrections or clarification from those more familiar with LHR than I am. Please, set me straight if need be.

The bus is called "Flight Connections". When you arrive, just follow the purple signs to the place where the bus loads.

It is fully airside. The bus follows, essentially, the same roadways that Heathrow maintenance trucks take, so it can't get any faster. After all, they aren't sending their own trucks on unnecessarily circuitous routes when time is money.

When I went through LHR last month, I got out my iPhone and tracked our progress using the GPS in Google Maps. I've always been curious as to where the bus goes, and this time I decided to figure it out.

Call up Google Earth and set lat/long to decimal degrees. Then enter 51.468054 -0.481341 into the search field. That point is an intersection between the south access road and the T5B access road. The road is ground level there, but note that just to the east and west, the road enters tunnels under aircraft taxi runways.

Carefully trace the road, and you'll see it is a very efficient shortest distance.

You will have to go through Security to enter T5 no matter where you started. Airside, landside, it makes no difference. I have been told that LHR does not trust anyone else's Security. I don't know if that is true or not, but the end result is that everyone, originating at LHR or connecting through LHR must go through their Security.

Once you arrive at T5, just do as C. W. S. suggested. Go up the escalator and follow the signs. It is well signed for optimal wayfinding. If all else fails, just ask someone in uniform. There are plenty of people ready to help.

UKtravelbear

It is not that LHR don't trust any one elses security it is the UK Government and LHR are simply doing what they have been told to do. There are some exceptions e.g. the Little Red flights have a bus from T2 to T3 and those pax don't undergo the security check)

It could be worse and we had the US system - there are minimal flight connections in the same way as here and everyone has to clear the border, collect bags etc.

At least at LHR if you are just in transit you generally don't have to clear the UK border or collect your bags and recheck them in like in the US

layz

The exact rule is the UK government doesn't allow connections from other countries to pass through without going through UK security.

So if you arrive from a UK domestic (including Belfast) in T5 you can just walk into T5 departures without going through security. Unfortunately the Republic of Ireland doesn't count so they have to go through security.

Unfortunately in general connections between terminals are assumed to be from an untrusted source, so if you arrive at T5/T2 from a domestic and connect to a different terminal you have to go through security anyway.

Virgin gets around this by putting on a special bus from their arrivals that bypasses the security in T3 for their domestic-international connections. It's only because connections in general have to use the same bus regardless of origin that they have to go through security.

Calchas

Never mind