andywine

My wife and I are connecting at Heathrow to Edinburgh coming from DL30 and we are trying to figure out which flight we can safely make. We will need to change from term 3 - term 5 and will have checked bags. I’ve haven’t connected at LHR in years. Any experience on a Sunday morning in mid-March? We are considering a connection of 2:20 (landing to doors closed). Thank you!

Often1

Just to be clear, when you say "connecting", are you certain that you will be on one ticket with a connection at LHR or two tickets with a transfer (not a connection)?

If the latter, you must allow time to claim your bags and check them in with BA as well as allow sufficient time for delays as a no show at BA will mean that your ticket is cancelled.

andywine

Correct - my apologies. It’s 2 tickets and we must claim and recheck our bags.

tennessetom

Tight very tight. . Let’s assume 1 hour to deplane get thru immigrations and collect your bag. Then let’s assume thirty minutes to change terminals. This will be dependent upon how you hit the train or bus. The let’s assume you are flying coach and need to recheck bags and go thru regular security so 30 minutes there. Then let’s assume you need 15 minutes to get to the gate. This to me is all worst case so you would miss the plane. Immigration is all over the place in terms of time. I average 20 minutes but it is a good ten minute walk from the plane to the immigration hall. If not for rechecking luggage I would say go for it but rechecking luggage is going to put you over the edge on time. And remember you need to take the train to a good 75 percent of the gates in terminal five.

wrp96

So let's count back. Your bags must be checked in with BA at T5 at T-45 (you also must be through security by T-35). So 1hr 35 minutes left. Make sure to add in time for the transit from T3 to T5 which will depend on whether you use Heathrow Express (every 15 minutes) or the Tube (free but requires an Oyster card). I'm pessimistic but would leave 30 minutes for the terminal change. So down to one hour and 5 minutes left. Assuming you are able to use the e-gates (UK, US, EU passports) immigration should be fairly quick but you've also got to account for baggage claim time and the invariably long walk from the gate to immigration.

For my risk averse self it would be too short on separate tickets.

UKtravelbear

You do not have 2 hrs 20 mins you would have that less the BA bag drop deadline of 45 minutes before departure - and that means process completed not just in the queue.

So you would have to clear UK immigration, collect bags and then get from T3 to T5 in 1 hr 35 mins so would have very little margin for any delays / issues during that process

andywine

Thank you all so much for the replies. Train it is!

ekozie

Have you considered the Flybe flights out of Terminal 2 to Edinburgh? T3 -> T2 is an easier connection (quick walk underground), and there's a slim but real chance that as Flybe becomes Virgin Connect early next year that some integration may happen by March. I wouldn't expect Virgin Connect to move to Terminal 3 or have SkyPeso mileage earnings by then (though I would expect the first the long-term and the second in the medium-term), but it's possible you'll be able to recheck your bags with VS in Terminal 3 and have better rebooking protection in the event of IROPS. I searched a random Sunday in March, and it looks like there's an 11:20am flight (2hr35min connection) which combined with the quicker transfer makes this itinerary more feasible.

ijgordon

I think the UK domestic flights typically leave from concourse A, so no train.

But regardless, a 2h20m connection for an itinerary like this will probably fail 30-40% of the time, so too risky for me, especially since BA will be fully unforgiving if you miss your flight, and they'll make you buy a new one.

Mwenenzi

Do you mean train London to Edinburgh? Or train between terminals?
DL30 arrives at 08:45 (currently), so you should have a lot of options for travel to Edinburgh

BA thread A Guide to Connecting at LHR T5

LiHS

Since you have checked bags, I'd rather take a later flight out of LHR. You'll either have to take your bags on the Piccadilly line for an hour, or take the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then schlep over to King's Cross from there on the Circle line. The alternative is a long and expensive taxi ride into central London. As mind-numbing as sitting in an airport is, I find it more appealing to have a shower in a lounge and kill some time when the alternative is dragging bags into central London after a red-eye and then sit, unshowered, on an (admittedly very nice) train for 5 hours. As long as your flight isn't many many hours delayed, it's also much less stressful.

Price-wise, national rail is currently showing cheapest advance single tickets London-Edinburgh at £60 (but more likely £75), so it won't be much if any cheaper than flying. If you have any orphan BA Avios, remember you can use those to offset the cost as well. Note that even the 3pm BA flight gets you to Edinburgh city centre before the earliest sensible train connection.

If you do decide to take the train and are taking the tube into London (or indeed if you are using the tube for the inter-terminal transfer), note you no longer need to have an Oyster card or buy a paper ticket. You can simply "touch" in and out using any contactless card, or a mobile pay virtual card on e.g. iPhone ApplePay, and it charges you the same as you would pay using the Oyster card. Since there's two of you, make sure you have two such methods of payment as each needs to enter and exit the system separately. You can still buy a paper ticket from a machine, but that'll cost more and is a waste of time if you have contactless cards.

taxicabnumber

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this, but why not buy a Plus fare for your BA ticket? That comes with free SDC (far too few people know this!) and is only £10-15 (for the EDI route) more than the Basic (ie cheapest) fare. If you have a checked bag you'll also need to buy a Plus fare anyway, since the Basic fare comes sans checked bag.

You can then buy a ticket for a later BA flight, and if you arrive on your Delta flight and make it through immigration, customs, etc on time, switch to the one you want.

beamac

I believe that Delta fly direct to EDI from JFK - I suspect only summer months but, so may not be available in March, but may be worth checking out, unless you particularly want to via London

beamac

Ignore last post sounds as if you have already booked to LHR

UKtravelbear

Flybe / Connect will be staying in T2.

T3 is not set up for domstic flights and neither VS or Heathrow are going to spend the significant amount of money required to make it compatable for domestic flights.

As to protection for delays and interlining of bags you're going to need to have bought your Connect ticket on the same PNR as your TATL.

Buying a seoarate ticket with Flybe still has many of the same issues as buying one from BA. The T2-T3 MCT is 75 mins and bag drop closes 45 minutes before.