LHR Customs/Transit
 

Hi there,

Hoping someone could help me. Hopefully this is an ok area to post my question. The EK threads are the only section I read so please feel free to move it to a better suited part of the forum if needed.

In 2 weeks my wife and I are flying from Germany where we live to LHR then onwards to Dubai on EK4.

We live in a small city in Germany with an airport that I have in the past found to be very incompetent with organising connecting flights. We have had our luggage delayed/misplaced 3 times.

We will be flying with Emirates all the way to New Zealand for a short hoilday. This proves too much for the local airport here to handle as they seem to not be able to comprehend the fact that we must take many many connecting flights. Also at the time of check in there always seems to be problems with the fact that many of the check in times for the connecting flights are not yet open due to time zone changes!....

Anyway, I would like to know if it is possible to take the short hope over to LHR then once arrived collect our luggage and check in via the EK desks there.

I assume to do this we will need to clear customs/immigration as we will be coming through with our luggage before checking in again.

Is this allowed? And is there anything in particular we should mention when arriving?

I have no experiences in the goings on at LHR as we always fly from Frankfurt or Düsseldorf so any help would be fantastic!

Many thanks:)

Also-don't know why is says this is my first post....hmmm....been on here a long time and certainly not my first time posting....anyways.....!!!

That shouldn't be a problem as long as you have at least 90 mins between flights at LHR as the check in desk will close 60 mins prior to departure and taking into account de-planing and possible change of terminals this could be an issue.

When checking in at the airport in Germany just advise the check in agent to tag your luggage only to LHR.

Thanks very much fr your info.

Do you think immigration is likely to be a problem? They might find it strange that we are just arriving only to turn around and go back airside again.

If it helps my wife and I hold Australian and New Zealand passports respectively.

No problem for immigration. People do this all the time if not through ticketed.
Your biggest problem, as I see it, is that if you have two separate itineraries and if your incoming flight to LHR is delayed, Emirates have no responsibility for re-arranging your onwards flights to New Zealand.

Yeah that is a little risky. I also have to catch a flight to Düsseldorf THEN to London because we can't fly direct.

I'll give it some more thought.

Is there a reason you 're not flying EK from DUS-DXB?

Many.

1. €€$$££ The tickets we managed to book ex LHR were far cheaper than leaving via any of the EK serviced airports In Germany.

2. I need to be in London for work in July so a round trip was also much cheaper than leaving from Germany then returning to London. Around 5000€ more if I remember correctly.

3. A380....not important but fun!