Mbcijim10

If there is a general thread for these questions I couldn't find it, sorry.

Flying Salt Lake (SLC) - London (LHR) on Saturday, land at 1:00PM. I have that ticket. Need to be in Rome (FCO) about 5:00PM the next day.

We will be flying with a 7 week old otherwise I would just deal with this. I'd like to spend the day in London and jump on a direct LHR-FCO flight the next day. My concern is having to go through immigrations/customs twice.

I know if we do the stopover in London we have to do immigration to get out of the airport. My question is will we have to do it again the next day in Rome too? Or is the LHR-FCO flight just going to be like a domestic flight in the US?

US citizen if that matters.

alanR

You will go through immigration at Rome as unlike Italy the UK isn't part of Schengen

:D!

If you have a baby, you will probably be allowed to skip to the front of the immigration line for non-EU passport holders at LHR.

Customs in the UK and Italy involves walking into a corridor. You have maybe a 0.1% chance of actually interacting with a customs officer unless you are bringing 10 huge bags with you or something like that

Often1

You may want to change the thread title. This has nothing to do with Schengen as the UK is not in Schengen. That would only matter if you were to travel onward from Italy within Schengen.

The above post relates to customs. But, you will need to proceed through immigration and each of you will have your respective passport stamped as you enter Schengen. Lots of people do it and you should not unduly worry about this.

Mbcijim10

OK so I have to do Immigrations (passport stamp) at each and fill out a customs form at each. Can I skip this in London if we transition straight through to Rome?

- It sounds like I maybe able to use a family line in immigration.
- How long does it usually take in LHR?
- How long does it usually take in FCO?

Thanks all. I don't travel internationally like this often, and the baby is complicating decisions.
Tried to edit thread title, but I don't think that's an option

catandmouse

No customs form for either UK or Italy. There is a landing card for immigration to the UK, which you wouldn't fill in if you were connecting direct to Rome, as technically you wouldn't be entering the UK.
No immigration paperwork for arrival in Rome, but your passport will be checked.
You are presumably travelling on a US passport, which requires you to use the non-EU passport lines. At LHR T5 that can be anything from 0 to 60 minutes. I've never seen family lines.

theSaladDays

You can skip immigration as long as the flight to Rome is from the same terminal, you just stay in the international transfer area.

Those first flights with a baby are a little stressful but you'll be fine. Make sure you have a pacifier easily accessible, especially at take off and landing when the cabin pressure changes (and an extra one or two as well as they tend to end up on the floor).

:D!

There is no family line. I said that you may allowed to skip to the front of the line at LHR. If you do, it will take less than 10 minutes, otherwise anything from 10 minutes to >1 hour.

Americans have often been waved through FCO immigration without needing to open their passports even as recently as 2014, but I haven't spoken to anyone who has been there since so don't know whether they are more strict nowadays.

No immigration is required when connecting between terminals at LHR. Immigration is only required if connecting overnight or to a different London airport.

In any case, the OP appears to be taking DL SLC-LHR which operates to Terminal 4, so their LHR-FCO is probably on AZ which is also from Terminal 4, which would make connecting relatively simple. BA also flies this route from T5.

theSaladDays

Ah, interesting, didn't realise there was a way to get between terminals and stay airside. How is this done?

Andy33

The airport operates shuttle buses airside between all the terminals. When you arrive, look for the purple-and-white Flight Connections signs, follow them, and you'll arrive at a set of doors with signs for the other terminals. This is the Flight Connections bus centre for that terminal, wait for the bus marked for the terminal you want, get on. When you reach the other terminal, you will go through security,
but not immigration (unless you are connecting onto a UK domestic or Republic of Ireland flight).

Note that in theory at least you must be on a through-ticketed journey to use the buses. You will not be allowed into the "new" terminal unless you have a boarding pass for a flight departing that terminal that day. If you are on a through ticket but couldn't get the boarding pass for the second journey, there are transfer desks at the Flight Connections entry to each terminal, most are before the security check, but some at T3 are after it.
Through checked baggage is transferred for you, so no baggage reclaim or customs.

Now if you are on two separate tickets, have either persuaded the first airline to check your bags through to final destination (not easy these days) or have carry-on only, and you have checked in on line and have printed your own boarding pass, or have it on a mobile/cellphone app, it is difficult to see that anyone would stop you using Flight Connections. But if you have hold bags that can't be checked through, or you can't get the boarding pass for the second flight without visiting check-in, you're stuck with going landside.

LondonElite

You don't say who you are flying with, but BA will not accept any check-through bags on different tickets, in case you wanted to fly the direct BA LHR-FCO. Obviously Alitalia is an option but again not sure how you are coming into LHR to see if the terminals will be the same.

I wouldn't stress out too much about this. As a family you're likely to get waived through, and the procedure in Rome is really not that bad. Going through immigration twice (rather than once) is a much smaller PITA that staying airside at LHR overnight (which you technically can't do anyway). Where had you planned to sleep on Saturday night?

Mbcijim10

London Elite, I'm on the Delta flight, we land about 1:30PM in LHR. Haven't bought the ticket to FCO yet.

My option is to go into London for the day, I've never been there ever, and get a 10AM or so flight to FCO the next day or just fly onward to FCO immediately and just get the air travel done with. We'd probably get a hotel just outside of FCO for that night and then spend the day in Italy. I don't need to be in Tuscany until 5-6PM the next day.

If we didn't have the baby, we'd go into London for the day no question. She complicates things and doing the airports two days in a row, and immigration sounds like a PIA with a baby. Mom will be making the final decision, I just am looking for some more info for her.

LondonElite

To be honest, I think you'll enjoy the break in London. LHR is not the world's greatest transfer airport, so the difference between going through immigration and then heading into town and then checking in again the next day is no more hassle than the additional security you'd have to go through in transit (never mind the terminal transfer which can be a real hassle at LHR.) After the overnight flight, I'm sure you're all looking forward to a shower, meal, real bed, etc, than another 2 hour flight to Italy, am I right?

shefgab

If your final destination is actually Tuscany, perhaps it would be easier (and less travelling) to do:
Day 1: SLC-LHR
Day 2: Arrive LHR, stay London
Day 3: stay London, or fly London-Tuscany (FLR or PSA)
Day 4: London-Tuscany (FLR or PSA) arriving before 5-6pm

That way you don't need to take an extra trip from Rome to Tuscany, and you can relax for a night or two in London before you get to Tuscany.

For London to Florence, you have BA and Cityjet from LCY, and Vueling from LGW.
For Pisa, there are more options, BA from LGW & LHR, easyJet from LGW & LTN and Ryanair from STN