AA to BA Connection at Heathrow
 

Can you please help me with my flight connection and what to expect when flying from JFK-LHR on AA and then four hours later from LHR-FCO? I believe the AA flight arrives into terminal 3 and the BA flight leaves from 1. A few questions:

Can we check our bags through to FCO all the way from JFK?

Once we arrive in LHR, how do we get to terminal 1? I would assume we have to clear customs.

I know the restrictions on carry on bags is tighter leaving LHR. What happens if our computer bags are slightly too large? I have a targus computer bag. Is that too big?

Is there a BA club in terminal 1 we can use? Showers?

Thanks for the help.

Mike

A bit more of a hassle than it sounds
 

The process of switching to your BA flight will be more unpleasant than you would expect reading that a bus is all you have to take. Here is the process:

After stepping off your incoming AA flight, follow the signs to Flight Transfers, a fair distance away.

Carefully watch the transfer signs, as the queue and process is different for passengers transferring into the same terminal than for passengers moving to a different terminal, as you will. You will eventually go down an escalator to a bus lobby where you wait for the transfer bus. Be sure you head to the appropriate door for your target terminal (1).

Cram onto the bus and be transported around the airport. Between the wait for the bus and the actual drive time, plan on 15-20 minutes of delay from when you reach the bus lobby.

At the new terminal bus lobby, head up the escalators where you will be routed to a security screening area. While you don't have to clear customs or deal with passport control stations, you will have to go through the metal detectors and run your carry-on items through x-ray systems. This is where it can be ugly -- at peak times the queue wraps around inside a large hall as much as for a top Disney amusement ride, then snakes outside and back up the hallways towards the bus lobby. It can burn up quite a bit of time as you inch along with many hundreds of other passengers.

Once you thread through the eye of the needle -- the few x-ray and metal detector stations -- you then are in a lobby with flight service desks for the airlines in this terminal. If you need to change boarding passes, attempt to hop on an earlier flight, or are not already in possession of a valid onward boarding pass, then you would queue up here for the BA counter. If you have thru boarding passes, just ignore these and continue to the escalators.

If you are flying in a premium cabin on BA, sometimes there is a fast track lane open in the large hall, permitting you to skip over a few hundred people for the x-ray and metal detector station. Sometimes it is closed, however, leaving premium passengers to queue with the masses. This special track generally does NOT accept AA status such as EXP as a substitute for a premium cabin boarding pass on BA, so if you are in economy on BA then plan on reading a good book while standing in the lines. When you are ticketed in business or first but the fast track lane is closed, read a good book while inching along.

Head up the escalators and watch for your terminal -- 1 -- to be sure you get to the correct floor.

If you are a PLT or EXP then head for the BA lounge, anyone can head there if flying in J, otherwise find a plastic seat somewhere. There is a fair collection of shops to wander through. The monitors will specify your assigned gate for the flight to FCO when close to departure, before then you just wait, either outside or in the BA lounge. Once the gate is assigned, you can plan for when to head down -- some gates are a bit of a walk away, others are closer and need less lead time.

The minimum connect times used for booking these AA to BA connections are very tight in most cases, with all the opportunities for waiting and delays, but most times you will make it unless your incoming flight is late arriving. If so, you will worry until you get through those metal detectors, at which point it is an easy lope to the boarding gates even if you have only 20 minutes or so left.

Have an enjoyable trip

That's my experience as well if it were interspersed with a feeling of dread and wanting to kill myself. It took 2 1/2 hours to go from 3 to 1 last January. Believe me, your 4 hours is probably just right from my experience. And that was before all the restrictions.

Thanks for the excellent posting and response to my questions. This should be FUN!

Mike

Yes, four hours is about right. I did this transfer a week ago Sunday morning, a time I thought should be relatively quiet. The queue for the bus to go from T3 to T1 went from a packed waiting room, up the stairs, and around the corner. Nice and stuffy in the waiting room, some people looked ready to pass out. That pleasant experience took almost an hour. Then to T1, where we had to wait in a queue of buses unloading. Then into another waiting area, where a guy was gating traffic up the escalator for crowd control. Up the escalator and line up to get into the FCC, with 3 lines merging into one. The allowable bag size has increased, so that's not much of an issue anymore. But they have agents looking to make sure there's only 1 bag/pax, and there's lots of amenity kit contents being tossed. Then into the madness they call the FCC. The FastTrack there is for BA J or F only. Fortunately, I was able to use this and therefore only spent 45 minutes in line. Finally got through all this to find that my connecting flight was closed, even though I arrived early and had 2.5 hrs to transfer. A nice agent was able to get me on the flight, but there were many, many others who were rebooking their missed connection.

Up until a few months ago, before the current LHR madness, common wisdom was that to go T3->T1 it was actually faster to go landside and reenter, NOT connect via FCC.

¿Would that advice still hold today?

Its bad either way and either way could be longer depending on the time of day.

LHR is not a place that you want be be now - a truely miserable experience.

Agreed; it's striving for a new low.

What about going the other way????
 

Greetings;

After reading the above.........realized we will be doing this the other way....IST-LHR on BA (Arr. 11:05am, Ter. #1) then AA-LHR-ORD-BOS in J (Lv. 2:15PM,) on 12/16/06........We are AA Plat. if that should help? How do we stand???? :confused:

Thanks.............

Basically the same drill; be sure to have BA check your bags through to the US. You ought to have enough time for a visit to the AC in T3.

AA status doesn't help during the transfer, the FastTrack at the FCC security is paid for by BA and available only if you hold a BA F or J boarding pass. But the lines are so long now that you have to fight through the crowd to get to the FastTrack line (which is quite fast, btw). I've done inter-terminal transits at LHR during September 06 in 40 minutes (at 6 am) and in 2 hours (later in the day). So the time and crowds really matter and change the time required drastically. I've heard of people taking 3 hours for the connection now (often landside is faster if you have FastTrack access, when the FCC gets this backed up; but again it is not predictable). The excessive crowding during peak times makes for an incredibly bad experience.

Since we will have Fasttrack access, do you think it'll be worth it to go through passport control, walk over to terminal 1 and go through security there? How far of a walk is it from the time you leave customs in terminal 3 to the entrance of terminal 1?

Thanks,

Mike

The walk is long, guessing 1/3 of a mile but there are moving sidewalks along much of it (and sometimes they are even operative!). So not for the faint of heart but also quite pleasant bit of exercise after a flight. The FCC is always good until 7 am, then it gets backed up. Presuming that you also have zone R check-in access at T1, then going landside is pretty good alternative; if you cannot use zone R, then it will take much longer to enter T1. I've decided to use FCC until 8am and landside zone R after that time; without zone R access I would stick to the FCC.

Can you explain what zone R is for me please?

Question, Questions????
 

May I also ask what Zone R is? Also......could you walk me through what you think our best move would or should be...coming in from ISt on BA and then trying to get to AA for our BOS flight....we will be flying J on AA but will be coming in on Y on BA The going "outside" sounds like you might save time and as you pointed out a walk might not hurt the old bones.

Any suggestions will greatly be appreciated :)

Zone R is the F/J check-in area in T1 at LHR. It is separate from the economy check-in, and can be used by Emerald and Sapphire status pax. The real significance is two-fold: much shorter check-in line (that part is common with the other terminals at LHR) and a dedicated security check that is much shorter, which is used by all zone R pax. Thus if your flight departs from T1 and you are flying economy, you still get the equivalent of FastTrack security (and it is typically 5 minutes vs. 30 minutes or longer for the non-Zone R security check). Now at the other terminals (T2,T3,T4) the FastTrack security is only if you are actually flying J/F and not available based on status, so even though checking in at the F desk at T4, for example, you would go to the long and slow regular security check and not be allowed to use the FastTrack check. At least that is the way it works in theory (in practice when the regular check line gets huge, over an hour long, they divert some of it to FastTrack, which then also gets to be huge and takes forever to clear .... the wonders of the BAA operations at LHR).

So using zone R generally means 15 min max check-in and clearing security time, vs. over an hour without zone R access. So it affects the timing quite a bit.

For the scenario of BA Y arrival in T1 (presuming IST arrives at T1, haven't checked this) followed by AA J departure from T3, I would say it is a wash between taking the bus and using FCC vs. going landside and walking. No FastTrack for immigration/customs (but that tends to be not bad at T1) but FastTrack for AA check-in (Park Avenue or regular) and security clearing is general fast in T3 (however FastTrack is often not operating, probably because it isn't needed that often). Either way would work within the MCT without problem. Staying airside, using the bus and FCC, is a bit easier but almost as long a walk as landside (due to the topology of T1, you basically walk over to T2 to get the bus to T3).

Sounds like my AA-BA (T3-T1) 2.5 hour connection is gonna be lots of fun...

If I go through immigration (EU citizen) at T3, walk over to T1 and then enter through security (Y-class ticket, no BA status), how long would that take?

I am doing the same in November - AA JFK - LHR and then BA LHR - SOF all J class.

My worry is that I booked the AA trip on AA.com and the BA trip on BA.com - will they be able to check my bags through? Also, is there any danger of being accused of "nesting" when they realise I book lots of journeys that overlap?

I have a 2 hour stop. I had though that was more than enough until I read this thread. If they won't check my bags through I am well and truly stuffed!! :D

I doubt it, but note nesting is only a no-no if done for the specific purpose of bypassing the rules of one of the tickets. You have full details on aa.com.

Edited to add:

Thanks - I think I am safe on this journey.

Will AA be able to find the LHR - SOF journey booked on BA.com when I check in at JFK though?

They should, but don't forget to have the ticket number at hand.

Edit: you can see for yourself, by trying to retrieve the ba booking from aa.com

BA has a policy prohibiting through check of bags on 2 separate tickets, with one exception (luckily for you!), and that is to another Oneworld airline. If you had been flying UA on LHR-JFK than BA would not check bags through, but they will for AA. You are OK in both directions, but be sure to have the ticket number for both tickets with you (not just the PNR locator, but the actual ticket number, that would be in your confirmation email for the e-tickets).

LHR transit took under an hour this week, at noon. It looks like the really huge queues are limited to morning (say 8am to 10am) and late afternoon/evenings. It is fast at 6 am (first flight of the day in) and to my surprise was pretty good at noon. Travel volumes may also be lighter now that it is October.

I just did on Wed a T4 to T1 transfer from JFK onto FCO although all on BA - from the time i got on the T4 bus to the BA F lounge in T1 was about 30 minutes but everything flowed smoothly.

The key is when you get to T1 if you are flying J or F on BA there is a special line - however it is not well marked - the only sign you will see is at the entry to the lan which when you enter the actual area where they screen your bags and you walk through the metail detectors will be straight ahead on the far side of the hall when you turn the corner -

When there is a HUGE line for the non BA F/J screening those lines back up and thus block access to the BA priority line and you can literally spend 30-60 minutes waiting in that line and then find out the priority line is empty.

My advice is to stay close to the near wall - closest to where you came up so you can bypass the folks not waiting for the BA F-J line - just keep your F or J BA ticket out and act like you know where you are going so people know you are not trying to cut their line. Eventually the sea of people will part and you will be off to the races!

But note that this "exception" is frequently ignored by checkin people in out-stations, resulting in claim/recheck yoga at London. One must be adamant and physically inspect the tags to make sure they show the final destination past London.

Exactly. The BA idiocy reached a crescendo for me when BA refused me despite my being on a BA F ticket going onto another OneWorld carrier with a separate ticket.

Great reason not to fly BA now. I'll add it to my growing list. They make the rules, we get to chose who we pay money to.

Agreed. I had a F class ticket on BA SYD-HKG connecting to AA F on a separate ticket to the States. I had all appropriate documentation to show the BA agent in SYD. She went up two levels of command at my insistence, and was adamantly refused approval of checking my bag thru to the US.

If you wish to pursue this, you can contact BA Special Services (though I'm not sure who is eligible these days for SS, probably having an F ticket is not enough). In the past SS has been able to part the waters of the BA bureaucracy quite magically. It was quite nice when they staffed a desk in the Concorde Room (something they no longer do; I suspect the SS numbers have been decimated and the SS mission may now be only for VIPs, but I don't know).

As far as I know (and I haven't checked recently, in the past 2 months), BA policy is still to accept interlined luggage on separate Oneworld tickets; in fact I think this might even be a Oneworld policy and BA is required to honour it by their Oneworld membership contract. Maybe someone can shed light on that.

As far as I know (and I haven't checked recently, in the past 2 months), BA policy is still to accept interlined luggage on separate Oneworld tickets; in fact I think this might even be a Oneworld policy and BA is required to honour it by their Oneworld membership contract. Maybe someone can shed light on that.[/QUOTE]

I checked the OW website and look what I found...

"Easy and Seamless Connections

The oneworld® alliance airlines work together to ensure that your journey goes smoothly from start to finish. In key airports you will find that our transfer desks and customer service desks are clearly marked with the oneworld logo, and our ground staff are on hand to help you with your connection between oneworld alliance airlines.

To make things easier for you, on the majority of flights when you are transferring between oneworld member airlines, you and your baggage will be checked through to your final destination at check-in.

Remember, should a problem ever arise, just contact a representative from any oneworld alliance airline, who will be happy to assist you."

Makes it all sound so lovely and easy doesn't it!!?? :D

I just called AA to seek clarification. They said it is at the discretion of the check in staff whether they check me through. If they are nice people they will, else IO am stuffed!!

He put a note on my flight to request them to check me through though - no ida if this helps or not!!