Avoiding a transit of the UK
 

As I write this, I have relatives on their way to visit family in Geneva, flying TLH-MIA-MAD-GVA.

Their return trip was originally going to be GVA-MAD-MIA-TLH, however, about a week out from the trip, AA re-routed them--their return trip is now GVA-LHR-MIA-TLH.

I'll be making this trip myself in May, and I have one concern: I refuse to go through a NoS, full stop. I can currently fly in the USA, since you can always opt-out, however, at UK airports with the NoS (LHR), opting out is apparently not an option (unless you don't want to fly today).

Obviously, I do not want to get DY...Ted in the UK and have to get home on a one-way, last-minute flight from Paris. Therefore, I do not want to book a flight where there exists the possibility, as AA did to my relatives, of being re-routed through LHR (or any other UK airport) as a last-minute surprise.

With this in mind, are there any airlines that I should avoid or seek out?

A quick check with orbitz.com shows me that AA (or IB via codeshare) would do TLH-MIA-MAD-GVA, then MAD-MIA-TLH. Looking at what AA/IB did to my relatives, that's probably an no. (Side note: I'll be flying into GVA and back home from MAD. I have family in both these cities and will get from Geneva to Madrid by train).

UA can do it, but coming home would be four flights (MAD-BRU-IAD-TPA-TLH), arriving in TPA at 0010 and departing at 1010. No thanks. :-D

US can do TLH-CLT-FRA-GVA, then home via MAD-PHL-CLT-TLH; that's looking like my best option now.

Sorry to sound like such a brat here. :-)

Thanks!

Have you tried booking with AF and fly via CDG? I haven't looked for anything so this may not be an option, but people do tend to fly via CDG to avoid the no-opt out rule in the UK. Another option to consider is flying with BA via Terminal 5. Connecting at T5 means you connect through t5 north which, as far as I'm aware, doesn't have a NoS. I haven't visited this forum in a while so I don't know if this has since changed.

Is the MAD stop necessary ?

Looks like the best routing on this trip is TLH-ATL-CDG-GVA, with DL metal to CDG and AF CDG-GVA. Can be booked on either Delta or AF.

Fly a European, but not British, airline. Highly unlikely to re-route you through somewhere not their home airport.

DanishFlyer

Your chances of going through a full-body scanner at LHR are minuscule. They are only used for secondary inspection and even then only rarely. With the current bag paranoia at T5, they probably don't even have anyone to man the device and it's almost certainly just gathering dust.

+1 The only NOS I've seen at T5 is shoved up against the balcony rail past the checkpoint. Your chances of getting it are so much lower at LHR than in the US it's not worth thinking about.