Advice: UA into LHR 1st timer tips/help? (Belfast Bonus)
 

Hello again folks.

SFO>LHR>Belfast is the inbound leg today and headed back BELFAST>EWR>SFO. It looks like we have a 2 hour layover at LHR and from the maps seem to be in terminal 1 on arrival around noon local time.

Any suggestions for food, wifi, somewhere to hang out before our Aer Lingus connection (also Terminal 1 it appears) around 2:30? I have Gold and Mrs. Wingrider has no UA status.

Bonus points for any suggestions or general advice for Belfast City (BHD) for our departure.

Thanks in advance.

-Wingrider

If you're flying directly back from Belfast to Newark on the UA nonstop your flight won't be leaving from BHD (Belfast City Airport) which is where you'll arrive on the EI flight from LHR. Rather your return from Belfast to Newark on UA will leave from BFS, which is the Belfast International Airport near Antrim which is about 15-20 miles outside of Belfast. Just be sure to give yourself enough time to get out there by taxi or otherwise, as it'll take you at least a half hour (traffic permitting) or longer to get there from downtown Belfast.

bj-21.

I would suggest Star Alliance Lounge, but unless things have changed, T1 flights to Ireland/Channel Islands are from a separate extension, and you wouldn't have access. Don't think you'll have much time on your hands, as you'll go through UK Immigration at LHR anyway.

Star Alliance lounge at LHR won't be available because OP is not departing on a *A flight. I would suggest settling into one a quiet corner of one of the many restaurants/cafes in T1. They are all listed on the heathrow website and are all chain operations so will all be of a certain standard.

As you have already learnt, the best piece of advice for the return trip is to start at the right airport. :D

What class of travel are you returning in? BFS is a bit spartan, even in the lounge that your flight uses. However it is not a bad place to hang around in. Not too crowded at the time your flight departs.

When you are heading from LHR-BHD, it is a long walk from the main T1 area to where the Aer Lingus flights depart. We don't call it the "Green mile" for nothing ;)

Allow 10 minutes at least. If you are on any sort of business ticket it might be helpful to check whether they have any sort of code share that would let you into the Gold Circle Lounge operated by EI at the end of your walk to the gates. It is a nice lounge.

Getting to BFS from downtown Belfast depends on time of day, but not less than 40 mins.

Just a small correction, and it doesn't help the OP as they are flying on EI so wouldn't have access anyway, but what you describe above changed several years ago. Flights to Ireland still leave from a specific part of T1 (same as before) but you do have access to the main departures area including the shops and lounges there.