Can transit passengers leave LHR for a few hours?
Mar 2, 2014, 6:14 am
#1
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Can transit passengers leave LHR for a few hours?
We are traveling through LHR to Dubai with Emirates, and our luggage will be booked straight through to the final destination from RDU. We have a 6.5hr layover in LHR and we want to be able to go out to meet with some friends.
Do we need to check out our luggage to be able to do this? Or, can we just leave the airport and come back closer to the time - we will be all checked in to all the flights - just trying to figure out if it will be as easy to just go out. If the answer is - we have to get our luggage and then recheck it in - then it is not worth it.
Thanks for your replies,
D
Do we need to check out our luggage to be able to do this? Or, can we just leave the airport and come back closer to the time - we will be all checked in to all the flights - just trying to figure out if it will be as easy to just go out. If the answer is - we have to get our luggage and then recheck it in - then it is not worth it.
Thanks for your replies,
D
Mar 2, 2014, 6:32 am
#2
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If your luggage is checked through and if you can travel to the UK without a visa (or if you already have the required visa), then yes, you can leave LHR with no problems. Be aware that 6.5 hours is not all that long if you are trying to go into central London, considering how long it can take to get off the plane and through immigration, how long it takes to get to and from your destination, and the fact that you'll need to be back at LHR at least 60 minutes before your flight.
Mar 2, 2014, 8:48 am
#4
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For more discussion, please follow as the thread moves to the U.K./Ireland forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.
Mar 2, 2014, 9:51 am
#5
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If there's no traffic you can drive down to the Fleet area on the M3 in about a half hour. Better and safer however for them to come up to you and you could meet in a hotel lounge -- the T4 Hilton or one of the places that line the Bath road on the north perimeter of LHR.
Mar 2, 2014, 3:25 pm
#6
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If there's no traffic you can drive down to the Fleet area on the M3 in about a half hour. Better and safer however for them to come up to you and you could meet in a hotel lounge -- the T4 Hilton or one of the places that line the Bath road on the north perimeter of LHR.
In any event, hardly takes any time to get to Windsor (and back) from Heathrow. If it's half an hour to Fleet then I'd be minded to just go there.
Mar 16, 2014, 5:37 pm
#8
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Thanks, everyone for your replies...plan is to walk right out after immigration - they pick us up, drive to their place in Fleet - we hang out for a couple of hours and then they drop us back to continue our flight on Emirates.
Mar 17, 2014, 12:30 am
#9
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Just be ready to change your plans!
As has been noted upthread, it'll take you an hour to get out of the airport. You need to be back at Heathrow 1hr before departure minimum. I believe they now have the 'compliance' cut-off in play at all terminals, and T3 is where I've seen the worst security lines. You have to be at the front by cut-off, not just in the line.
So allowing some contingency, you're going to have to leave Fleet at least 2hrs before takeoff.
As has been noted upthread, it'll take you an hour to get out of the airport. You need to be back at Heathrow 1hr before departure minimum. I believe they now have the 'compliance' cut-off in play at all terminals, and T3 is where I've seen the worst security lines. You have to be at the front by cut-off, not just in the line.
So allowing some contingency, you're going to have to leave Fleet at least 2hrs before takeoff.
Mar 18, 2014, 4:28 am
#10
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Bleugh. Why not meet in Windsor or somewhere, anywhere, that's a nicer place to be? Most depressing, basing a meet-up with friends at the tat that make up Bath Road hotels.
In any event, hardly takes any time to get to Windsor (and back) from Heathrow. If it's half an hour to Fleet then I'd be minded to just go there.
In any event, hardly takes any time to get to Windsor (and back) from Heathrow. If it's half an hour to Fleet then I'd be minded to just go there.
Mar 18, 2014, 4:40 am
#11
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I believe they now have the 'compliance' cut-off in play at all terminals, and T3 is where I've seen the worst security lines. You have to be at the front by cut-off, not just in the line.
So allowing some contingency, you're going to have to leave Fleet at least 2hrs before takeoff.
So allowing some contingency, you're going to have to leave Fleet at least 2hrs before takeoff.
Still, good advice about allowing a contingency. A 6.5 hour layover is not that much time when you factor in over an hour to get landside from arrival, transport to/from the airport, and arriving back at the airport with enough time to get to security in time to meet conformance.
Mar 18, 2014, 5:22 am
#12
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T3 more than anywhere else is a place where "it depends". I have been there when the queue went past all the shops on the upper floor and over to the stairs nearest fast track (which I ruffled some feathers getting to), and I have been there when there was no more than about a dozen non-staff in the checkpoint.
Mar 18, 2014, 9:41 am
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T3 more than anywhere else is a place where "it depends". I have been there when the queue went past all the shops on the upper floor and over to the stairs nearest fast track (which I ruffled some feathers getting to), and I have been there when there was no more than about a dozen non-staff in the checkpoint.
Mar 19, 2014, 9:59 am
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