waiting for later travelers at LHR
 

if our flight arrives at LHR at 7:05am and kids are coming in at 12:45pm, can we wait and claim our luggage after the others arrive? will they just put it aside like they do here in the US?

Why would you want to do that?
Makes no sense at all.
Claim your luggage when it's available instead of having to go trying to find it later. Go find somewhere for breakfast and/or coffee and wait for your children. You can put your luggage in storage if you don't want to keep it with you.

I was thinking of using one of the spas in the terminal and did not think that I could put my luggage in storage and return to the terminal to wait for the kids?

On which airline/terminal are you arriving? There really isn't anywhere you can hang around between the arrival gate, passport control and baggage claim. What do you mean by spas in the terminal? Unless you have a BP for a departing flight you cannot use facilities in the departure area. It would be better to arrange to meet your kids landside but still within the terminal building.

Leaving luggage on the carousel is not a good method of storing it for a few hours!

Assuming you are arriving off an international flight into the UK you will need to clear customs with your luggage. If you leave it you can't just pop back into the baggage hall to reclaim it and pass through customs - there will be a (security) process to follow to gain access and that will take some time.

There are paid for baggage storage facilities at LHR which will cost you £ 10 per item to store them for 2-24 hours.

As to 'spas in the terminal' I assume you mean an arrivals lounge in which case you would only have access to those if you are traveling in the appropriate cabin or have a high enough status with the airline / alliance you are flying with / are a member of. I know of no land side paid for lounges at LHR.

Arriving passengers are channelled directly to immigration / baggage, with no access to the "airside" area. If you do have access to an arrivals lounge, these are "landside" and you need to have cleared immigration and baggage before you access them.

Just an idea, but...I see from another post of yours that your kids are in their 20's, old enough to make it into London from LHR on their own. So, assuming you'll be staying in London, and unless you are set on sharing a taxi or something, have you considered heading into the city and having them meet you at your accommodations later in the day?

If you're lucky, your room will be ready when you arrive. If not, you almost certainly can leave your luggage there for free (you could email in advance to check that). When landing at LHR after a transatlantic flight, I want to get out of there ASAP. Unless you have access to a very nice airport lounge, almost anything you can do in the city--from having a decent meal, to sightseeing, to just sitting in a hotel lobby--is likely to be more pleasant than 6 hours in the terminal.

I see LHR pretty often and do not know of any spas. Depending on the airline and class of service flown/elite status, you may have arrivals lounge access. If you do not have arrivals lounge access, you could book the Yotel if you want a shower and/or nap.

You could also see if the T4 Hilton or T5 Sofitel offer day rooms and/or spa services.

When arriving at LHR there is not much to prevent you getting out ASAP -- I have always thought the lack of landside amenities post-Customs is a bit of a missed opportunity. A ratty Costa where meeters and greeters can camp, and that's about it. I know of no "spa" outside of some of the airlines' own arrivals lounges.

The post-arrival landside amenities consist of the various ways to leave the airport...

Quite apart from the above, which is all correct.

Do you know the terminals that you are both arriving at? Are the the same?

If it were only an hour or so, I would suggest a Costa at one of the terminals. But for nearly 6 hours (even assuming that the first flight isn't early and the second late), there'd be time to go into London, see a few sights and return! And that leaves jet lag after an overnight flight out of the equation. It's sheer madness to meet at the airport, unless you are travelling by car somewhere difficult to get to. If that's the case, then take a day room at one of the airport hotels.

A quick look at the OP's post history suggests he/she is arriving via US Airways, which means Terminal 3, and this is their first overseas trip. So they may be under the misapprehension that international arrivals at LHR work as domestic ones do in the US, e.g. they would be able to store their luggage, go back upstairs and roam the airport until their kids' flight comes in, then go meet them at the gate.

In case OP reads this -- the model is different at Heathrow. When you arrive you are segregated from other passengers and most airport amenities save restrooms and a duty-free. You are piped separately down to the immigration queue to have your passport stamped, then into the baggage hall where you must reclaim your checked bags then and there, then through the Customs lane and out into the (sparsely equipped) arrivals area. There, as others here have noted, the main amenities are ways to get away from LHR quickly.

There is no way for you to go back in and use the lounges, shops, restaurants, etc. provided for departing passengers, and you cannot wait in the departure terminal or meet your kids at the gate. (Even if you were a legitimate departing passenger you couldn't meet them, as departures and arrivals are insulated from each other.) If you remain at Terminal 3 for six hours, which would be hellish if you ask me, you would meet them at the Customs exit barrier after they've gone through the immigration-baggage-customs process separately from you. You could not help them through the process if they were minors, but as they're adults I don't think that will be an issue.

Be aware that Heathrow terminals are arrayed in three "clumps" that are remote from one another -- Terms 1/2/3, Term 4, and Term 5. But if the kids are arriving on a different airline at another LHR terminal, the same issues apply. You would meet them in the public arrivals hall, post-Customs, not anytime sooner.

It really is best for you to press on into the city, which with a 700a arrival you should reach by 900a, and have your kids follow separately, arriving around 300p. (A day room at a Heathrow hotel for a few hours will be poor value and afford you not much rest time after you get to and from the place. There is no on-site hotel AFAIK in the Term 1/2/3 complex.) They might enjoy learning to use the Piccadilly Line on their own to get into London. You can use online Underground maps and hotel advice in advance to see where the closest stop is. You can even order Oyster cards by mail from TfL in advance and have them mailed to your US address, if the comfort factor there appeals, so you/they can hop on the Underground immediately.

Hope that helps.

Edit to clarify for OP: An Oyster card is a reloadable electronic fare pass for London Transport buses and trains, which you may ilke to arm yourselves with if you are in town for any length of time. More about them here:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-paym...er?intcmp=1683

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-informa...or-oyster-card

Actually, the OP is arriving on British Airways.
And the trip is not until February 2015.

I'm not sure even the OP knows what airline they are using.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...te-emails.html

It would be good if the OP could come back and let us know the details of the actual flights involved (his and his adult children) etc so we can give him some specific advice.