aktchi

Arriving LHR T4 quite late (close to midnight), and connecting to an early AA flight from T3 (need to get to the terminal around 5AM).

I am thinking about roughing it out at the airport itself, and not fuss around with taxis and hotels for a few hours.

Question: How far in advance will the LHR immigration/security allow me to enter T3? Can I go there around midnight for a flight departing next morning?

Or, am I better off spending the night at T4 itself and going to T3 in the morning?

Thanks for any info/advice.

Microwave

This is a Heathrow question, not an AA question. Therefore off to the UK and Ireland forum it goes.

~Microwave
AAdvantage forum co-moderator

DWFI

The airport stays open 24/7 but security at T3 IIRC does not open until 5am, +-30 minutes. You will need to stay landside until then, they will not let you stay airside at T4 overnight. Nor, I think, will they allow you to take an inter terminal transfer and clear security into T3 airside at midnight.

Non-NonRev

This is an ideal situation for the Yotel. Landside at T4. Hourly rates so you only pay for what you need.

When you are ready to depart you take the free train to T3.

aktchi

Thanks. Yotel's location can certainly not be bettered. For rates, I couldn't find the hourly chart and everything seems to come to $100. Still, better than running around outside at midnight.

NWIFlyer

LHR is not a 24 hour operation airport. You may be able to stay landside, but equally - given no abnormal operations and a situation where hotels are available - you might expect the airport police to encourage you to leave the terminal. In addition, there really is no-where to sleep in the landside areas - probably deliberately - and no eating or drinking facilities through the night.

Get a hotel, either at the Yotel or one of the many hotels along the Bath Road (there are night and 24 hour buses that run along there, so they always remain quickly and readily accessible). I'll be easy enough to get back in the morning as well, something you may not find with a T4 to T3 transfer, where the first train is at 5.23am.

Non-NonRev

There is a direct T4 to T3 bus as early as 4:00 am. Leaves from door 6 IIRC.

aktchi

Thanks for all the great info. I'd like to get to T3 as soon as the lounges open. Between Yotel and Bath Rd, something should work out.

I am curious how they handle the pax who arrive with long connection but no UK visa? For example, in my case the airlines only check that I have a US green card, nobody checks for UK visa when I am transiting. They have to keep such pax somewhere airside? Or they just stamp your passport and push you out landside?

NWIFlyer

There was a long discussion on this in another thread, and it's a potentially complex part of UK Immigration Law - but essentially, the visitor would generally be expected to obtain the appropriate visa if their connection involved an overnight stay (which would necessitate going landside) and it was required. I imagine the reason you have previously been allowed to board is that your connection was within the normal operating hours of the airport and you would therefore have no need to go through the UK Border.

Of course, in the event of Irrops Immigration Officers (usually under the direction of the duty Chief Immigration Officer) have all sorts of discretion and can bend whatever rule is necessary to resolve the situation, usually by allowing temporary admission for a few hours.

Finally, there is an airside option to house passengers who book an overnight connection without having the necessary documentation to enter the UK - it's called a holding cell! Now, the likelihood is that you wouldn't be allowed to board your first flight because Timatic should prompt the airline to stop you, but if something was missed by the check-in agent and you did end up in one, you might expect to be heading back to your country of origin rather than to your onward destination, with a black mark against your name for future visits and a rather large fine for the airline that carried you ...

aktchi

NWIFlyer

Thank you for that perspective. Considering the facility fees LHR charges for transit, that holding cell must be quite luxurious!

However, my question re visa-free transit was based on my own experience. I have overnighted several times at LHR (those were planned full-night stays unlike this one where I need to rest for 4-5 hours). And I do have a 10-year UK visa which I used on those occasions. The point I was making above is that the airlines (mostly AA and BA, but others too) never checked that visa. Now it could be that it is already noted in their records, but they only wanted to see the US green card, and only that. Maybe that's what Timatic is telling them to do.

I have no idea what it would be like to arrive without a visa. But it would be interesting to hear from someone who did so. Right now my only thought was that I could remain airside and rest in the same area where such pax are.

Swanhunter

Pretty sure that for some/most nationalities possession of a US Green card entitles you to TWOV (Transit without visa).

NWIFlyer

Or, possibly, that the Visa/Green card was tied to the passport and this was recognised by the API verification, in the same way as ESTA validity is? I don't know enough about the extent of information exchange to be certain, but given the UK is one of the countries that requires API it strikes me as likely.

David-A

While I agree that LHR is not a 24 hour airport, I don't think the main thrust of the rest is representative. You have plenty of people arriving late at night and through the night (coaches, etc) for very early flights in the morning.

That said, for the airports size, even though it is not 24 hour, the number of people around over night is quite low. Partly because of the abundance of hotel options, secondly also because it is not very 'focused'. With 4 terminals, and some (such as T3) distinctly split between arrivals and departures areas, there just is not the critical mass for things to stay open.

However I've certainly arrived late at night. And I'd go to T3 ahead of T2 or T5. As they are newer they have vast expanses of head room, so they get cold. Wonderful old T3 with its low ceilings stays much warmer!

(Certainly, not least due to the tube stopping, it is no LGW - where, due to the through the night train links on one of the few bits of 24 hour railway in the UK, battalions of people keep arriving throughout the night.)

They are not going to put people into a cell, nor even (in most cases) an interview room.
The real other option, is to move passengers by inter terminal bus, to a single locaiton, say .... T3 airside. And hold them there, then move them out again in the morning.

Just because the airport is not 24/7 for flights, does not mean it is not 24/7.
Loads of things are happening in the middle of the night, shops are being stocked, advertising changed, maintenance work undertaken.
Staff security (processing people into and out of airside locations) will still be in operation. Sure they don't want passengers airside, as it complicates it as a workspace for some types of activity, increases the amount of oversight required, but it would be wrong to think that the terminals are completely dead airside - but they will be VERY quiet.
It is not impossible for a group to be babysat in an emergency.

David-A

There is, IIRC, a 4 hour minimum booking. And it is not flat rate pricing, so the cost of a proper nights sleep by adding a few extra hours is not much.

Yotel would probably give you the longest rest - easily quickest to get to.

But the plethora of hotels around heathrow might be more competitive on price.
If you find an option you like, people here can easily advise on how easy that hotel is to get to /from.

onlysuites

My 9pm dept was delayed by 4hrs and LHR was like a ghost town at night.