gahanna123

Hello,

I live in the US and am travelling to Dublin, Ireland via London. I fly into LHR on AA and then onward to DUB on BA. Is the LHR - DUB flight considered a "domestic' one given that it is within the Common Travel Area, or will I be entirely within the immigration zone in LHR and only have to clear immigration in DUB? I ask because I am not a US citizen and therefore need to get a UK visa if I need to clear immigration in London. I will have a Irish visa.

Thanks in advance!

UpgradeMe

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-i...sit-visas.html

sbm12

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

http://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps...aspx?i=TIMATIC

What does TIMATIC say for your specific dates/passport/citizenship/residency circumstances?

gahanna123

Thank you both for your responses. I travel frequently between the US and India via LHR, and know that a transit visa is not required then. However I was not sure if this was the case travelling to Dublin as well, because I had read some earlier posts indicating that since Ireland is within the Common Travel Area, the LHR - DUB flight was treated like a domestic one, and therefore we had to go through immigration in London. I confirmed via TIMATIC that this is not the case. Thanks again for your help.

beckoa

Welcome to Flyertalk @gahanna123.

Please follow the redirect for your query.

~beckoa, co-moderator Information Desk

Gagravarr

Most likely you'll do immigration twice, once in London, and again in Dublin

If flying from the USA to London via Dublin, you'd clear immigrations in Dublin, land as a special CTA flight in London, avoid immigrations but still go through Customs. Heathrow has spent quite a bit of money at T5 recently ensuring that CTA flights can bypass immigration

In Ireland though, it depends on the gate. If you get sent to one of the handful of domestic / CTA gates in Dublin, you wouldn't pass immigration. However, most flights from the UK drop into the main international area, and you still have to go through immigration. The Irish airports approach to the CTA seems to be one with a smaller budget than the UK version!

When you land in Heathrow, you'll need to follow the purple Flight Connections signs. When you get to Flight Connections in your departure terminal (via airside inter-terminal bus if needed), you'll see there are two Flight Connections sections. One for UK+Ireland, the other for International. You'll go through the UK+Ireland one, pass UK immigration, then security, then your flight

gahanna123

Thank you Gagravarr, appreciate the detailed response.