Late arrival LHR
 

We're scheduled to arrive at LHR T5 at 10:30pm on a Wednesday in a few weeks.

Is immigration likely to take long? Since we have US passports presumably we'd use the e-gates? Or is there fast-track immigration and AA gives passes since we'd be in J?

Would an Uber be the best way to get to central London (Russell Square neighborhood)? I'm guessing there wouldn't be too much traffic at that hour, that an Uber is cheaper than black cabs and we'd rather not take the tube at that hour, even if the Picadilly line is straightforward.

At that time of night, you ought to be able to walk straight up to an e-gate and be through in seconds, especially if you walk briskly to get ahead of everyone else! If you have checked bags, they tend to be fairly quick at that sort of time, 20-25 minutes from disembarking. If you're hand baggage only and walking fast, getting out in 10 minutes is possible, and 15 pretty easy.

Piccadilly line will be pretty quiet at that time of night, and on a Wednesday shouldn't be too busy around the centre of London (but it'll certainly fill up a bit).

In a few months time, I'd suggest the Elizabeth Line (formerly Crossrail) to Tottenham Court Road, then walk/taxi the last little bit. However, they're still sorting out a few issues from the recent opening, and you'll have missed the last train on the central section from Paddington as they're closing that bit early.

Heathrow Express or Elizabeth Line from Heathrow to Paddington, then a taxi onwards, ought to be both quicker and quite a bit cheaper than a taxi the whole way. Heathrow Express is quite a bit more money and only slightly quicker, though if you buy your ticket in advance you can get the HEX cost down quite a bit.

Glad to hear that about e-gates.

We're going in mid-June, so the Elizabeth Line won't be open yet. HEX plus taxi and taxi the whole way seem to be similar prices (HEX £37 (pp return) + Uber £20 compared to Uber £50) and time (Google maps guesses around 45 minutes for taxi). 90 day advance purchase HEX would be much less and daytime traffic would be much worse. At least that's what I'm seeing online.

I arrived at T5 this last Wednesday at exactly that time. There was no wait for the e-gates. I took the tube which was fairly empty (at least as far as Gloucester Road where I got off).

Can someone clarify what "e-gates" are? Our last trip there with evening arrival (AA T3 4 years ago) we were given the usual fast-track passes which proved to be useless since fast-track was closed and the main line for non-EU was long and slow. Obviously a lot has changed in the intervening time, but we have a similar trip upcoming (AC T2 evening arrival) and would appreciate current insights. TIA

Hi,

The e-gates are the electronic border desk ie you walk through the first glass sliding door. stand on the footmarka and insert your passport and look at the camera . ( no border force people to stand at the desk for- but apparently they are in another room).. If ok, the second sliding door opens and you can walk through. Saves time but only a few countries can use them ( ie EU, UK, Can , US, Japan and a few others. Not sure if children can use these lanes.

Regards

TBS

Thanks TBS. Good to hear from you again after all these years.

Children cannot use the e-gates. There is another thread, possibly on the BA forum which discusses the e-gates and their problems - Make sure to insert the passport carefully so that the details page does not fold up.

from memory, specifically, its under 12s that can not use egates.

We're now scheduled to land at 8:00pm on a Saturday. How are e-gate lines at that time?

It’s very variable and hard to predict, so to some extent there is no actual answer to your question. Probably shouldn’t be too bad, but a few longhauls come in together and it might be a long queue.

Walking and taking the train from the gate to the e-gates I was concerned, as there were a lot of people, but we ended up with a minimal wait. It would have been faster if the person ahead of me on line knew how to use the e-gates and didn't error out.

Ah well that’s the skill, choosing your line based on how likely the people in front are to be able to follow the instructions. Sometimes the shorter queue isn’t the fastest :)