yonatan

Thank you both for the quick responses.

After playing around with the airfares, I actually think I might book a business class airfare on A3. It's fully flexible/refundable. I might book a similar "backup" on BA the following day in case I miss the flight. So I don't think in terms of money out, I'm not much worse off then if I had a single ticket as long as UA will through-check my luggage so I can just transfer without having to reclaim and recheck luggage.

My concern has more to do with how likely or not I am to actually miss the flight because of the associated inconvenience (since I won't be on a known connection and therefore there'll be no wait for me if my incoming flight is delayed). It looks like about 10% of the time, UA122 is late 15-29 minutes. If I'm down to 50 minutes, will I have a hard time making my connection?
Also, does the 15 minute walk to security imply a 15 minute walk back? And does A3 use the A gates or B gates at LHR T2 (the gate info seems to be top secret info!)? And does clearing security require leaving the 2B satellite where UA arrives?

seenitall

I would be concerned about your thru-checked bags in the event that you miss the A3 flight and want to fly on your BA backup. It is not clear to me whether A3 will carry the bags on to ATH when to them, you don't seem to be continuing to ATH from LHR. While you may be able to sort this out, either at LHR or after arrival at ATH, I would expect that it will take some significant amount of time.

ajeleonard

It would be far more prudent just to overnight at a hotel at Heathrow and fly the next morning. It would also avoid arriving in Athens at an unpleasant 4am

stevenshev

Everyone is so pessimistic. It's an easily makeable connection, even with a decent chunk of delay (30 mins fine, 45 mins survivable). No guarantees of course, but not worth getting you knickers in a twist over, either.

Often1

You are correct that this is an easily "makeable connection." But, the operative word is "connection." OP does not have a "connection." Rather, he has a transfer between separate tickets.

On a connection, should he miss his onward flight due to the late arrival of his connection, he it would fall to UA to rebook him. On a ticket transfer, his onwards ticket will be cancelled and it will retain whatever value it retains under its fare rules. That is generally nothing. Absent the intercession of staff, one is stuck purchasing a new ticket at walk-up prices.

Thus, this is a matter of risk tolerance, not mere inconvenience.

Kacee

It's also extremely stressful.

Not to mention all the hassles of dealing with LHR, including the potentially very high costs of a forced overnight.

lhrsfo

It would be illegal for A3 to carry your bags if you are a no-show for the flight.

lhrsfo

UA lands at T2B and the 15 minute walk (or 10 minute jog) would be to get from the gate in T2B to the Flight Connections security which is in T2A. Generally A3 uses gates in T2A so it's no distance from security to the gate in T2A. However, occasionally A3 will park in T2B if there are no gates available in T2A. This has happened to me about 3 times on short-hauls, twice on arrival late in the day when T2B is empty and once, randomly, on a mid-afternoon departure. The flight was delayed because most people underestimated the time to get to the gate.

So, in short, I would be optimistic of making the connection, but it's far from certain.

N104UA

Is a UA-BA (T2-T5A) realistic with a 95 minute connection? I know MCT is 90 min but wondering how realistic this is. I have hand luggage only and am a fast walker

Aussienarelle

I have done this but allowed myself four hours in case my flight was delayed.

You need to walk from the arrival gate to immigration which takes approx. 10-15 minutes depending upon which gate and how fast you walk.

Hand luggage is good (but my checked luggage is usually there by the time I get to the luggage area as LHR is one of the most if not best, in time to get your luggage to you).

You cannot walk to T5, you need to catch the Heathrow Connect/Express from T2 to T5 and it is a five/ten minute walk to catch the train. They run every 15 minutes.

I cannot remember how long it took to get from the station to the departure level at T5 but used the elevators and would allow another five minutes.

Then you need to get through security at T5 . There is no TSA-pre equivalent so you need to take out liquids, computer, belt, etc. There is a fast track if you have status/business class ticket but it is still a time consuming process depending upon the number of other people can take another 5-10 minutes.

I personally think 95 minutes is cutting it too fine, especially if you have never done the transfer between T2 and T5 before.

truncated

If no checked bags there's no need to go through immigration — just follow the signs to flight connections, take the T2-T5 bus and go through transfer security in T5. It's definitely doable (10 minutes to walk from T2B to T2A, 10-15 min wait for the bus and the bus journey is maybe another 10 minutes) but if on separate tickets and the UA inbound is delayed then one is SOL

Aussienarelle

👍

I had caught the bus about six/seven years ago between terminals (I still needed to go through security screening at that time) and was not aware they still had them. Thank you for that information as I had been using the Heathrow Express to connect between the terminals.

N104UA

Thanks, I was thinking it was doable, luckily my BA tickets is an award so if I have to cancel and rebook it is only Ł35, but would rather take that gamble as my flight is only 2x per day and I really don't want to wait at LHR for 8 hours.

username

Last time I flew into LHR (2.5 weeks ago), arrived in the morning and early, we had to use a remote gate (i.e. stairs). The upside is the bus dropped us off at the A part of the terminal so we did not have that long walk - it took 11 minutes between door 1L and the time I got to the eGate. Bag took a little longer but I was out in 45 minutes total (touchdown to out of customs). eGate definitely was great.

I was in the first row of PE so I got onto the 2nd bus. Still, if one is in the back of the plane, it can add to the time.

WineCountryUA

What are your acceptable odds of not making it? 10%, 20%, 30%, ....