AA_EXP09

including UK border control and getting luggage, and transferring from the tube to the Gatwick express at Victoria?
I doubt it.
(and I have connected in LHR countless times, though very rarely between terminals other than T3-T5/v.v which is very straight forward.)

cfrohman

Hello All,

I apologize in advance if I am posting this in the wrong forum, but this seemed the most appropriate place.

I have an upcoming trip from EWR to ARN with a 1 h 40 min stopover in LHR. The entire trip was booked through United. First leg is United, second is SAS.
Currently, Heathrow shows my flights arriving and departing from Terminal 2.

I have a few questions that I am hoping someone with more experience with international connections can assist with:

1) Will my bags automatically be checked by United to the final destination?
2) What security/customs/immigrations, if any, will I need to go through at Heathrow, and will this at any time require me to leave terminal 2?
3) Should the allotted 1 h 40 min be sufficient?
4) Which airline's luggage weight allotments apply? I have read conflicting reports online.

Thanks!

muji

Hi cfrohman.

United and SAS are in the same airline alliance, so they should be able to coordinate sending your bags from the first flight to the next.

milepig

Heathrow has a handy flight connection planner:

http://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections

RobOnLI

The person above offered a good link for connections. You will stay within T2 so 1hr40min is plenty of time. Connections are very, very easy at LHR when not changing terminals.

As for which airline's baggage rules apply...I think in this case it will be the check-in carrier. So on the outbound it's UA for operating EWR-LHR. On the return it's SAS (SK) for operating ARN-xxx - regardless of where you connect.

Since you will not be picking up your bags at LHR on the connection then SAS baggage rules don't apply. You also won't be double dinged for overweight baggage fees.

-RM

greenpau

1) Yes, your checked bags will go all the way through - no need to collect / re-check
2) You will go through security before entering back into the Terminal 2 departure lounge - you won't need to clear customs/immigration
3) Yes, should take no longer than 45 minutes
4) United's policies will apply at the point of check-in.

If you have *A lounge access, you can use the Lufthansa Lounge located close to the SAS gates

Have a great trip!

YEGworld

Connected through Heathrow last month. Even with a terminal change, having to open my hand luggage at security and passport check, it took just under an hour. I didn't clear customs, per se. There was a line for connecting passengers and an agent looked at passports and boarding passes, but i didn't need to declare anything, nor did they stamp my passport. Went on to Götborg, Sweden and that was done there...super quick, too! I think I from deplaning to customs/grabbing my chrcked luggage and actually leaving the airport took 10 minutes!!

Anyway, you should have time. Your bag will go stright through heathrow (but double check at EWR when you check it in/drop it off). Just make sure you have ALL your liquids in that clear little bag and in the bin. Forgot one thing from my toiletry bag (my bad!) in the carry on and that added a good 10 minutes or so at security. Yup, I'm THAT idiot! LOL

Enjoy! Stockholm is lovely! Tip - Take the flgbuss!(airport bus) into Stockholm central. So much cheaper than the Arlanda Express!!

Often1

This is incorrect.

Under US law, the baggage allowance for the marketing carrier of the first segment is the baggage allowance for the entire ticket.

Presuming that the marketing carrier of the first segment is UA, then the UA allowance will apply out to ARN and back. As OP doesn't appear to have any status on UA, there won't be any light between UA and SK.

wco81

Have a ticket SFO-LHR, for early January.

Idea would be to purchase a separate ticket to Geneva.

My US flight is scheduled to land at 6:55 AM on a Tuesday morning. The Swiss Air flight that I'm considering would take off at 8:55 AM.

So would 2 hours be enough to go through passport control and transit from whichever terminal that the US flight would arrive at to whichever terminal the Swiss Air flight would depart from?

It would be a separate ticket but presumably UA will check my bags through since Swiss Air is * Alliance?

On the LHR-SFO return, the flight takes off at 10:30. So there is a Swiss Air flight from GVA-LHR scheduled to land at 8:15.

Too risky?

That does seem to be the earliest return to LHR so either that or return the day before.

WineCountryUA

The UA flight would land at T2B and the Swiss flight would likely be out of T2A. I did a recent 90 minute connection and had time to go to the lounge for awhile.

You do need to re-clear security but as a transit passagner there is no immigration.

The introduces a new risk -- separate tickets require extra time to reduce issues of delayed flights. 3-4 hour connections at least.

wco81

So don't try a 2-hour connection to a separate flight?

lhrsfo

Connecting takes no longer than with a single ticket - the procedure is exactly the same. However, should the UA flight be late arriving and you are on the same ticket, you will be protected on a subsequent flight to GVA. If you are on a separate ticket, then you are not protected so, if the UA flight is late and you miss your connection, you would have to buy a new ticket to GVA.

Hence it becomes not a question of whether it's doable, but of how much risk you are prepared to take, that you might have to buy a separate ticket.

Given that Eastbound TATLs tend to arrive on time or early, and given that tickets to GVA are cheap, you might well decide to risk 2 hours on the outbound. The downside costs only $100-$200.

However, on the return, the equation is very different. GVA in January often has snow. Plus, if you do miss the SFO flight, you will be looking at a much more expensive re-booking.

wco81

Yeah on the return, I'd probably come in the day before and spend a night in London.

On the outbound though, the only direct flights for LHR-GVA are at 8:55, 13:05 and 14:25.

The BA direct flight at 13:05 is £151 so more like $300. Though there's little risk of missing that one.

It's the £93 flight on Swiss Air at 8:55 that I'd be risking. Either arrive in GVA (and then a 90 minute transfer to Chamonix) at 11:35 or very late in the afternoon, like 16:40 or 17:05.

Not too keen on spending 5-7 hours at LHR.

And looking at flight tracking UA921, the IAH-LHR flight, is usually arriving at 6:30-6:45. However, a couple of times it's been 1-2 hours late, including one arrival at 8:37. That appears to be the outlier but it's only showing stats for the last couple of weeks.

One other thing, if I had to book an additional ticket looks like the cost would be closer to £250-300 pounds, unless I could find a one-way and keep the return on the original ticket?

Or I could book an LHR-GVA round trip and a LHR-GVA one-way now.

Then use the one-way in the afternoon only if I have to but still use the same return on the round-trip?

Would Swiss Air get bent out of shape if I missed the outbound on the round-trip but wanted to use the return?

WineCountryUA

Miss the outbound and the return will be automatically cancelled.

wco81

Two one ways are about the same as the round trip. So that should preserve the return.

Now though, LX has these light fares to GVA which doesn't include checked baggage.