Arrival at Heathrow

I arrived at Heathrow in early June 2018. I recall the passport lines being about 20 minutes long (30 minutes)? However, I also recall walking VEEERRRRYYY long corridors to get there, and again after going through passport control. I easily walked a mile altogether to get to passport control, through customs (after baggage carousels, though I had carry-on only) and then out to ground transportation, as I was transferring to Gatwick. I had a 5-hour time window between arriving Heathrow and departing Gatwick, and I needed every minute, much of it at Heathrow.

No one knows. It could be 20 minutes it could be two hours. Sorry to say you will find out when you get there.

As a previous poster said, it really depends - upon the number of flights landing at that time and how many stations they have open. Since I fly mostly British Air, I go through Heathrow more than any other airport and it's taken me anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. If you don't have a connection, don't worry about it.

Mike, the only way to anticipate the wait is to plan for the worst which now seems to be 2.5 hours at Heathrow according to a BBC report 3 days ago and hope for the best.

I traveled to Heathrow in the offseason early this Spring and the wait was 1 hour, 20 minutes. That summer travel to the UK is peak traffic, prepare to stand and stand and stand on long queues.

A few summers back we used miles to fly to the UK, could only get Manchester, not London. Probably took just as long or maybe even was a little quicker to breeze thru the Manchester airport line and hop on a train to (North) London than it would have to wait and wait and wait at Heathrow.

Two words. Patience and flexibility.

You are traveling to London landing in Heathrow, one of the most popular tourist destinations and one of the world’s busiest airports.

Forget timing.

And yes once you deplane it will feel Like you walked a mile just to get to Immigration.

All part of the adventure.

I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 3 around 7 a.m. on a weekday in May 2018. I estimated that there were around 1,000 people in the non-EU immigration queue. The line moved efficiently. It took 1 hr. 15 minutes to get through.

As others have posted, there are lots of factors impacting how long it will take to get processed through immigration at Heathrow on any one day.

At mid-morning this spring I arrived at Terminal 2 and spent at least 30 minutes in line for border security. That cut down the wait for checked luggage, but the walk to the Tube added t 20 minutes or more.

I always assume at least a hour to get through passport control. My worst experience was 2 hours and I almost missed my connecting flight. In addition to getting to passport control after getting off the plane, as explained by another respondent, I had one experience where we sat on the plane for 45 minutes after landing waiting for the bus to take us to the terminal.

I had one experience where we sat on the plane for 45 minutes after
landing waiting for the bus to take us to the terminal.

Me too. There weren't any open gates when our flight landed, so they parked the aircraft away from the terminal and sent buses to unload us. I wasn't timing it, but I'm sure it added at least 45 minutes to my Heathrow arrival experience.

Best advice ever is from Claudia: forget timing. As others have said, plan on the worst case scenario and enjoy the pleasant surprise if your Heathrow arrival experience doesn't take that long.

When I meet people at Heathrow I always expect a 90-120 minute wait between wheels down and the person I am meeting coming through the frosted glass doors.

I don't normally park the car until 75 minutes after touchdown (I hang out at a nearby Costco which has free parking, good toilets and grazing, or for an early arrival just time my arrival). In 20 years of collecting people there I have never had them waiting for me. One was nearly a tie, but all the rest I have cooled my heels at the barrier waiting for them.

Completely depends on how many flights land around the same time as yours...no way to tell really. You just have to show up and cross your fingers!

I waited two hours at LHR last year. Actually, missed my car service as I did not have text messaging!

We arrived from Canada. Our wait was nearly two hours. The place was a total gong show, the worst I've ever experienced.

I arrived Heathrow August 20 about 10:30am and spent about 35 minutes in line at Border Control.

I arrived at Heathrow on August 20 at 11:30. It took no more than 15 minutes or so to get through customs. There were literally no lines.

In summary, somewhere between 15 minutes to 150 minutes.

I detect no pattern from the reports given above.

In summary, somewhere between 15 minutes to 150 minutes.

I detect no pattern from the reports given above.

Ditto. It just depends on the luck of the draw.