Heathrow Airport Questions

Whenever you buy separate tickets the best practice in your case is for you to fly from Rome to London the day before your 11:30 am flight to the USA. Trying to fly from Rome to London on a separate ticket to catch a same day flight to the USA leaving at 11:30 is way too risky even for the experience international traveler.
Many here gamble but never like this.

Yeah, probably like trying to pull out an inside straight on the last card. Good advice. Thanks.

On question 2, just buy a FCO- SEA( or GEG?) ticket and let the airline figure out how much time you need. If you buy separate FCO-LHR and LHR-USA ticket you are asking for trouble.

The single ticket eliminates the collecting and re-checking luggage and you should stay airside and only need to go through a security screening between flights

The Sofitel at Heathrow is very nice. We paid with points so I don’t know what the price was. It is connected to the airport.

The relatively new Premier Inn T4 (Terminal 4) at Heathrow is perfectly fine. Every time I've checked the rates they've been a bargain--as in way, way under £100. For a single room I've paid under £50. I recommend booking a Flexible rate (cancellable). The sooner you book it the less expensive it will be.

Warning: These are great-value hotels, but the company's website is a real problem. It is currently changing the dates when you try to book a room. Not good. The tablet/smartphone app seems to be working fine. Either book that way or be very, very careful to book for the correct night if you use a regular computer. I've had good luck getting to the page for the correct hotel and then searching for my dates. The situation is really annoying, but the savings are worth it to me.

I've been careful and have so far always received confirmations reflecting the dates I wanted, but be sure to check that confirmation email very carefully!

Edited to add:

I should have been more specific about the location of the hotel. It is about a 15-minute walk from Terminal 4, through an enclosed walkway.

The Sofitel is excellent and very convenient to T5, and also very expensive. This website identifies various hotels at or near the different terminals, it may not be complete.

I agree that 1 hour 40 minutes is pretty tight, especially with changing terminals, and that booking the connecting flights on a single ticket is the best choice.

But I'm not sure why you're asking about a hotel and also about a daytime connection. Will you need the hotel room on your journey between home and Rome, and the adequate daytime connection on your return journey?

Which terminal you use at Heathrow depends on the airline.

If you don't have your tickets yet, you would be better off getting a roundtrip one from your home airport to Rome and then back. This is for a few reasons:

1) If a connection is late, it is the airline's responsibility to get you to your final destination. With separate tickets, if you miss your connection, you have to buy a new ticket at full price.

2) If it's one ticket, you can have your checked bag sent to your final destination and not have to worry about it when you change planes.

3) With one ticket, you can buypass immigration and customs in London and just follow "flight connections" to your new gate. (You will have to go through security again.)

To see what's involved in changing planes at Heathrow when you are on a single ticket, use the Heathrow Flight Connection Planner and put in all your specifics: https://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections

Note their disclaimer:

Pages within this section may quote minimum connection times. These only apply if you have booked a through-ticket with an airline or travel agent, and any baggage is checked through to your final destination

Minimum connection times do not apply if:

You have arranged your own flight connection; or
You need to pick up baggage at Heathrow.

In these cases you should follow arrivals, then go to departures to check in for your onward flight. You should allow extra time for your journey.

Hence, the advice above to be on a single ticket.

Only the British Airways flights from Rome to Heathrow will arrive at T5. What airline are you flying from Heathrow to the US? Are you or are you not flying on a single through ticket?

Terry--Sure hope you are still shopping for tickets and have not purchased the 2 return flight tickets with only 1h 40m time gap.

With checked luggage, which your post implies, you probably have a better chance of finding 6" of snow in your front yard in July, than making that transfer. Is the 1130 return the Virgin Atlantic flt?

If you are committed to the 1130 departure, you need to get to London the day before.

Thanks everyone. I should have explained I already bought my US-London tickets on points (at an extremely good price) because, um, we're going to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio tour before heading to Italy (please don't tour-shame me). So we've got a night at Heathrow on arrival and based on the consensus, we'll just fly back to London the night before our return flight. Now if I can figure out how to take public transportation to the studio tour . . .

Bests, Terry.

why would anybody "tour-shame" you?

Sort of joking Nigel - two adults spending a day at the Harry Potter studio tour. Not exactly the typical reason to stop in London. But our son grew up learning to read the books, which we shared between the 3 of us. And of course we watched all the movies, so this should be a lot of fun!

Actually, based on the number of questions here, as well as how quickly it sells out in advance, Harry Potter is now one of the most popular things for visitors to do when in London. So, far from "shame," you'll have plenty of company!

i'm not tour shaming, i'm tour jealous! going to london in June, but just a long weekend, don't have time to fit in the HP tour, but would love to do!