Heathrow info......getting from Terminal 3 to 5 with a non-connecting flight.

If they will not check your luggage through, then yes, you will need to go through Immigration, retrieve you bags, go to the train, and take that to Terminal 5, go through security, and on to your gate.

You probably already know that you could simplify things greatly by only having carry-on luggage, then you could stay airside, simply follow the connecting flights signs, there is a bus that stays in the secure zone, taking you to terminal 5. Usually though, there is another security check, but in my experience anyway, the line is pretty short for in-transit. (This is also what would occur if they do check your bags through.)

Worth noting, by doing this, you are taking risk, if your first flight is delayed and you miss your flight to Berlin, they have no obligation to get you on another flight.

Take the shuttle train from terminal 3 to terminal 5.

Thank you Paul. We are on a Transatlantic cruise the following week so there is no way the luggage will be a carry on :)
If we do have to leave and retrieve our luggage then I would look to store a suitcase at the airport and take less with us to Berlin..
Will a taxi take us there if we like? I know the transport is wonderful if we can just transfer as though we had a connecting flight but if they dont let us book our luggage we have to take the longer route.
The fees to add flights are over $800..... We are on Business Class from Miami through the cruise lines. Flying regular coach to Berlin. It is easier to buy another set of tickets once we are there if we run into a problem. We are not married to this trip so if the flight (which is usually ontime) is delayed we can always skip Berlin. I am also leaving 4-5 hours for the next flight. We travel around the world and I try to build in time between flights.
Thanks.
Karen

Thank you Robin...

We have used taxis firing early hours when trains are not as frequent,

Good to know Suki. I was fearful the taxis might not want to drive that short of a distance. But if they will we are fine with that as well.
K

We did this one year and it didn’t turn out as badly as I feared. The airlines would not transfer luggage, even though it was booked through the same carrier as they were two separate tickets. Both flights were booked through British Airways, but second flight was a codeshare, Aer Lingus. We got off, went through immigration, collected luggage, walked out to connecting train (Heathrow Express), took the elevator down to the boarding area, took the train to new terminal, up the escalator/elevator and across a walkway to check-in with Aer Lingus. You say you’re pretty familiar with LHR, so maybe this will help decide which method has the most steps - it’s been a long time since we took a taxi at LHR.

Karen, can you clarify? The title says going from T3 to T5, but the first paragraph of the text says you arrive at T3 on the overseas flight and depart from T3 to Berlin. Then your second paragraph says T5 for the Berlin flight.

Going with the question posed in the title, I will just suggest you use the free train shuttle (Heathrow Express) which connects T 3 and T5. I am afraid it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to check the bags through. It says right on the BA website that with separate tickets you must claim and then re-check your bags.

https://www.britishairways.com/en-de/information/baggage-essentials/checked-baggage-allowances

Are you sure it would cost $800 to add the Berlin flight to your original ticket? We are flying BA to Barcelona later this month. I originally booked this as two separate tickets, planning to take carry-on bags only. The overseas flight is in business class with Avios; the short flight to Spain was a paid ticket. Then I realized I will need one checked bag for my trekking poles, so I called up and changed the booking so it was all on one ticket. The cost was $55 each for the change, plus the additional miles for the flight to Barcelona. But maybe this change fee only applies to award flights, not paid tickets.

We took a taxi recently from T5 to T3 because we'd booked the Sofitel hotel without realising the flight departed from T3 (we're so used to departing from T5 that it didn't occur to us until a few days before the flight!) The driver tried to charge us £21 because he claimed that the hotel had specificaly requested a large minivan which was not true as I was present when the hotel member of staff made the call and heard every word he said, including on more than one occasiojn that it was a party of four. Maybe it was a miscommunication between his dispatcher or he was trying to pull a fast one, either way a swift call to his manager reduced the fare to £15. Quite expensive for such a shorrt distance and it was a minicab not a black cab (£15 was the average fare advised by the hotel concierge) but it's London prices.

Thank you all for your responses.

Sorry for the Typo... Yes we are going from T3 where the Miami flight lands to T5 to pick up a flight to Berlin. All BA flights.

I booked the 12:30 PM flight from Heathrow to Berlin giving us plenty of time to transfer as we are scheduled to get in at 6:40AM.

Our original tickets to Heathrow were purchased through Choice Air. They contract with Celebrity Cruises for very discounted fares and we were able to book Business Class over to London. They did not offer a triangle fare (Miami Heathrow Berlin Heathrow) when I looked since the ship leaves out of Southampton this might not have been an option. When I called BA to ask about sending luggage through since we decided to definitely go to Berlin for 5 days they told me to try to add the flight to our booking and get it linked to our overseas flight locator number through the agent. When I called the agent they told us the change fee would be about 450 in addition to the airfare change. I decided not to even go further with them as we could book flights on our own. The BA agent also suggested asking the people in Miami to book the luggage through as they might do that. I am not counting on it....especially after the posts I have read from others.

I now know the options we have and am certain it will go smoothly. We will collect our luggage and transport it to T5 and probably store some of it at the storage places for several days. When we return from Berlin we will pick it up and go to Southampton. Heathrow is always such a joy :) to go through that I wanted to know all of the options before we get there.

Thank you all for your responses. It is also good to know that if we want we can also pay for an expensive taxi. It just might be easier with the luggage.
Karen

Contact BA and see if they can link your separate itineraries together so you can check your luggage through to Berlin. I've been able to do that with Delta on 2 separate itineraries. It took several phone calls to customer service until I reached an agent who was willing to link the separate reservations into one. So if the first BA agent won't, just say thank you, goodbye, and call back. If the 2nd won't, shampoo/rinse/repeat! :-)

It took several phone calls to customer service until I reached an agent who was willing to link the separate reservations into one. So if the first BA agent won't, just say thank you, goodbye, and call back. If the 2nd won't, shampoo/rinse/repeat! :-)

My experience with calling BA customer services (and there are many occasions) is that if you are routed to a call taker in India or or any part of the South Asian Continent then expect nothing more than textbook responses. It is only until you reach a representative in the UK that you will receive any sort of meaningful dialogue and resolution.