We are flying from TLS to LHR on BA and then outbound to BOS on AA.109. BA flight is scheduled to arrive at T5 at 8:05 AM. AA flight is scheduled to depart at 9:35 AM so I would imagine they will close the gate the latest at 9:30 but most likely 9:25. This leaves us about 90 minutes to make this connection. We are US passport holders. Carry on luggage only. We are on a single PNR. In the past due to the long waits at customs and security, I have avoided LHR, but we have to go through Heathrow. I am assuming that we will have to go through Customs and Immigration upon arrival at T5 and security at T3. Have things changed since Brexit and are there now a sufficient number of customs agents for non EU citizens to allow for a smoother entry. What is the quickest way to trasfer to T3 from T5. Is the 90 minute connection time sufficient? Any hints on how to make this connection without hurting myself?
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5330 posts
You won't need to go through immigration or customs.
You will go through security in Terminal 3 after following the international transfer route & using the airside terminal shuttle bus.
You are bang on the minimum connection time with a 90 minute connection but the airlines have sold you a single itinerary. There a number of other flights to Boston should you say miss this as a result of a delayed inbound flight.
Posted by
Freedonia
15068 posts
Go to this website and you will get step by step instructions on what to do:
http://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections
As Marco noted....no immigration, no customs but you will have to go through security. It's a separate transfer security area so it moves quickly.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16325 posts
I would not want to chance a connection that short before the overseas flight home. We have had three trips to Europe in the past 15 months, all with BA. Each time, our flight from Italy to Heathrow was delayed in departure by 1-3 hours. It could be lack of crew, or the incoming flight was late, or people taking too long to stow their cabin bags so our flight lost their scheduled landing slot and had to wait for another. And once it was a missing passenger—-the checked bag was on board but the person who checked it was not. They cannot take off in that situation, so had to return to the terminal to offload the bag.
Fortunately we always return to Heathrow a day or two before our flight home, so it was not a problem, but many people on those flight were North Americans trying to get home. Of course since this is on one ticket you will be rescheduled on another flight, but it could be the next day, or otherwise inconvenient.
Maybe things will be resolved by this summer,. But maybe not. Can you ask about re-scheduling to a later flight to Boston? If not, then hope for a schedule change that will give you an opportunity to book a different flight with no change fee.
And if you cannot, or don’t want to, switch to a later Boston flight, it might help if you check your bag. That will speed up your passage through security at T3. And, from our recent experience, it seems that if your bag makes it onto the Boston flight they will wait a bit for you, especially after you have scanned your boarding pass to get into the security queue.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
Thanks for the responses. Although it seemed like it was doable to make the connection, I didn’t like the alternatives if we missed the connection so I found a workaround. I changed our departure airport to ORY. TLS was initially looking better because the trip from Beynac to Toulouse was just over 2 1/2 hours and going to CDG was 3 times as long. Then I thought to check Orly and found an Iberia flight connecting through MAD (did I mention that I dislike flying through LHR). A lazy 2 1/2 layover gets us into Boston just 3 hours later than the LHR flight - with no stress.