My family has an upcoming trip to London. Our travel plans have us all arriving from the U.S. on three different flights within 15 minutes of each other (fingers crossed for no delays). We arrive on United, American and Virgin Atlantic, so we will come through different Heathrow terminals. We will need to find each other to take either a taxi or the underground to our hotel together. What is the best, easiest to find, most logical place at Heathrow to all meet up once we are through customs?
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Heathrow is really 3 airports: Terminals 1+2+3 in the centre, terminal 4 on the southern perimeter and newest Terminal 5 on the eastern edge. And there are 3 different tube (underground) stations for the 3 terminal groups.
Trying to get from one terminal to another and finding a suitable place to meet up will more difficult and waste nearly as much time as going direct to your hotel. And, any of your 3 flights could get delayed; immigration could take up to 1 hour (customs takes no time).
I would recommend not trying to meet up at the airport, just go direct to your hotel and meet there. If your hotel is convenient for the tube (underground) and you do not have heavy luggage then the tube is the best option. A taxi is a lot more expensive and will be slower during the day.
Just buy an Oyster Card per person at the tube station, put some credit on it and you can go anywhere.
Posted by
PA
2736 posts
With that said above, coming in AA, UA and Virgin should mean that these are all arriving at some combination of T1, T2, and/or T3. These three share the same Tube station, thus you could agree to meet at the Tube. If someone were arriving at T4 or T5, they could get on the Tube for 1 stop to the T1-2-3 platform, exit the train, and wait for the rest to arrive. This will not incur an additional fare as long as they stay on the platform and do not scan out.
You could pick an arbitrary meeting time trackside of, e.g., 1 hour past the latest of the arrivals, all will be able to see when the latest plane due arrives.
Posted by
Land of La
8638 posts
If this is everyone's first visit and you want it to be enjoyable from the moment you deplane I whole heartedly agree that you should meet up at your hotel. Heathrow is a city unto it's self, I'd never believe all flights would arrive in a timely fashion from the US and trying to describe the ideal "meet up" spot would be more stressful than it's worth.
Meet at the hotel, MUCH easier.
Posted by
OP
Kansas City
3 posts
Great advice all. Thanks so much. I agree that taking the Tube to the hotel seems the easiest option. Just thinking about orchestrating a Heathrow meet-up is stressful. And who knows, with the terminals' shared Tube station we may bump into each other there anyway.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5326 posts
The other imponderable is the differential length of the immigration queue. Having said that these will be 2 flights in T3 and and in T2, so fairly close in Heathrow terms. If you only have hand luggage you can actually transfer airside and all do the immigration in the same terminal - 3 would be best for this. However, I would only consider meeting at Heathrow if you have a reliable method of contacting each other.
Posted by
Seattle
544 posts
American and Virgin arrive at T3, United from T2. If you still want to meet at Heathrow, I suggest meeting at either the T2 or T3 arrivals hall. It would be a decent walk to go between the terminals, so that might help you decide which one. Another idea might be to meet at the terminal where the latest flight is arriving. There's a seating area near the "meeting point" in the arrivals hall. By "meeting point" I mean an actual signed area that says meeting point. This way there will be restrooms, seats and a coffee shop available while you wait.