We are a group of 4 flying from Zagreb,Croatia to JFK through Heathrow. BA, with a change in flights, has only allocated 1 hour from arrival from Zagreb to departure from Heathrow. It looks like we arrive and depart from Terminal 3, but we are concerned that they have allowed insufficient time. Does anyone have any experience/comments on this?
Jonathan
Go to http://www.heathrowairport.com/flight-connections , plug in your flights and it will tell you the minimum time needed for a connection.
One hour (60 minutes) is the minimum connect time within the same terminal.
https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/airport-information/flight-connections
BA would not sell the flight if it did not meet that MCT. However, Terminal 3 has long corridors and you will have to move briskly to the security check and then to your gate.
If your plane from Croatia is on time, you will be fine. However, if it is late arriving at the gate, you could have a problem. Since this is on one ticket, BA would put you on a later flight to the US, but you might be re-routed or have a long wait.
I personally would prefer a longer connect time, but there may be no other option as flights from Zagreb are not all that frequent.
And make sure you are prepared for the security check---all liquids in the 3-1-1 bag and no water in bottles, even if you brought it from the plane. All electronics out of your bag and into the bin, including iPhones and tablets. If you make a mistake the delay could be 10-15 minutes while they go through your bag. (I know from personal experience).
Unlike in the US, at Heathrow all your liquids, including medicines, must fit in the 3-1-1 bag.
British Airways do now run with a 60 minute connection time for connections within terminal 3. Details here. It is their problem if you miss the connection of the inward flight being late on a single itinerary, and with there being loads of flights to JFK it would be highly likely you would be able to be re-accommodated the same day. Note though that BA itself doesn't fly to JFK from T3 (only T5), so the transatlantic portion will be a codeshare on AA.
In my experience, the Heathrow minimum connection times are fairly accurate. If they say you need 60 minutes, plan to spend that whole 60 minutes either speed-walking or waiting in queues.
As Lola said, you'll need to go through security to enter the terminal, so be prepared for that. An important cutoff to keep in mind is that you need to enter security no later than 35 minutes before your flight's scheduled departure. (You need to scan your boarding pass to enter security, and if you're too late, you'll be denied entry.) That's Heathrow's rule, not the airlines' - while the airline might (or might not) choose to hold the flight for a few minutes if they know you're running to catch it, if you miss the cutoff to enter security, that's that. So keep an eye on the clock, and if you're nearing security with 37 minutes to go, make a run for it. On the flip side, if your inbound flight is 30 minutes late, there's no use running for your connection, because you've already missed it.
We just had a BA flight from Venice to Heathrow T5 this afternoon. For the first time we experienced a delay due to some technical problem (a little over an hour) this afternoon. Fortunately, our connecting flight is for tomorrow morning but there were passengers who missed their connections. By the way, we were bused from the terminal to the plane in Venice; and then again from the plane to the terminal at Heathrow. We also had to wait in the plane for the buses at Heathrow for at least a quarter hour.
I wouldn't be comfortable with just an hour layover especially for a big airport like Heathrow.
Terminal 3 is huge.
May I assume the flights are on one itinerary on BA from Zagreb to JFK? These aren’t booked as two separate flights per person, correct?
I would never leave one hour as a cushion because your transatlantic flight will probably close 30 minutes before departure so your one hour is probably only 30 minutes. That means 30 minutes to depart the Zagreb plane and if you are in the middle or the back it will take time. You’ll need time to walk along corridors following the purple signs for flight connections and then time to go through security again even airside which can take 30 minutes to an hour. Then it might be a long walk (15-20 mins) to the gate for your JFK flight. Again, that terminal is huge. This is all assuming your Zagreb flight is on time.
What if that flight is late? Hopefully there will be more flights to JFK the same day so you won’t have to spend overnight waiting for available seating the next day. Is your connecting flight to JFK the last flight of the day?
We have a connecting flight from JFK to Nashville and it looks like even if we took a later flight to JFK then that would only allow slightly less than an hour at JFK.
Jonathan
Well, that sounds like a pickle. (An hour to connect from international to domestic at JFK would be very tight indeed.) Is the JFK–Nashville flight at least on the same reservation as the others (so that if you miss it, the airline would have to rebook you)?
Alternatively, since this flight schedule is due to a change on the part of the airline, I think (although I don't know - maybe someone else can chime in on how this works) that you're entitled to reject the proposed schedule, claim a full refund, and book a whole new flight.
Jonathan, the way this is planned, you will either miss your flight to JFK with that current nearly impossible to make layover time at Heathrow or if you take a later flight to JFK, you will most certainly miss your flight to Nashville because you will have to go through immigration and customs & then go through security again Airside. Customs isn’t always a walk-through at terminal 4 JFK because they may have customs agents out there who will want to talk to everybody therefore there can be long lines for them after immigration. If you have global entry, that could help quite a bit.
If you do miss your Delta flight to Nashville and if that ticket is on the same itinerary (Heathrow— JFK — Nashville), Delta would put you on the next flight to Nashville with available seating. Of course, if that means spending the night, that is on your dime. Still, it will be a lot cheaper to spend the night at JFK than purchase a walk up ticket to JFK at Heathrow if you miss your transatlantic flight.
Please let us know what you do and how it works out.
you will either miss your flight to JFK with that current nearly impossible to make layover time at Heathrow
I think this is overly hyperbolic. A 60-minute connection time is tight, but BA wouldn't have scheduled it if it was "nearly impossible" to make. Although the risk of things going wrong is significant, if the flight from Zagreb is on time (and note that European arrivals at Heathrow are often early) and you don't waste any time en route, you will make the connection.
I agree with khbuzzard. It is more likely than not that you WILL make the flight to JFK. BA would not sell that ticket if most people missed that second flight.
As for having to buy a walk-up ticket for the long-haul flight if they do miss the connection at LHR, that is not correct. These flights are on one ticket. If the flight from Zagreb is late enough that they miss the JFK flight, BA will put them on another flight at no cost ( unless they have to overnight in London, in which case the passenger pays for the hotel, I believe).
And BA will go to some lengths to prevent them missing that flight. When our connection to Barcelona was jeopardized by a late arrival of our BA flight from the US to Heathrow, we and the 20 other Barcelona-bound passengers were met at the gate and escorted to T3 and into the Fast Track lane at security.
Just make sure you do not tarry on your way to security; as long as your boarding pass is scanned in within the required time, they won't deny you boarding.
You can shorten the time it takes for disembarking the plane by paying to select your seats in advance, and choosing seats as far forward as you are allowed.
We had a 60 minute change over on BA flight from Bucharest. Of course we were 10 minutes late getting to gate. Thankfully BA had a representative meet us as we exited the flight-Terminal 3. He escorted us thru customs and back thru security where my bag was searched because I had a bottle of water from the plane-my fault. As we got to the gate for our flight to Chicago they were calling our name over the intercom. But we made it. Then they searched my bag again before we boarded. We would not have made it without the BA representative escorting us thru some back short cuts. I will always allow at least 2 hours to change plans at Heathrow. Also this applies to ORD where we did miss a flight
