Transiting LHR with 2 separate tickets

I’m interested to see the responses because what I’m reading is that if your second flight is on a separate ticket (not a connecting flight) you need to exit thru immigration and go back thru the boarding process again.

Not 100% sure, but I think:

• if all goes well, you can stay airside in T5 and follow the connecting flights protocol, which may involve going through a security check again, but not baggage claim or immigration.
• since you have no checked luggage, you don't have to claim anything, nor get a UK ETA.

Potential tripups:

• BA makes you check a bag at origination for whatever reason
• you can't get a boarding pass for your second flight and there is no Iberia desk within reach to obtain one without exiting the secure area of T5. But (someone else will know for sure) there will be desks for most airlines in the Flight Connections area.

If you did have checked bags, BA may (since both airlines are part of OneWorld) check your
bags through on to the final destination, but that is a discretionary situation.

Not to belabor the obvious, but since there are things that may go wrong that you can't
control, I wouldn't cut it too close.

https://www.heathrow.com/connecting-flights

Plug in your flight info and it should show what you need to know.

How long/short is the time between flights?

Time of year? *( weather issues?)

Joe, it’s not a connecting flight, though. It’s two separate flights so, he’s not going to be issued a boarding pass at the time he’s gets one for his first flight. If he can get a boarding pass on line before his second flight then I don’t see a problem. If Iberia makes him come to the counter then there’s problems.

There are always risks. I would plan a min of five hours between flights, maybe 6. I have done this a couple of time but not my preferred method. We were burned once when the original flight from the US was cancelled. We did get a refund of taxes and airport fees from the lost tickets. We thought we had covered ourselves with insurance but failed to read all of the fine print.

I have flown thru T5 at LHR many times. I have never paid attention to what airlines use that terminal. But, if Iberia is in T5 may I suggest that the traveler just get off the BA flight and go for help to the first Liberia gate that has a rep there.

Having said that, if you can secure a boarding pass from Iberia online, then it will make the transfer hassle free.

British Airways and Iberia are both part of the One World Alliance. I think this works in your favor. If you have an Iberia boarding pass, you should be able to stay airside and use flight connections, even if switching terminals. There are customer service desks airside as well.

I would suggest you go to the British Airways forum on FlyerTalk and put in this question. I believe, since both of these airlines are codeshare that British Airways could issue your boarding pass, which would mean you could stay airside. The hiccup is if your flight is delayed. We had a layover between 2.5 and 3 hours in 2024 with a BA international flight and an Iberia connection to Spain on one ticket, flying from Vegas. It was not enough time and we missed our Iberia flight. Because it was one ticket they put us on the next and last flight of the day. If it had been two separate tickets, not only would we have had to pay for another ticket and hotel room, but we would have needed an ETA as well under the current system.

Thanks, all!

Patty, did you come into T5 and go out of T5? I am curious what took so long.

Thanks!

I'll chime in with my recent LHR experience last month, no checked bag, Terminal 5 for both flights albeit both on British Air so I already had my boarding pass. Which you need for security. (I followed signs for connecting flights to go through security again.)
I don't remember if there were various airline desks/agents along the way, sorry- what there was was a really, really lengthy security process! I had 4 hours between flights but I think security took almost half an hour. Everyone was standing around waiting as their hand luggage piled up for either further inspection (mine- they took everything out and then I had to repack) or in the general mass of bags backing up repeatedly!
There are just so many variables. How much time do you have between? I think a big factor is how many flights arrive at the same time? Of course then there all the other realities with weather, etc. and the irony that my BA flight actually arrived early but there was no gate ready so we sat on the plane about 20 minutes.
I hope this was helpful as far as another recommendation to give yourself an ample cushion between. Good luck!