Enough Time for Connecting Flight? (VirAtl Arr LHR 2pm - 4pm Brit Air Flight to Rome)

These are not connecting flights – they are two unconnected flights by rival airlines. If you have checked luggage to London you will have to pass through UK immigration at Heathrow to retrieve it and re-check it for your second flight (nothing to do with Brexit). You can stay airside and avoid UK immigration if you don’t have checked luggage.

Two hours on unconnected flights at LHR – no way.

Be careful with Orbitz. They sell tickets this way. A couple years ago I had a flight on Jet Blue to Boston and then on Virgin Atlantic to London. I could not check all the way through and missed my flight in Boston. Fortunately, I was able to get on another flight later that evening.

I now only will buy international flights from the airlines' own sites.

Beth

We always use Virgin Atlantic for our "across the pond" flights since we get good deals because we have their credit card. They use terminal 3 at LHR. When you get tickets this far ahead, Virgin Atlantic often changes their flight times. You can't count on the flight a year from now still being a 14:00 arrival. For our VA and BA combo this year, we are spending the night at the Sofitel at terminal 5, from which our BA flight leaves early next morning. If your VA flight arrives early enough in the day, you can take the Picadilly line to central London and enjoy a few hours in the city.

As a result of competition issues as BA took over such airlines as bmi, they are required to have connecting flights with the like of VS, which you might not otherwise expect. by alliances etc. However, this needs to be confirmed with Orbitz that this is the case and not two back to back tickets. This would be a legal connection on one ticket.

I'll add to the pile on and tell you there's no way I'd book these flights. I'm not sure what dates you're considering, but keep in mind Bexit next year. Who knows what kind of a mess UK immigration might be next year?

Even if you were taking the flight today, you'd have to have the blessing of the travel gods and have everything go right to make that flight to Rome.

I'd just keep checking fares, there's bound to be a fare sale and you can get a direct flight to Rome or at least one with a protected connection.

Thank you for your thoughts everybody. I actually found a flight that had a 4-hour connecting time so I'm comfortable enough with that. - Mike

To learn what's involved in your Heathrow plane change, use this page on Heathrow's website and put in your details: https://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections

Note this disclaimer:

Connection times: important information

Pages within this section may quote minimum connection times. These only apply if you have booked a through-ticket with an airline or travel agent, and any baggage is checked through to your final destination

Minimum connection times do not apply if:

You have arranged your own flight connection; or
You need to pick up baggage at Heathrow.

In these cases you should follow arrivals, then go to departures to check in for your onward flight. You should allow extra time for your journey.

Wow - Harold: That's a GREAT resource (even though I've since obtained a flight with plenty of time to make my connection and your link doesn't one to input flights 9 months out). There's still some really good information to be gleamed from it there. Thanks for bringing that to my/our attention!

Well, you still have risk even if it is small. It finally caught up with us last year, when our original flight was canceled and we were not re-booked till two days later. Lost the connecting flight. So it can happen.

Well, life is a risk. I've now got a 4 hour connection which should be fine. But of course there can be delays for one reason or another, or a piano can drop on my head -- anything can happen I supposed. But at some point you just have to make a decision and take your chances, y'know?

I know you've already got tickets, but just FYI for the future, you can buy that connection on a single ticket directly from Virgin Atlantic, even though they don't sell it on the website. You just have to call them on the phone to do it. I did exactly that yesterday for a similar Virgin / BA itinerary that I found on Google Flights. I was somewhat dubious, knowing the history between the two companies, but the Virgin Atlantic customer service guy was very friendly and helpful and he knew immediately how to ticket this. I did double check the confirmation email as soon as I got it to make sure they spelled the names right, got the flights and dates correct, etc, and it all looks good.

Actually Cathy, I haven't purchased the tickets yet. I'm still not wholly satisfied with the itinerary and am weighing many options. But if I do want that Orbits (which presumably Google Flights will also show), I'll certainly look into your strategy of calling them. Thanks!

Cathy - I didn't find the VA/BA flights I was seeking on Google Flights; however, they DO appear in Orbitz and Expedia. Would the same calling procedure work for those similarly? And yes, I can call to find out definitively, but I'm wondering if there's a difference for this strategy between GFlights and Orbitz/Expedia before I give the VA phone reps my spiel.

Yes, if you know the flight numbers then calling to book should work fine.

I just searched Google Flights for SFO to FCO from March 5 to 14 2019. I then used the airlines dropdown to select the "only" link to the right of BA (to clear the other selections) and the checkbox next to VS. This gives me results that include VS 20 to BA 558 which has a 4:10 layover, so I'm guessing that's the one you want. Selecting that and a random return gives me this instruction:

Call Virgin Atlantic to book - Airlines may charge an additional fee
for booking by phone
VS 20, BA 558, BA 551, VS 19 $528

Call airline 1 (800) 862-8621

Virgin did not charge a booking fee, despite the warning. The agent did mention that the pricing I saw online might be different that what he could offer because online search engines don't use real-time pricing data, but in my case they were the same.

Google Flights also provides a link to the same itinerary on Expedia, but I just prefer not to use OTAs for international travel.

CATHY - OMG, it worked! I was on the phone w/VS for an hour but we hashed out everything, and I purchased what VS confirmed were now "single" tickets that guaranteed the interline baggage agreement that now allows us to check our bags and have them waiting for us in Rome. I was offered the 2-hr layover in Heathrow but stuck with the 4-hr layover as we'd still need to go through security (and my ex will enjoy shopping while I go get a pint I guess...). Best of all it was the same price as on Orbitz (which route and price I couldn't get online with VS). We have all VS seat assignments (but I'll need to contact BA w/my their ref number for the seating w/them).

Thank you SO much. You and many people took the time out of your personal lives to help me and provide your thoughts and I really appreciate you (folks) doing so. If you ever get to San Francisco I owe you a bottle of scotch or box of truffles or sumptin'! :-)

Mike

Mike,

Just an FYI, last I checked BA charges for advance seat assignment unless you’re in first class or have status.

Glad it worked out for you.

Thanks rocket. As it turns out it's myself and another person together as opposed to last month when it was just me, so we'll just have to pay whatever they charge for seat assignments. I mean, why split hairs for comfort and convenience? Thanks for the info. I'm just happy enough that worrying about flights is behind me (excepting we will need to purchase the local Italy to Sicily flights still...).