Hey all - I leave for Vienna in 10 days. I am flying from Omaha to Chicago on United, then switching to American Airlines for my international flight. (Not checking a bag.)
My international flights are Chicago to London Heathrow and then LHR to VIE. Do I go through some sort of passport control or customs in both airports?
Show your passport as I.D. before getting on the plane in Chicago, but there won't be any customs procedure there (although if you're coming home thru Chicago, you'll deal with their customs at that time). Heathrow will have you get in a line (it might be long but will probably move fairly quickly, as they will likely have several passport control desks open at the head of the line) and will check your passport and the landing card you will be given on your flight from Chicago. Even if you're just heading directly onto another plane at Heathrow, the U.K. requires a completed landing card for non-E.U. flyers (but just one per family) that set foot on U.K. soil. You'll then proceed to a security screening. They seem to be less concerned at Heathrow lately about having you take off your shoes than at O'Hare, so you might or might not have to, but are very strict about having all your liquids and gels in a plastic zip-top bag, and will hand out a bag to any passenger who doesn't have one. They even have a machine at the end of security with smiley face, non-plussed face, and sad face buttons you can press to indicate how you felt about that security experience, for some feedback. You can then proceed to the departures hall to check the screen and find out what gate your flight to Vienna will be departing from.
You didn't say what airline you're flying from LHR to VIE or whether you have to change terminals. And is your flight from ORD-LHR an actual American flight or a codeshare?
Heathrow Airport makes the process easy. Their website explains the process:
http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/flight-connections
BTW, unless this is something new, you shouldn't have to go through passport control or fill out a landing card if you are a transiting onto an international flight. You are technically not entering the UK. If changing to a UK flight then you would. You will have to go through security again.
You don't say who you are flying with Heathrow to Vienna, and whether it is from the same terminal or whether you will have to change terminals. If you are lucky, you can stay "air side" for the transfer and only go through passport and customs in Vienna. If this is not the case, the following applies:
The UK is not in the Schengen area, so there are still passport checks between UK and Austria. But both are in the EU, so the is no customs.
You may choose to go landside but there is no need to do so. You haven't said explicitly who your flight is with from LHR to VIE, but if it has a AA code, it will be British Airways I would imagine. You are kind of in luck there as VIE is one of the few flights BA has from Terminal 3 so no terminal change is required, just the transfer security check.
You will NOT go through passport control or customs when you transfer at LHR. You will follow the signs for flight connections and stay in the transit area. You will go through a security screening.
The Heathrow website has detailed info for connecting passengers. If you go to their website to the section that says "Which Terminal"., you can find out more.
Well then, we've gotten in unnecessary customs and security lines each time we've headed to Brussels, Madrid, Rome. etc. in transit thru Heathrow from Denver, and staying in Terminal 5 the whole time. No one's ever directed us otherwise, so maybe that's just been something to do to kill time until the flight to our final destination . . . YMMV
You may choose to go landside but there is no need to do so. You
haven't said explicitly who your flight is with from LHR to VIE, but
if it has a AA code, it will be British Airways I would imagine. You
are kind of in luck there as VIE is one of the few flights BA has from
Terminal 3 so no terminal change is required, just the transfer
security check.
It is AA code - British Airways.
When I did a little research, yes, it seems that I stay in the same Terminal, so I appreciate that!
We did SEA to LHR continuing on to Frankfurt FRA all on BA last month. Arrival and departure were through T-5.
Arrive. Stand in line with everyone else transiting to get through passport control. Had to get rid of liquids over 3oz. Up the escalator to main terminal.
Proceeded to go through security - Baggie out, boots off (too much metal), through the nude-o-scope.
In FRA, I believe we had to go through passport control again, but nothing to declare and we were on our way.
The worst time through this in LHR was way over an hour. This time was about 30-40 minutes all told.
Thanks, Zeeba. I have just under three hours between flights, so hopefully I won't be too rushed. Just hoping to grab some souvenirs for the kids (they are requesting keychains from the UK - a request I hope I can handle!) and probably a quick bite for myself.
J,
Please check the Heathrow website here:
http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/flight-connections/connection-guides
I don't understand all the reports of people going through immigration at LHR when connecting to a flight outside of the common travel area. This has never happened to me at LHR on a connection. You do go through security. You do need to follow the "flight connections" signs (and not the arrival signs). I can only guess that some people may have mistakenly followed the crowd through arrivals.
Hey J, I certainly think we've always followed the LHR Flight Connections signs - they've always looked to me like a guy with moose antlers, but are really of a stick figure walking along, with landing and departing planes aiming at/away from his head.
The escalator just past passport control that Zeeba mentioned above can be tricky. Because that Terminal 5 Security is one floor up, immediately after the escalator, if there's a backup at security, the line of people being transported up the escalator can get dumped on the heels of the people standing in the security queue. Two years ago, an airport staffer was holding people up at the bottom of the excalator for a minute, to allow traffic at the top to clear out, and security staffers were trying to spread out the queue at the top; but the last time, there was no one doing crowd management, and when we got to the top, we had to do a little sidestep (there's not a lot of room at the escalator exit up top) to keep from rear-ending the people who'd stopped once they'd stepped off the escalator. Hopefully the crowd keeps moving.
Not sure about Terminal 3, if that's where you'll be, but still look for an "Eat" food vendor. We got food from Eat at both Heathrow and at Turnhouse airports in Edinburgh this past August, with quick, quality offerings at not-too-expensive airport prices for what you get.
J, Please check the Heathrow website here:
http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/flight-connections/connection-guides
I don't understand all the reports of people going through immigration
at LHR when connecting to a flight outside of the common travel area.
This has never happened to me at LHR on a connection. You do go
through security. You do need to follow the "flight connections" signs
(and not the arrival signs). I can only guess that some people may
have mistakenly followed the crowd through arrivals.
Thank you, Laura. I did check the website. I'll look for connections signs and expect to go through security, and/or do what I'm told when I get there. :)
We do go through the connections lines, but there are desks and official people at them. We have our passports out along with boarding passes for the connection, so it feels like immigration, even when it isn't.
The lines can be slow depending on how many flights have landed at the same time. Add in the repacking of baggies and a trip upstairs for (another) security check and it feels like you've been through the wringer.
I 'd never plan a connection through LHR with fewer than 2 hours.
Unless you're talking a few airports where you have customs pre-clearance, showing passport or equivalent ID before boarding a flight is pretty much for the sake of the airline- they can face a significant fine if they fly a passenger to a place that said passenger cannot prove they have the legal right to enter. So they're going to check that, sometimes multiple times, to make sure they don't end up getting that kind of sanction.
