Hello fellow travelers, my family and I are going to Venice with a connection in London Heathrow. The layover is an hour and a half in Heathrow. Two questions, do we have to go through customs in London? I assume that we do. Assuming so, will an hour and a half be sufficient time to get through customs and on our next flight? It’s already booked and now I’m kinda freaking out. Thanks so much.
Posted by
65 posts
Heathrow has a website and it has a connections page. Type in your incoming flight and outgoing flight and it will tell you how much time you need. From my experience, if you aren’t changing terminals and flights are on time, you have enough time. Not sure if or how Brexit will affect that though.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6487 posts
You won't go through passport control or customs at Heathrow because you're not really "entering" the UK. When you get off the first flight, follow the purple signs for connecting flights and look for yours on one of the departure boards. You'll go through another security check (like TSA but you keep your shoes on). Your connecting flight will be on the departure screens but the gate may not show till soon before departure, so keep an eye on the screens and be ready to head for that gate when you see it.
If your flight lands close to on time you shouldn't have a problem. If it's seriously delayed and your flights are on one ticket, the airline will put you on a later flight if necessary. Heathrow is a big place but well organized.
Posted by
15 posts
I don't want to freak you out, but we almost missed a connecting flight through Heathrow, because we had to take the tram to a different terminal and go through the security line again. If you get there and time is short, find an official person in the security line and tell them you have a flight leaving very soon. They put us in the front of the line which helped.
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2501 posts
You will go through security at LHR.
https://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections
You will go through passport control (for people) and customs (for things) when you enter the Schengen area (at Venice).
Posted by
San Diego, California
4675 posts
If you arrive [on time] in Terminal 5 and depart from Terminal 5, you SHOULD be ok. Having to take the bus from the other terminals does add significant time. If you miss that flight to Venice, there's another one in about 5 hours. [We chose that 5 hr layover option, and I'm dreading that- so there's no perfect option thru British Air, I assume?]
Just be familiar with Heathrow beforehand, mentally practice the route, ask for directions if you're at all unsure, and hope for some luck!
Safe travels!