Hi, going on the Venice Florence Rome tour in march. I am flying rt from sfo to heathrow and taking a flight the following day to Venice.
But wondering on a return flight from Rome to heathrow. If I take an 8:00am flight from Rome to heathrow, how early would you have to get the the airport. If I take a later flight , I would have two hours to get through customs and a separate flight home. I'm afraid that would not be enough time, since these are two separate flights.
We had an early flight from Rome this summer. It was on a weekend, we booked a taxi through our hotel for 40€ and zipped through the streets without any traffic. The driver even stopped at the Coliseum for a photo op without a single other person around. We were on a domestic flight so we only had to arrive 2 hours ahead of time and we allowed about 1 hour to be driven there. (The hotel and driver had a good idea of how long it would take to get to the airport.)
I wouldn't be concerned about an early flight if that sets you up best for your onward flight. If you are saying that this options gives you 2 flights on one ticket vs 2 flights on two separate tickets, I'd do 1 ticket.
Is your flight all with British Airways? Or are you flying the two segments with separate tickets and airlines? If you are flying with BA both segments, two hours layover should be sufficient. That has been my experience.
The taxi ride from Rome city center to the airport is 30-35 min in the early morning. It's a European flight, although the UK is not part of Schengen, therefore they will check your passport on the way to the gate. Each airline has different requirements for check in time. Generally they require that you have completed your check in and have the boarding pass in your hand at least 45 minutes prior to departure. If you are at the airport 75-90 min prior to departure you should have plenty of time to spare.
Heathrow Terminal 3 security is quite slow. Terminal 5 is relatively quick.
If your Rome/Heathrow flight is the same airline as the Heathrow/SFO flight then 2 hours shouldn't be a problem It they are different airlines and with a terminal change then it might be.
Customs should be a USA customs check if you are going back to SFO. That shouldn't be a problem unless you declare a lot of stuff and they have to check it. But that usually happens at SFO, not at Heathrow. You will be "in transit" from Rome to SFO which makes things a bit easier.
We need more information about your airlines and luggage plans. If you have checked luggage and your bag is not checked through, 2 hours is definitely NOT enough time as you must go through immigration/passport control to claim and re-check your bag.
Personally I do not like a 2-hour connection at Heathrow even when we fly on one through ticket with British Airwatys.
There's another ting you will want to check.
If you have two different tickets (one ticket Rome to Heathrow, then Heathrow to home on a separate ticket), then you will be hit with a very high fee for the privilege of departing from London. If you're on a single ticket with just a stop in London, you shouldn't be hit with that high fee. Is there some reason you are planning to stop at Heathrow? Lots of us have lots of good reasons to avoid that airport when we can...
Thank you all so much.
I was looking for the cheapest way to go and rt from sfo to London with local flights added on for Venice and Rome sounded like a good idea, but now I am seeing fares just $5o-100 more to fly from Rome to sfo with lots of airline options.
That seems to be a better way to go than trying to coordinate my own connections . I appreciate all your input.
Yes, please, get the flights all on one ticket. Time saved in the airport is the least of it.
If you are on separate tickets and anything goes wrong that causes you to miss a flight, you are responsible both logistically (no airline will help you get home) and financially (you have to buy a last minute, one way ticket - potentially thousands of dollars from Europe to the US). If you are all on one ticket, the airline will put you on the next available flight at no extra charge.
