Better Connections via Heathrow?

"Does anyone know of direct flights from the USA to Edinburgh?"

United and Lufthansa from Newark NJ

I think you probably have your terminal numbers a bit muddled. BA flights to LAX leave and arrive from terminal 5, although they do have codeshare on flights from 3 with AA. BA flights to DUB also use 5. EI flights use 2.

As you found, it is a lot easier to stick with one terminal rather than change. If you did fly with BA through LHR to EDI you would have the simplest connection returning in the book at T5 since you would have to do nothing but pass through the right door. Not even any more security as you would have already been screened at a UK airport.

If you want an alternative I would suggest Aer Lingus via DUB from LAX. Pre-clearance of US customs and immigration is the main benefit here.

Heathrow often wins out from the variety and competition of transatlantic flights

matrix.itasoftware.com

Run by Google, but not selling tickets, this big site shows no non-stops from LAX into Edinburgh. However there are lots of transfer points other than LHR: Washington, for instance, or Chicago, Dublin, Amsterdam. As to other US cities, skyscanner.com does show non-stops from Chicago and NYC, not much help if your base is LA.

Your profile shows "Austin" as your location, presumably Texas. Why fly from LAX?

Seems you should be looking for flights from DFW or IAH. I suspect any flight from Austin to Europe will have to stop somewhere in the US.

If you identify your origin, folks here would have a better chance of providing useful advice

If you use kayak.com to search for flights, you can filter the airports. After you search for your flight, choose filter and under airports you can deselect LHR and any other layover airports that you don’t want to transit through.

Personally, I’d much rather transit through Heathrow than Newark en route to Edinburgh. If you miss your connection in London, you can probably be put on a later flight and still arrive the same day. If you miss your connection in Newark, there might not be another flight until the following day.

Forget Heathrow; the flights are always more expensive going through there and that airport is a hassle; go straight to Edinburgh from Newark or connect in Dublin

If you fly all legs on BA they should connect all via Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

KLM via Amsterdam is another good hub.

Norwegian Air flies nonstop to Edinburgh from a few U.S. airports on the east coast, including a couple smaller ones like Providence. I've flown from Providence to LAX before (assuming you're coming from there for the trip you're asking about) because it was cheaper than flying from Boston, so you might get a decent deal connecting from Providence or Hartford.

I am so sorry that you had such bad luck with your flights. You probably already know this, but when you're booking, make sure you know who is operating the flight. We had a similar situation to yours; we had A BA flight, but it was operated by Aer Lingus, so we had the terminal change. Because they were made as separate reservations, we had to exit Terminal 5 and re-enter the terminal for Aer Lingus (I thought it was #2) and do the whole security thing. We used the Heathrow Express to transfer terminals and it was pretty fast - we got it all done in less than an hour. Good luck with this trip.

I don't know the dates you are flying, but if your starting point is Austin then on a trial run on Travelocity for flights from Austin to Edinburgh, both Virgin Atlantic & American Air offer an Austin - New York City - Edinburgh flight option. Air Canada offers Austin - Toronto - Edinburgh, and United offers Austin - Chicago - Edinburgh.

If you change at Heathrow you will always have to clear security there, unless you are arriving on a domestic flight.

What is the added feature if this is your arrival point into the Common Travel Area, (which includes UK, Ireland, plus the Channel islands and Isle of Man) is that you need to clear immigration there.

If changing terminal you have the choice of using the normal arrival immigration and changing landside, or use the inter-terminal bus and do immigration at your departure terminal before entering the Lounge.

There are no British Airways flights from terminal 2, apart from codeshare. However, there are flights both to Ireland (Aer Lingus) and Scotland (Flybe). These are convenient in a transatlantic travel sense for those arriving on United and Air Canada.

Of course if you are on a BA flight that lands at Terminal 3 (eg Las Vegas) with an onward domestic flight you have to change terminals ....

Aer Lingus flies from LAX to Edinburgh with a layover in Dublin. The second leg From DUB to EDI is on a propeller plane. Norwegian just cancelled the direct service from Hartford to Edinurgh.