Connection time Heathrow to Venice

My view always is, if the airline is selling that 1-hour option THEN the connection is doable.

Assuming it is a single ticket you do nothing with your luggage at LHR.

I would suggest you use the airplane loo just before landing as you will not have time to stop in the airport.

If you are biz class you can use some express lanes as you make the transfer a bit quicker

You will go through a security screening between flights.

If it is 2 separate tickets, your chance of success resembles that of a snowball in Satan's domicile

Thank you both! It is a single ticket. Just to confirm: “doing nothing with luggage” means we’ve checked our suitcase?

It means if you are on a single ticket, your checked bags should be tagged through to Venice, so you won't see them at all at LHR. Just double check with the counter agent when you drop your bags that they've been checked through to your final destination.

Your checked luggage will be transferred between planes by the ground personnel. If you are lucky it will make it to Venice with you.

I would be sure to have your bags well marked and perhaps even leave the info for your Venice hotel in an unlocked outer pocket. Be sure you have a 'survival kit' of clothes in your carry-on if you do have a checked bag

I would give serious consideration to getting to a carry-on only configuration to avoid delayed luggage.

My niece is 12 days into a 17 day trip and still her checked bag has not caught up with her.

Having completed a trip just this month coming and going through Heathrow both ways, I can tell you 1 hour would not have been sufficient either time for us. This is especially true if you are arriving at one terminal and then have to take the bus to another terminal. However, our BA flight home waited a considerable time (30 minutes or more) for a family that was late arriving at the gate. Both times at Heathrow, I saw people ask to move forward or cut in the security line by explaining they were going to miss their plane (some politely and some not). Finally, Heathrow is a real stickler on the liquids and creams check. They define creams as anything spreadable (including solid deodorant and all makeup). They are strict on the size limits for liquids and creams. Put all of that in your checked luggage to avoid the risk of wasting time while they inspect the contents of your plastic bag or, worse, pulling your bag for an extra check for concealed liquids and creams, in which case they unpack your entire bag.

Thank you! I was hoping to carry on, but then I read that we’d have to go through customs at Heathrow and should check our bags to avoid that?

If all you are doing is changing planes, you do not do 'customs' ( immigration); just the security screening between flights.

Plug your flight info into the planner here to see the process

https://www.heathrow.com/connecting-flights

Thank you! That trip planner is a wonderful tool. Reassuring too. Looks like we are flying in and out of the same terminal— and we’ll definitely carry on!

Sharon H, I am doing the same combination on August 29/30th, but I have two hours between my flights. Have you double checked your flight times?

At any rate, when you land at Heathrow you will follow purple signs that say "Flight Connections". You will reach a point where there are two lines. The first is for UK/Ireland and the other is for International Connections. You will show your passport, do a biometric scan, and be sent onto the security area.

The biggest time saver is to make sure that you have your carryons ready to go through security again. Make sure any water you picked up after security in Seattle or on the airplane is gone. Have all of your liquids in an appropriate plastic bag and easy to slip out of your bag. Have your electronics ready to slip out. Empty your pockets. Security isn't too bad unless you get sent to secondary screening when they x-ray. Do all you can to avoid secondary screening by complying with all regulations. If you are ready, that is a time saver as well.

As soon as you are past security, look at the departures board to find your gate. If it is listed, head there immediately. If not, keep close track of when they will post it since it is done far closer to the flight time than we might be used to in the US. Sometimes they will tell you the general area before they tell you the gate. Whatever information is there, head that direction.

IF you take off in time, it's been my experience that the flight usually picks up time in the air. Of course, then you need a gate to be available early.
Check Flight Aware to research the dependability of that flight.
Good luck!

Checking Flight Aware for flight dependability will not yield any useful information, because everything is so different right now. Especially if it involves Heathrow, which is such a mess they are canceling thousands of flights for July and August, and maybe into September. Our late August flight from Heathrow to Milan was just canceled 2 days ago. I haven’t heard anything about our September flight from Venice back to Heathrow, so I am hoping that one doesn’t get canceled—-for your sake as well as ours.

As far as flight history goes, here is our anecdotal information. We have taken the Seattle to Heathrow flight about 10 times in recent years (but not the last two). It is “usually” very dependable and on time, but once they had a problem connecting to the gate and had to bring up a truck with the portable stairs. That added an hour to the time it took us to deplane.

The one time our plane was significantly late was our last flight with BA, to Barcelona in 2019. The plane was 2 hours late leaving Seattle—-first time that ever happened (it is sometimes 30 minutes late leaving but they can make up that time easily). The late departure left us with only 30 minutes to get to our Barcelona flight, which involved a change of terminals to T3. But there were enough of us on the plane from Seattle and going to Barcelona (16 in all) that they totally expedited our connection—-having everyone stay seated to let us off the plane first, then bringing up a special bus to take us to T3, providing an escort to get us through security quickly and lead us to the gate, where our plane was waiting. We were very impressed with that. But unfortunately they probably couldn’t do that now—-not enough staff to make it work.

Carol gave you great advice on making the pass through security quick and easy. That, and just moving along quickly through the airport, is about all you can do. It is good that you stay in T5, but you may still have to transfer from 5C to 5A or 5B. Make sure you understand the “flight connections” path (follow the purple signs) and check the boards frequently for your departure gate. Sometimes they do not post it until almost time to board, and then you have to hustle.

Looking at BA flights SEA-LHR-VCE, the shortest time at LHR I can find is 1hr 55 min.

Are you sure about your times?

Thank you all! I so appreciate the wisdom and experience of this community. ( I wish I were mistaken about the times. It’s BA flight 48 on September 15, arriving on September 16, connecting with 2584.)

Ooops.

I failed to scroll to the Bottom of the list for the most expensive ticket.

The good news is there are 2 more LHR-VCE flights after yours, so if you do miss the scheduled flight, all hope is not lost

Good Luck

One other thing about Heathrow security: There is no special treatment of medically-necessary liquids, creams, etc. Everything in that form must fit in one quart-size bag.