Departing from Edinburgh Airport to USA changing planes at Heathrow

Is this all on one ticket? Not is is all on one airline but is it on one ticket meaning you didn't buy the flights separately.

If on one ticket, your luggage will be checked through to Nashville.

There is no passport check or customs check leaving the UK. The airline will check to make sure you have a valid passport.

No Covid check needed to enter the US if you are a US citizen.

Go to this website, plug in your flight information and it will give you step by step instructions on what to do including which terminals your flights wll be:

http://www.heathrow.com/flight-connections

Heathrow Gates and terminals will be determined closer to the actual flights.
My experience is that you will go thru Passport control once you land at Heathrow- it is an electronic scan usually that doesn't involve staff, and has been a very quick process. (You will also go thru this process at EDI.)
Even tho you are staying inside Heathrow, there will be an additional security (TSA-type) with carry-ons moving thru the scanner and your person walking thru the scanner. There are lines, but the lines generally move pretty well.
Safe travels!

Actually, since you are arriving at Heathrow on a flightthat originated in the UK, you should not have to go through security again (unless there are special protocols for US-bound flights I am not aware of). And your passport should be checked before you board in Edinburgh. You will not pass through immigration at Heathrow. But your passport will be checked again at the gate as you board your US-bound flight.

Lola is correct, Pat is wrong. She is giving information as if you were arriving from outside the UK.

No passport control, no extra security. Which terminal is decided way before your day of flight. You will arrive in the main terminal area and just have to go to your next gate.

As of now, flight FROM EDI and flights TO BNA are both at Heathrow Terminal 5.

Just did this in October with the only difference being going to Chicago from Heathrow. I don’t recall us going through security again at Heathrow, but we may have, just can’t remember for sure. Your checked bags should go through to Nashville if you are on one airline/ticket. When you check in at EDI ask/check the bag tag for the airport designation.

Speaking of EDI, that is where we had issues, not Heathrow (though we had to change terminals coming to the UK and going through security wasn’t fun there. Lots of yelling and cattle herding.) We had a 6:30 am flight and got there at 5. We flew AA and the line to check in went out beyond the area strapped off. They had about 5 check ins at first with just one for priority flyers. That changed to 2 priority check ins. We started to worry if we would make our flight. Got our bag checked and headed to security. It was a madhouse there. Just a mass of humanity trying to figure out where to go. Luckily not a long walk to the gate and we got there with 10 minutes to spare before boarding.

Loved Scotland, loved Edinburgh would go back in a second.

My daughter flew from EDI thru Heathrow to San Diego this past August. While her memory fails on passport control, she definitely had to go thru the security line in Terminal 5, where your carry-on bags and body go thru the screening devices. She also flew other destinations within the UK, and this was not required at the smaller airports.
Safe travels!

She shouldn't have gone through security. I've flown from numerous airports in the UK through Heathrow and never had to go through security. From outside the UK, yes, from inside the UK, no.

Was she on separate tickets and had to collect baggage? If so, then yes, she would have to exit airside, collect her luggage, and then go back through security.

Yes, our ticket is a single ticket/booking code through AA flying on BA equipment.
Thanks everyone!

Terminal 5 has three buildings. Main terminal (A gates), Satellite B (B gates) and Satellite C (C gates). Most flights to the USA leave from B or C. Most internal UK flights arrive in the main terminal. But not always. Sometimes they arrive in B or C. (There is an underground tram between the three.)

If you arrive at B or C, don't automatically follow the crowd to the main terminal. If your flight to Nashville leaves from B or C, just hang out there.

Frank, answers to your questions are all no.

Pat, rather than follow the flight connections signs she must have followed the crowd out of airside towards baggage claim and then had to go through security to get back airside.

It was unnecessary but lots of people do this.

I went to the Heathrow flight connections website and plugged in arrival flight from Edinburgh and departure flight to Nashville. This is what it said:

Welcome to Heathrow
Simply follow the purple signs for Flight Connections when you leave the plane.

Departure lounge
When you arrive at your departure lounge, the screens will show when your flight is ready for boarding. In the meantime, just relax.

Ready to fly
Our colleagues are here to make sure you have enough time to catch your onward flight, you know where to go and your carry-on bags meet the rules of your airline.

No mention of security, passport control or anything else.

Frank, nope, she followed the purple lines/signs.

I don't know how she did that unless someone at Heathrow screwed up.

I flew Edinburgh to LHR to BNA (Nashville) on August 8, 2022 on a single British Airways ticket. This is how it worked:

Edinburgh
-I had checked in online the day before and already had boarding passes for both flights
- I had only carry on luggage but opted to stand in line at the BA desk to have my passport checked there...just to be on the safe side. Maybe I could have skipped that and had my passport checked at the gate.
-I went through the security checkpoint.
-At the gate, I heard an announcement that the flight was full. Because I was in the last boarding class, I chose to gate check my rollaboard with the gate agent because I knew overhead space would already be full by the time I boarded. She tagged it all the way to BNA, and I didn't see it again until I arrived at BNA.

Heathrow
-Arrived at Terminal 5 and departed from Terminal 5.
- Because I had already cleared security at another UK airport, I did not need to go through security again.
-I followed the signs for Connecting flight-Terminal 5 and walked right into the huge departure lounge.
-I carefully watched the departures board, then once the flight to BNA gate was announced with "proceed to gate." I immediately proceeded to the gate

Thanks for the follow-up. That is the normal procedure when arriving at Heathrow on a flight from within the UK, such as Edinburgh.

We do not know why Pat’s daughter had a different experience..

Edit: I just noticed that the sign you followed for flight connections mentioned Terminal 5. So this was a separate path for the passengers on your plane from EDI?

Lola, am I correct in thinking your question about the Connecting terminals sign was directed to me? If so, I don't remember the axact answer today. But, in posting the response yesterday, I copied the Travel Forum response I made to a similar query very soon after my Aug. 2022 flight.