Hello,
I'll be landing at Heathrow on Friday, August 26 at 2:15 pm provided there isn't a flight delay in San Jose. Does anyone have recent experience on how long it takes to get luggage and go through customs in the early afternoon?
I want to go from Heathrow to London Euston to catch a train to Glasgow, and the last train departs at 7:30 pm. Is this doable?
Thanks for your help.
Your going to hear a variety of things, but here is my take.
Impossible to predict, especially as it is a mess right now, but still difficult to say in normal times.
Your longest wait is usually immigration/passport check. They are supposed to be making it for US passport holders to use the e-gates, that should be quicker than the old line, but an hour is not unusual from deplaning to clearing immigration.
Baggage claim I have not done, you can search news reports and see the mess it has been in the last few weeks, should take less than a half hour, but right now, many just are not getting their bags. If you can do carry-on, that would be a wise move.
Customs is a non-issue, you have nothing to declare likely, just walk through the exit.
Figure another hour or so to get into London, so under normal conditions, 2 plus hours is typical planning, given current issues, 5 hours should be fine, more so without checked bags. I do not think I would be quick to prepurchase a rail ticket.
Why not see if you can get a flight from Heathrow to Glasgow, 80 minute flight, several offered, and bus is under 15 minutes into town from Glasgow airport. It's a shame that you could not be pointed to this idea before you bought your ticket so that it could be a protected connection. Anyway, in answer to your question, there should be enough time to make that train.
Jesse, you'll be fine. I also like the train due to the scenery and relaxed pace. It's like an added benefit to a trip and you see much more than just flying over it, especially if there are clouds and you don't have a window seat.
The issue is immigration, not customs. If your flight is on time, you'll make the 7:30 PM train with enough time to get something to eat at Euston.
But be aware, your arrival is the Friday of the August Bank Holiday weekend. (A three day weekend.) Trains will be very busy. If you don't have tickets yet, you better get on it.
Sorry, but I wouldn’t want to be travelling through London during rush hour to catch a packed train to Glasgow on a bank holiday weekend whilst jet lagged.
You should be at Euston say three hours or so from landing, so I would try for an earlier train than the 7.30 as that arrives in Glasgow after midnight, at which point you have to try to get to your accommodation.
BA have flights every few hours from Heathrow to Glasgow and I would aim for one of these. Unfortunately, it would have been better to book a through ticket, so allow a margin for delay and aim for a flight around 6 or 7pm, which will get you to Glasgow hours before the train.
Yesterday, July 13, it took about an hour to walk through terminal 2, collect one piece of luggage, clear immigration through a long snaky line where biometric machines were being used and make our way to outside transportation, in our case a National Express bus. We thought this was exceedingly fast for our expectations. We’d purchased a flexible bus ticket that we changed from 14:00 to 12:30 after we got through so fast. We did see many, many unclaimed suitcases at the baggage carrousels from earlier flights and lines of people at the baggage service counters! I carried my bag on, my husband checked his slightly larger bag and we had no trouble yesterday but that was just our experience.
Thanks everyone for your responses. Very helpful.
I wasn't aware of the August Bank Holiday. There are flights from Heathrow to Glasgow that we can book, but we want to consider all our options. If we stayed overnight in London and took a train the next day so we wouldn't be so rushed, would the bank holiday affect train service to Glasgow? Would it be very crowded, and we should reserve a ticket?
Bank Holidays are when bits of the railway get closed for major engineering works. I haven't looked at any of the alterations this year because strikes are often scheduled for Bank Holidays too, and industrial relations this year aren't especially hot.
If there is an Advance ticket available to buy in the Saturday morning, and you are positive you would be able to deal with jetlag well enough to be certain you could catch it, yes. It will be unchangeable and non refundable if it is a cheap one.
If it runs, will it be hot and crowded? Yes.
