i plan on traveling to italy in late august & found a pretty good deal with british airways that comes with a 1 hour & 15 minute layover @ london heathrow airport. my flight from the states would land in heathrow @ 6:25 in the morning and my flight to milan linate airport would leave @ 7:40 in the morning. Both flights land/depart @ terminal 5. i've never flown through heathrow before, so i'm on the fence about what to do. can me & my checked luggage make that connection, or should i choose an itinerary with a longer layover? i've found a couple of other itineraries with british airways via heathrow that would cost me the same, but i'd obviously much rather have a 1-2 hour layover than a 3-5 hour layover. if i somehow miss my connection, i can just get on the next flight, that's not a problem, but i'd be worried about my checked luggage perhaps being on a flight that i'm not on. is this a valid concern? does anyone have a suggestion regarding what i should do? any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance for any help!
Posted by
winston salem, nc, usa
1078 posts
With that kind of connection, you don't check luggage. I have had many people who have tried to meet me at the final airport who went through Heathrow and spent the balance of the trip chasing their checked luggage as we moved about. BA and AA(in my opinion) are lousy in that department once you are out of the US.
Posted by
PA
2858 posts
We've flown through T5 from the US on a 90 minute with no problem. Your checked luggage should be fine, all they have to do is move it from plane to plane. While1:15 is tight, it is also a legal connection and if it misses for any reason on their part they have to accommodate you, as long as it's on the same ticket - which it sounds like it is.
The long-haul flights arrive at the smaller outer T5 building, and you take a 30 second tube ride to the larger T5 building, that transit is every couple minutes. You come up, go though passport control and then on to a security rescreening (somehow, they can't figure out how to keep you sterile on this passage and on to your departure). Flights to Europe depart from this larger T5 building. If by some chance they get your luggage to the earlier flight but can't get you on it, then it should be waiting for you when you arrive on the next flight. I chose nto to have me sons on a 1 hour layover this summer as they had not flown before bu they would have made it. I believe they will also assist you to get ahead if you are time-squeezed. My reasoning was simply that I did not want them to have to figure out how to get taken care of if there were problems. One note - BA security is not the same as TSA. For example, my kids had to toss their bottle of sterile saline for their contact lenses because BA does not allow that as a separate item the way TSA does here, unless there is a prescription. Really now. If you are returning from Italy via BA through Heathrow, you will probably be subject to BA specific screening rules in Italy, that happened to my kids when boarding for home at Schiphol.
Posted by
OP
Natick, Mass, USA
31 posts
thanks for the info larry!
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
265 posts
It's not because they can't manage to keep people sterile at Heathrow that you have to clear security again, it's just the rules. All international connections in Heathrow are subject to rescreening.
Posted by
OP
Natick, Mass, USA
31 posts
so i guess the line for passport control and security shouldn't be a problem...?
Posted by
Copenhagen, Denmark
265 posts
You will go through security at Heathrow, but not through immigration, since you are not entering the UK. (The UK is not part og Schengen immigration area). You will clear immigration at Milan. If you miss your flight to Milan, You will be put on the next available BA flight. I would go with the shorter connection, but try to be seated in the front of the plane in order to reach security before everybody else backs up the queue!