Thoughts on British Airways

Personally, it's worth $100 to me not to fly through Heathrow.

Judy - My wife and I prefer to use BA when traveling to Europe. They have a non-stop flight from PHX to LHR. I would allow at least 2 hrs for a connecting flight(but that's just me)

Agree with Joel. Allow 2 hours at a minimum going through Heathrow. One negative with BA: they don't give frequent flier mileage credit for any transatlantic flight.

Just wanted to add that BA charges for seat assignments. Expect to pay $90 per person for your 4 legs (assuming all are on BA) if you care for advanced seat assignments or you can take your chances and wait to select seats 24 hrs before departure.

Everyone complains about connecting at LHR, but personally I don't find it that bad. It is a big airport so you need to allow time, but there are other airports that I think are worse. I have missed connections twice at LHR, but both times it was because my flight from the States was delayed ... I knew that I would miss my connection before we even landed. Each time, I was put on the next flight. This is one of the pros about Heathrow; there is probably another flight to your final destination later in the day.

The LHR website shows minimum connecting times. It depends on where you are flying to/from and which terminals you are using. In general, I allow 2 hours at Heathrow.

BA only charges for seat assignments if you want to reserve in advance. Otherwise, you can choose your seat 24 hours in advance.

I hate transfers at LHR. You have to go through security just to change from one terminal to another. The security lines are long and understaffed. Horrible. If your connection time is short, you might miss your flight, so allow 2-3 hours between flights.

Having carry-ons only is not really an issue and gives you no advantage. If you had checked baggage it would be checked through to Berlin anyway, so you wouldn't have to deal with it at LHR.

I agree with Laura about LHR. I have some long walks in LHR, but never any hassles. If you fly BA, you will probably land at Terminal 5, and it's a fair bet that if you're continuing on with BA to Berlin, your flight will leave from Terminal 5 as well. If not, you will definitely need to allow time for a terminal change, but even those aren't that bad as LHR's internal transportation system (in my experience, anyway) is pretty on the ball. Also, re BA, apart from a school trip in 1985 I've always flown BA to Europe and I've always been pleased with the service.

As for airports I'd pay to stay away from, having been through Charles de Gaulle a couple of times, I'd do anything to not have to go there ever again!

I have to agree with Jerry. It's certainly worth $100 to me not to have to fly through Heathrow. I've looked at that connection many times, and I always conclude the same. I'd rather fly directly to Germany, and get there in the morning, with plenty of daylight to get to my final destination, than spend four or more hours in Heathrow and get to Germany in the late afternoon.

Thanks for all your replies on BA. Seems like a lot of negatives. We're checking Delta, Air France etc, so we can get FF miles, seat assignments etc. We might even go round trip to Berlin as that's cheaper.
How much time do you need in Amsterdam and Paris between flights? I know some things have changed with increased security since Christmas.

Judy, I agree with Teresa. I personally think CDG is the absolute worst airport to transfer; I'll pay $100 more to fly through LHR rather than fly through CDG :)

On the other hand, I think AMS is quite decent for transfers. So if your choice is between transferring in Paris and transferring in Amsterdam, go with Amsterdam.

I have to agree that connecting at Heathrow is very stressful; after having done that once in 2003 from SFO, I thought there has got to be a better way since we barely made it to our connecting flight to Paris because the lines were so long and seemed to go nowhere. But flying into Heathrow as a final destination from a transatlantic flight is all right with BA...no problems there when I did that in June 2009.

To avoid all the potential stress and and unforeseen problems with connecting flights, etc., I have found that flying directly into Paris, London, or Frankfurt is the best, provided that the price is not outrageous.
AND, I always arrive from California sometime in the morning between 0800 and 1100 local time, which is exactly the time I prefer.

Jim and I have used heathrow both as a destination stop and an connector - have had no problems. We were there last may and with the construction walked right through passport control.

On our return to heathrow to catch our flight within europe, we arrived two hours early, walked through security and passport control with little waiting.

I would give yourself at least two hours to get through security (be prepared to take off your shoes etc)., and get to your connecting flight.

Happy travels.

Hi Judy, you are getting some strange info in a couple of cases. Have flown BA every year for the past 15 years. Never transfered out of LHR so can't help you there. I don't consider security/passport control much different than other airports. Well, actually I do. At LHR security actually checks you and your bags compared to other airports on the continent. Many security checkpoints on the continent don't check much at all which doesn't make me feel safe. You get through the line faster but safer, not so much. Getting an assigned seat with BA will cost $30 per person/per flight segment, $75 for an exit row, $90 in business or you can wait and select your seat free on the net 24 hours prior to your flight. You receive FF miles for international flights for which you have paid. If you are using FF miles for the flight - you don't. Wordy, sorry. Have a great trip.