US arrivals at Heathrow w/new E-gate policy

There have been a couple threads recently, including some responses of people who were able to use the e-gates. I think the assessment is that yes, it is quicker, but still dependent on what the overall volume of people is, how many have problems, etc. Figure even with e-gates, 3 hours to get to central London and figure out where your train is (I suppose that also depends if you have made the trip before) is still tight, not accounting for any arrival delays.

I guess consider the cost of just buying a ticket when to get to Euston vs the risk of missing a train, and having to buy one there anyway. You may look into if a fully refundable/changeable option is available for an added cost, betting on a risk my be a case of being penny wise and Pound foolish.

Our whole group of 21 were able to use the EGates about 2.5 weeks ago coming into LHR from DC. Had no problems at all and breezed right through.

I think you will probably be ok with the 10:10 am, assuming your flight is on time. For what it is worth, we arrived in LHR from the US at 7:20 am on a Monday and were standing in line at Windsor castle by 9:30 am. Maybe that was faster than usual, I am not sure. It was a breeze. We would have been there even earlier if we had not walked all the way to the bus station and turned around and walked back to terminal 3 before settling on an Uber. I think we cleared immigration within 30 minutes of landing.

Thanks all! - And thanks for the specifics Ferrin - that is crazy fast. Tim - you mentioned you breezed thru a few weeks ago - how long was that from getting off the plan to thru immigration?

I have been able to use the egates for a few years thanks to Registered Traveler.

My record from plane to tube was 12 minutes in Terminal 5 in the late evening. Don't expect it to be that fast as it depends on how many people are arriving around the same time, which terminal, how far your plane parks from immigration, etc. But the actual process is not long. There is a problem with the computer chip in my passport so I have to go to the side desk where they just verify it's me. Takes less than a minute.

The e-gates are definitely faster. We went through in Terminal 3 a week ago; the line was very short and we were through in less than 5 minutes ( after a loooong walk from the gate).

However, our plane was late in landing because we had to circle and await a landing slot. Then the taxi to the gate took forever, and we still had to wait for the assigned gate to be cleared. So all that used up an hour.

What is the additional cost of a ticket if you miss the 10:10 and have to buy a walk-up ticket on the 11:10?

Thanks for that info Lola - very helpful taking into consideration the other minutiae. I'm currently trying to figure out the cost of re-booking or adjusting the time. The Virgin website was a bit confusing on whether you could rebook same day or not if you did it with enough advanced time before your train departure. I'm waiting on an email back to confirm cost if I did that.