Transiting UK airports Landside
 

Will be very briefly returning to the UK but in transit to somewhere else late June but we have bags and are ongoing on Easyjet so have to cross the border at Gatwick. Just tried to complete a UK Gov Passenger Locator Form and the three options provided were not applicable so had to say that I was transiting the UK AIRSIDE within 24 hours or if I proceeded after ENTERING THE UK I hit a brick wall when it got to the bit about booked tests as it needed a booked test reference.

By entering on the form that one is transiting the UK airside one avoids the detailed questioning regarding where one came from and where one transited in the last 10 days. Hopefully will not be arriving from a RED zone country but it will likely be amber.

Presumably the lack of foresight on the part of the part of the form developer and the queueing mechanism is going to cause delays at the Border but have other's experienced the process as it relates to this type of 'transit' and are able to provide some feedback to ease my concerns. Would hate this to be a red rag to a bull type of process. Have allowed 6+ hours for our flight connection. We have vaccination certificates for our onwards to Portugal. Thanks!

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

There's a helpline that may be able to advise, email:

[email protected]

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

Thanks for this but my query relates more to the Border Agency procedures relating to form filling and processing at the actual Border than the issue of covid and contact tracing or actual quarantine which I am of course strenuously trying to avoid when I'm simply in transit as I have no intention of leaving the airport.

The Border Agency seem like a completely different animal these days and I would hate to get on the wrong side of them on a 'bad day' for them.

We are arriving at Gatwick.

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

Border Force advice is:
https://www.gov.uk/provide-journey-c...fore-travel-uk

Transiting through the UK

Before travel to the UK

If you will be transiting through the UK, you need to do the following before you travel to the UK:

• take a coronavirus test
• complete the passenger locator form

If you will be transiting landside through the UK, you need to do the following when you complete your passenger locator form.

• select ‘Stay in the UK’ under the Your travel plans section
• reply ‘No’ to any questions about whether you are required to complete COVID-19 tests on arrival
• reply ‘No’ to the question ‘Have you visited a Red List country within the past 10 days and/or are required by law to quarantine in a government approved facility?’

When you transit through the UK

You do not need to quarantine or take a COVID-19 test on arrival or on day 2 and day 8.

This applies if you are transiting ‘airside’ or ‘landside’.​​​​​​

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

Very good! Thanks for this!

Say NO to the requirement for self isolation in the UK and give the approved reason Transiting the UK landside in England THEN in the testing in the UK after arrival bit click NO again and then find the approved reason for exemption which is Transiting the UK landside in England and click on it. Then take a lie-down after naming three other islands in transit.

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

Don't know if this applies to you, but DH and I flew from Charleston, SC to LHR on BA (direct), then flew from LHR to Amsterdam, also on BA in 2019.. We bought the tickets separately with points. Bought the main flight ahead of time, and the Amsterdam flight later, i.e. not a CHS to AMS deal. When we got to the CHS airport they would not send our bags straight through to AMS. (After much arguing). We had to pick up our bags at Heathrow, leave the secure zone, and come back in just like everyone else, and go through security again. Only just made our flight, which was delayed a bit. All on BA!

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

That predicament is exactly like ours BUT at present BA short-haul only operates from LHR and BA Caribbean flights (excluding Barbados) arrive at LGW until later in July when certain flights from St Lucia in the weekly schedule go into LHR.

We are flying from St Lucia on BA and then onwards on Easyjet from LGW to Funchal Madeira and it works as the spread is 6+ hours so we should?? make it in spite of likely severe border delays.

Direct BA connections to avoid crossing the border (one hour at LHR) from St Lucia via LHR in July to destinations such as Lisbon are reasonably priced for onwards to Funchal on TAP but most directs are extremely expensive so really a non-starter, as we are one-ways (returns are even more expensive).

I too would have liked to ask check-in in St Lucia to send the bags through to the final destination in spite of it being two tickets but then the BA short-haul flights moving across to LHR made that unfeasible and we have to visit St Lucia from here (Grenada) after trying to get there for over a year so we can't even try to use the into LHR and out of LHR flights to get to Funchal on BA. Funchal is a hot ticket destination right now due to its relaxation of requirements for those who have been vaccinated so there is precious little chance of fares coming down anytime soon.

Easyjet are now charging over 250 pounds one-way for flights with bags to Funchal late June. In the last week since Portugal was put on the Green List their pure fare element has gone from 80 pounds to 190 pounds.

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

If you're making a return trip, consider leaving most of your stuff behind and travelling with hand luggage only, even if this means buying a few items on arrival. You could stay airside and relax, avoiding the queues, crowding and time pressure.

And if it's a one-way trip, could you send your luggage separately?

There's inconvenience whatever you do.

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

Had thought about all of that but we left the UK in October 2019 and have all of our baggage with us having been in Grenada for over a year. Can't really leave anything behind as it would mean having to get it later and having to live off what is in one carry-on bag and a computer bag for four more months.

You can't transit airside unless permitted to do so and that is not available for BA to Easyjet.

Gatwick Flight Connections:

International to international flight connections

If you’re arriving at Gatwick from an international flight, are connecting on to another international destination you have some choices to make depending on your circumstances:

1. If your hold bags are through checked or you’re travelling with hand luggage only and you have your boarding pass, simply follow signs for International Flight Connections*. There is no need to clear Passport Control or Customs.

or

2. If your hold bags are not through checked, you must collect them at Gatwick. Follow signs to Baggage Reclaim – you will need to pass through Passport Control on your way – and then proceed to the check-in desk for your next flight.

Please note that all easyJet passengers must follow option 2 above, even if you are travelling with hand luggage only.

Sending luggage from say St Lucia into the EU and say Portugal could be one heck of a nightmare right now, let alone the expense. I sent a tiny envelope to HMRC for my taxes (form sa109) that cost 90 quid.

At least, thanks to your help, I have been able to complete the Passenger Locator Form to the required parameters rather than fudging it so there is that. Trying anything else would be even more of a headache but the transit airside, per my previous, is not an option anyway with BA at Gatwick and it would be a whole new ball-game changing our flights into the UK to LHR in July when the fare goes up dramatically from that we are at present paying into LGW late in June.

I'll tell you that we have been so boxed-in with our travel and endless flight and necessary hotel cancellations, 'permanent' withdrawal of flight service from here to St Lucia on BA, volcanoes erupting, lack of alternative access to St Lucia from here until only last week due to favourable travel bubble rule changes, Grenada Immigration rules for us overstayers, constant UK rule changes impacting flight schedules, EU rules and restrictions and bans, original plans to actually travel to Morocco which we are actually still looking at (yep looks bonkers), vaccine roll-out schedules impacting previously listed items here, lost funds on several airbnb booking cancellations even after covid which we are trying to limit,

Feel a little fragile.

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

I went ahead and checked what the cost of shipping a bag from here to Portugal would be and for two us with 23kg bags there would be no change from US$1,000 - loads of cost add-ons likely as well. Plus they don't ship to the islands such as Madeira.

So no help there even IF we could transit airside at LGW.

Checked what shipping a bag to the UK would be for later in the year and the price was just about the same give or take a few fees.

Re: Transiting UK airports Landside
 

This bit has a significant bearing on how exactly one proceeds landside to one's next mode of transport out of the UK:

"If you are transiting landside (entering the UK from outside the Common Travel Area), you must be entering the UK for the sole purposes of continuing a journey to a country outside of the Common Travel Area. You must either:

• remain within your port of entry until your departure from England, or
• travel directly from your port of entry to another port of departure in England"

Previously I had been led to believe that one can proceed onwards within 24 hours of arrival (which would allow an overnight at a local hotel and early departure the next day), however this is only for transit airside within the rules. I would not want to be tinkering with the rules right now.

Therefore it is critical to be able to locate an onwards flight connection which is not only doable bearing in mind potential delays at the border but also that typically flights to destinations such as Spain and Portugal on carriers such as Easyjet have already left or are ready to leave right at the time when transatlantics arrive at Gatwick in current airline scheduling.

A Saturday UK arrival seems to, at present, work much better than a weekday, with this issue.