silvermine

need to switch terminals in the wee hours of the morning... both british airways flights. inbound flight arrives about 0500 into T4 and outbound leaves from T1 at 0750 to another EU destination. what would be the best / easiest way to connect?

also what about checking luggage through as well on that connection?
too risky?

am travelling on a british passport.

any advice/recent experiences appreciated. thanks!

NJ_Dave

If both flights are BA, there should be no problem checking your luggage all the way through. Just make sure they put a 'short transfer' tag on it as it's quite a tight connection. And there are regular shuttle buses running between the terminals, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Elvira

Nearly 3 hours isn't tight, surely? It usually takes about 1.25 to 1.5 hours to get from one terminal to the other (from landing to getting to the other gate).

The biggest hassle is going through the security check in between. Lines can be very long, but even so I've never waited more than 20 minutes.

Bob

shuttle buses are regular...but in those hours who knows...but it's only a few miles walk and you've got the time...

Elvira

Sometimes the airline will lay on a special bus for 'their' passengers. If there is a delay, it's always a good idea to let the flight attendants know so they can arraneg something.

In any event, if both flights are BA, even if the OP misses the connection, they'll just put him on the next flight.

FWIW, I do this all the time and I've never yet missed a connection. On the contrary, I sometimes find that I'm there in time for an earlier flight and, if I happen to be in luck and deal with a sympathetic ground staff person, they may even let me on!

silvermine

oh thank you so much.. i would have never thought of that

silvermine

short transfer tag. never heard of that... hmmm thanks, will certainly keep in mind.


really i guess the question is whether to take the flight connection centre route or clear through immigration and take the heathrow express over to T1.

which way for the easiest quickest transfer ..???
anyone do any recent transfers at heathrow?

Bob

don't bother with immigration, go the transfer route, it'll be quicker and that's what it is for...saves having to deal with a lot more immigration.

TouristTrap

Bloody Heathrow. Last time I went through there, I had 3 babies, a helluva lot of luggage, was on my own, flying Jhb-Ldn-Newark-FL (had a huge special on flights at the time).

The only think that kept me sane were the wonderful BA folk.

gruffbrown

Were you there long then?

Minty

My kids did the same this summer flying from Sweden to LAX. When they arrived at LHR they went to the transit lounge to change terminals.

If you follow this link

http://www.heathrowairport.com/porta...00147e120a____

you will see on the left hand side links showing how to get fom one terminal to another and how long it will take.

Hope this helps

Minty

silvermine

just follow up on my experience.
decided to risk checking luggage through to germany, so said luggage needed to be transferred within 3 hours from T-4 to T-1. this worked ok but just barely, and a FA on the next flight checked that the bag was in fact on board.

switched from T-4 to T-1 throught the flight connection centre, which worked extremely well/fast other than a 15 min. wait at security (and this was at 0530 , cannot imagine how it would be later on in the day :scared: ).
total time to do this about 1 hr 15 mins.


on the return flight to BOS from T4, used the tube and the connector bus at hatton cross. very efficient at around 0745hrs. total time from south ken to LHR T-4 less than one hour.

bottom line in my opinion when switching terminals from T4 to T1,2,3 or vice versa at heathrow, allow quite a bit of time between flights... no one hour connection will ever work.

Celsius

One reason I avoid LHR wherever possible. Far too big an airport.

Sue

You might find the following useful
http://www.airportguides.co.uk/guides/heathrow/

Sue

Bob

but ooooh so much nicer than Gatwick...plus far more choices of routes....