Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

Hi, I (UKC, US permanent resident), wife (USC), and two children (four year old and four month old at time of travel, dual nationals with US passports) are flying to the UK soon for a visit, landing at Heathrow T3 at 6.50am on a Sunday.

What are people's experiences under similar circumstances, in getting through immigration etc at this terminal? How long long has it taken from the plane landing to getting to the various transportation options? We are taking the Heathrow express from there. Would two hours be reasonable? What hold ups have you experienced or issues at immigration? I assume as we are all travelling together, we can go through the same immigration queue? Can we all go through the EU nationals queue?

Thanks for any advice/input.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

From the plane takes about ~10 mins to walk to immigration.

You can go together to whichever line has less people.

Impossible to predict how busy it will be, depends on the number of flights that have arrived. The non-EU line will off course take longer.

By the time you pass immi your luggage should hopefully already be waiting to be picked up.

After you exit, walk towards Boots and go down the ramp on the left. Again about 10 mins walk to get to Heathrow Express.

2 hours will be more than enough time.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

With luggage, 30 is a great clearance time. 60 minutes would be a good clearance time. 90 is bad. 120 minutes not likely unless 10 planes arrive in front of you and there is a breakdown in luggage.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

Yea should have mentioned normally Im already on the bus going home within 30 mins of landing, but thats just me and using the e-gates (when they are working). With 2 kids and maybe more luggage, you should be on the train to Paddington within 45-60 mins max.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

Incidentally the Heathrow Express is the most expensive train per mile in the country. There are many less expensive routes from Heathrow that may be cheaper & more convenient.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

Definitely! Tube is far cheaper.
My record coming into Term3 at 6.30am is 30 minutes from landing to being in the terminal, landside, heading for the station. I would always allow a minimum of an hour though.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

Last time I went through coming back from Denver none of the E-Gates were working - it was horrendous!

Usually though I find it to be about 30-45 minutes which isn't too bad.

As said above, the tube is the far cheaper and usually better option.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

At 6.50am on Sunday the airport may be relatively quiet, so I would guess the shortest time is quite possible. That said, if there aren't staff to unload the luggage it doesn't matter how quick immigration are if you spend half an hour in the bagage hall waiting for your cases.
If I was traveling with two small children and had just spent $4,000+ on airline tickets I would probably think the Heathrow express is good value compared to taking small children plus luggage on the tube after a sleepless night on an overnight flight.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

I would think that Sunday mornings are more or less as busy as any other morning. Heathrow has many, many morning long-haul arrivals, and it will depend on OP's actual arrival time versus other flights plus extent to which staffing is adequate.

Re: Time needed to exit Heathrow T3
 

Every morning is busy at Heathrow, it's when a lot of the long hauls come in. Sunday's are no different. How long it takes you to get through is like asking how long is a piece of string. The good thing is they've moved Air India over to T4 I think. That was always chaos. The PIA flights can cause some queues too, not sure if they have been bumped out of T3 as well.
With regards to the Heathrow Express, yeah, it's a little pricey, but it's worth every penny compared to the other options you have.