Questions About a Tight Connection Time...

[Boatmans Lady]

I have flown through LHR more than 50 times coming inbound from other countries on BA and we have parked off ramp and had busses take us to T5 with a long walk. You have to consider delays outbound as well.

 

Thank you for confirming that you can be parked on a remote stand and needing to bussed to the terminal. This has happened to me more than once when returning home as Heathrow is my nearest major airport and unless I'm flying to Orlando, most long haul flights are from here for me.

 

As I said, BA wouldn't have ticketed it, if it wasn't achievable, but to my mind, I like to know all scenarios.

[John182]

Thank you all for your replies! I guess bottom line is that assuming flight from FCO to LHR is on time, we should be fine. (Didn't mention that my wife is still on the mend from hip replacement surgery so we did request some kind of accommodation if necessary. Might come in useful navigating through LHR...)

 

And AFAIK, our flight is the last direct one of the day to LAX. (I really do want to make this flight because we got nice seats on the upper deck of the A380 and from what I can tell, for some reason this flight (at least the business class) is at most 40% full!)

 

Anyway, what happens happens. When we get to Rome and I hear the flight is delayed 30 minutes then I might go into full freak out mode but until then, I intend to savor four lovely days in Venice and then our first cruise on Regent!

 

RK

Enjoy your vacation and like you say worry about the flight home only when you have to. BA should provide you with an electric buggy if you have been contact them about your wife recovering from her surgery and of course they will be aware of your connection so you should be off the Rome flight first. They used to have someone waiting for you to guide you to the Flight Connections centre after which it will just be security screening and going to the next gate.

 

I went through a phase of my business life running two projects, one in NYC and one in Geneva, which had me working to a typical 90 minute connection time and only ever had one problem in about 20 times and that was when BA had terminal 4 rather than 5 which was nowhere near as efficient. Oh and my luggage made it checked through every time. I was, of course, lucky in that respect.

[rallydave]

As I said, BA wouldn't have ticketed it, if it wasn't achievable, but to my mind, I like to know all scenarios.

 

Sorry but, IMHO achievable is a poor choice of words for this subject. Airports have and list "legal" connections depending on terminals, type of connection, whether international travel is included as well as the location of the aircraft (at a gate or remotely parked). Until the location of the inbound and outbound aircraft are known, any location changes make the "legal" connection time an unknown.

 

And ALL airlines have to adhere to "legal" connection times when taking bookings involving connections not just BA. In other words the booked connection was "legal" when booked however circumstances change and can and sometimes do make the connection possibly missed. In most cases a "legal" connection is makeable and made however there are always circumstances that affect the actual connection. Cannot know until the actual day and more often than not the connection is a piece of cake.

 

Good luck to the OP.

[Gilly]

Actually, in the case of LHR5, remote parking of the aircraft means that you will be delivered to a more central area of the terminal than using an airbridge, much closer to the Flight Connections centre and Immigration, at least. Every cloud has a silver lining eh?

[rallydave]

Actually, in the case of LHR5, remote parking of the aircraft means that you will be delivered to a more central area of the terminal than using an airbridge, much closer to the Flight Connections centre and Immigration, at least. Every cloud has a silver lining eh?

 

Yes Gilly, that is a silver lining for the people in the coach section of the plane however a possible big negative for those in Business/First Class who in many situations are not the first people into the terminal as while they will get off the aircraft first, they then become the first into the bus transportation and likely the last off the bus and into the terminal.

 

Seems almost every silver lining has a positive for some and negative for others. Simply can't have it all.

[Gilly]

We usually fly business and in my experience they load the business class into the first bus to leave...I agree, it might differ, depending on the size of the plane, but so far, it's not been an issue. Nothing is certain - but then that's life, isn't it?

[John182]

I thought it strange that Regent had booked the FCO flight when there is an earlier one ,BA553, on every day of the week apart from Mondays which leaves at either 11.25 or 11.40. I assume this is a possibility but I have never tried to travel from the port to the airport.

 

So I did a couple of dummy bookings and the business fare was over twice as much for the earlier flight so maybe that's why Regent opted for the tighter connection.

[ronrick1943]

Just be aware, we we're told once we'd land in T5 and take off from T5 (all flights BA), however we landed in T-3 and it takes more time than you have to change flights. Lucky for us we had a longer layover or we wouldn't have made it. Just saying you never know until you land.

[RachelG]

Almost all flights from within Europe to LHR land at terminal 5

[flossie009]

Many BA European flights operate from LHR T5.

Notable exceptions include BA flights to/from Barcelona, Lisbon and Marseille which operate from LHR T3.

 

Many BA flights to/from the USA operate from LHR T5.

Notable exceptions include BA flights to/from Denver, Phoenix, Miami and Las Vegas which operate from LHR T3.

 

The Terminal 5 main building (T5A) is 400metres (0.25 mile) long so there can be some distance to be covered depending on the aircraft stand locations.

There are also two satellite buildings (T5B & T5C) linked by an underground transit system back to T5A.

 

 

RK, Your booked flights FCO-LHR-LAX should be OK, but no dawdling in the shops at Heathrow!

If you are concerned it may be worth asking Regent if you can get on BA553 which leaves Rome at 11:40 and arrives at Heathrow at 13:25 i.e. over an hour extra in transit. However, this close to your cruise it may be difficult to make the change.

 

Importantly, don't stress and have an enjoyable cruise :cool:

[Keith1010]

I would not do this. Flight is way too tight. A lot of risk.

 

You may make it.

 

You might not.

 

For me the may and might just don't work.

 

If you have no problem missing the flight that is a different story but if you do I would look for alternatives.

 

Keith