Heathrow Terminal 5 transfer

[mauibabes]

Need some words of wisdom from London Heathrow Travelers . We just got word from Brit Air and they have pushed back our Departure time from SFO on Nov. 1 by an hour. We will now arrive at 12:00 noon in T5 and we fly from T5 at 12:55 to Rome /FCO. I am not happy so I thought I’d ask, what do you frequent fliers think our chances are of making the connection AND arriving in FCO WITH BAGGAGE?  I am thinking a BIG Maybe to make the connection if the Gates are close bye, (we have requested a Cart or wheelchair).  I think a BIG No Way for our bags to make it with us to FCO.  We will carry on our small bags with all the necessary clothing to survive some days, call it emergency wear 🙏. We are staying in Civitavechia a couple nights and Embark Riviera on November 4. 
Start 🙏 now and tell BA to come up with a better plan?  What say you?

Mauibabes, aka Gerry

 

[alcpa1]

Gerry,

I can't even imagine you will make it. Your bags might have a better chance. 

If you are even ten minutes late the FCO flight will already be boarding.

Don't you just love to travel?

Call BA. I'd think they have several flights a day to FCO.

Good luck and I always read your posts. They make sense to me!!!!

[1985rz1]

16 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

Need some words of wisdom from London Heathrow Travelers . We just got word from Brit Air and they have pushed back our Departure time from SFO on Nov. 1 by an hour. We will now arrive at 12:00 noon in T5 and we fly from T5 at 12:55 to Rome /FCO. I am not happy so I thought I’d ask, what do you frequent fliers think our chances are of making the connection AND arriving in FCO WITH BAGGAGE?  I am thinking a BIG Maybe to make the connection if the Gates are close bye, (we have requested a Cart or wheelchair).  I think a BIG No Way for our bags to make it with us to FCO.  We will carry on our small bags with all the necessary clothing to survive some days, call it emergency wear 🙏. We are staying in Civitavechia a couple nights and Embark Riviera on November 4. 
Start 🙏 now and tell BA to come up with a better plan?  What say you?

Mauibabes, aka Gerry

 

BA says minimum connection time for Terminal 5 is 75 minutes.  I think the will have to accommodate a change for you.  

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/british-airways-increase-connection-time-heathrow/

 

See the point: "Passengers who had already booked flights before the time change have been contacted by the airline and offered new connecting flights when required."

Edited July 17 by 1985rz1

[mauibabes]

Thanks all, also appreciate Alcpa’s comments, I try to make sense, minus the handi work of auto correct and a few flying letters 🤪. 
After an hour on the phone line with BA, I now get to call back in the morning but it looks like there is another flight two hours later into FCO.  Thanks again all, only a few more calls and adjustments to flights and cab and accommodations to advise of late arrivals. YES, love travel but still looking for Scotty to Beam Me Up and drop us onto the ship. 😇🙏👍

Mauibabes

[ronrick1943]

Take the two later flight.  I recall we did that last year with BA---don't forget it also depends on where you are seating on the fight coming into London--just getting off the plane can take a few minutes to 30 minutes after they open the door.

[mnocket]

10 hours ago, mauibabes said:

Thanks all, also appreciate Alcpa’s comments, I try to make sense, minus the handi work of auto correct and a few flying letters 🤪. 
After an hour on the phone line with BA, I now get to call back in the morning but it looks like there is another flight two hours later into FCO.  Thanks again all, only a few more calls and adjustments to flights and cab and accommodations to advise of late arrivals. YES, love travel but still looking for Scotty to Beam Me Up and drop us onto the ship. 😇🙏👍

Mauibabes

In cases like this, do they change your connecting flight without you having to pay an increased fare?

[mauibabes]

Just got off the phone, they made the change, no $55 pp fee 👍. Still have to call back to get seat assignments. 
Ciao all,

Mauibabes

[ORV]

Glad you got that worked out. If I'm not mistaken you'll need to clear customs/immigration, go through security again and then get to your gate. If that's still the case or the case in your instance, then no way you would have made it. 

[mauibabes]

So far it all looks good, have 2 hours 25 minutes to make this connection 🤪👍🤞 I believe I was on this same BA flight A year ago May and almost missed the connection to Rome. Got thru Immigration and Security OK but then they switched us from T5 to T3. We were in a lounge making constant checks because their overhead screens do not give more than an hour notice. So at 55 minutes we find out we are changing Terminals, head off and the queue clogged and an Airport Rep directed us to a freight elevator, downstairs and 3-4 escalators later all underground we arrived at the new Terminal, up escalators to finally check in with about 20 minutes to spare. Heathrow is no fun in my book, always a challenge IMHO. 

Definitely looking forward to the cruise so we will just suck it up, don’t dawdle and be vigilant for changes. At least it is early November on a Saturday afternoon so the crowds should be lighter and 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👍😇🤞

Just a thought to share, if ANYONE tries to do international travel on the day of Embarkation, please have your head examined or at least buy a bottle of Xanax.

Mauibabes

[Vallesan]

35 minutes ago, mauibabes said: 

Just a thought to share, if ANYONE tries to do international travel on the day of Embarkation, please have your head examined or at least buy a bottle of Xanax.

Mauibabes

Way back in 2016 we flew Heathrow to Hong Kong, BA, and arrived around 4pm for an 8pm sail-away! 
 

We’d been to HK several times before. Our friends, who we were travelling with us, had also been once. She didn’t want to stop there again so me, in my innocence , said OK and we flew on the day of the sailing. OK so it was an Oceania flight. We made it. Now with hindsight I’d never, ever, ever, take such a chance again.

 

You live and learn!

[babysteps]

We just did T5 to T5 in June at LHR on our way to IST and we were very glad we'd chosen the longer connection time - although I learned in this thread that they would have had to switch us to the longer time if we'd chosen the shorter one!

There's a very helpful thread on the FlyerTalk website with info for Heathrow transfers from T5 to... just about anyplace, including lots of details on T5 or T3.

 

Here is the link to that thread (mods delete if not allowed) https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1735255-guide-connecting-lhr-t5.html

If link has been deleted, google something like: guide connecting lhr flyertalk.com

[Techno123]

We flew home into terminal 5 from Miami and then onto Manchester with 55 minutes between flights. Landed at C Gates and had to get to A gates. We made it (by the skin of our teeth) the bags arrived home a week later 😣

[alcpa1]

Gerry,

So glad you were able to adjust the connection.

You are a seasoned traveler who could, and should, be a mentor to cruisers.

How long have we been preaching air arrangements for cruisers!!!!!!!!!!!

[mauibabes]

Aw shucks Al,

I just try to share what I have learned/experienced after numerous international flights, cruises and our share of O cruises. I knew it was a No Go connection but was very surprised when BA made the flight change without automatically moving us to the later flight. All good now and we can hope the flight from SFO has a good tail wind and we arrive even earlier. 
Mauibabes

[Nachosdelux]

You will have to clear transit security in LHR but not customs/immigration

 

[Harters]

14 hours ago, mauibabes said:

ANYONE tries to do international travel on the day of Embarkation

Or even national travel. Our next cruise is from/to Southampton. It's a four hour drive but we'll do that the day before and stay somewhere close to the port. Just so much more relaxing than doing it on the day. 

 

And our transatlantic earlier this year involved Terminal 5. Sunday - flew Manchester to Heathrow (cos otherwise is would be too close to call next day for Miami), stayed at the Sofitel. Monday - flew Miami.  Tuesday - relaxing   day at the Beach. Wednesday - boarded Vista. 

Edited July 18 by Harters

[Vertygo]

5 hours ago, Harters said:

 

 

And our transatlantic earlier this year involved Terminal 5. Sunday - flew Manchester to Heathrow (cos otherwise is would be too close to call next day for Miami), stayed at the Sofitel. 

How was the Sofitel? I’m there in August w/23 hour layover from Athens. Gives me a chance to get into London & see a show.

[Harters]

1 minute ago, Vertygo said:

How was the Sofitel?

Sofitel is fine. I've stayed there a couple of times. Location is its big selling point - it's within the terminal building, so only a short walk from/to Arrivals/Departures. And a reasonable price, for the convenience. Spacious room with comfy bed.

 

We had dinner in the restaurant which was OK. But they do have an absolutely disreputable practice of adding a 12.5% service charge to the bill (which is fine) but then leaving the tip line open. It's intended to catch out foreign travellers who may not appreciate that the service charge IS the tip and NOTHING else is required or expected - so end up effectively tipping twice. It's a shameful practice. 

 

 

[boerneDQ]

We just flew BA from Houston to Oslo and then LHR to Houston.  I am now rethinking flying BA in the future due to all the issues we had.

 

We booked Business class the whole ticket.  2 weeks before our return from LHR to Houston BA cancelled our non-stop flight.  They gave various alternate plans but no non-stops that we could make from getting off the ship in Southampton.  We chose to take LHR to PHL to IAH.  I was hoping that would be the only glitch.

 

Our flight IAH to LHR left relatively on time but when we landed, they parked our plane at a remote gate meaning not attached to a terminal.  We then had to wait 45 minutes for the busses to arrive to shuttle the passengers to the terminal.  Fortunately, we had 6 hours until our flight to Oslo.  Others were not as lucky.

 

Then our flight to Oslo ended up at C pier at a gate that required busses to take us to the plane.  It was running late by about 30 minutes.  Once on the plane, they delayed another hour due to a mechanical issue.

 

At least we got to Oslo a day early so no problems with getting on the ship.

 

The return was an adventure as well.  We arrived in PHL on time. Our flight to IAH was delayed due to the incoming flight being late.  Then storms in the area caused a route change and all planes had to taxi to the other side of PHL.  This put us a full 2 hours late.

 

i know the weather is out of their control. But BA had so many issues and were less than helpful with dealing with the issues.  Before this trip I was a fan of BA.

 

just my experience. YMMV.

[cruisefam38]

Due to the informative posting on this thread, we (THE VERY CAPABLE SPOUSE) made a couple of calls late yesterday afternoon and changed our schedule, expanding our time in LHR from 100 minutes to 3.5 hours.  Reading boereneDQ's post this morning, a tale that is too consistent with postings here and on other websites elsewhere, we hope we now have the necessary breathing room to make our connection.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences.  The warnings did not go unheeded.

[godfreyb]

20 hours ago, boerneDQ said:

We just flew BA from Houston to Oslo and then LHR to Houston.  I am now rethinking flying BA in the future due to all the issues we had.

 

We booked Business class the whole ticket.  2 weeks before our return from LHR to Houston BA cancelled our non-stop flight.  They gave various alternate plans but no non-stops that we could make from getting off the ship in Southampton.  We chose to take LHR to PHL to IAH.  I was hoping that would be the only glitch.

 

Our flight IAH to LHR left relatively on time but when we landed, they parked our plane at a remote gate meaning not attached to a terminal.  We then had to wait 45 minutes for the busses to arrive to shuttle the passengers to the terminal.  Fortunately, we had 6 hours until our flight to Oslo.  Others were not as lucky.

 

Then our flight to Oslo ended up at C pier at a gate that required busses to take us to the plane.  It was running late by about 30 minutes.  Once on the plane, they delayed another hour due to a mechanical issue.

 

At least we got to Oslo a day early so no problems with getting on the ship.

 

The return was an adventure as well.  We arrived in PHL on time. Our flight to IAH was delayed due to the incoming flight being late.  Then storms in the area caused a route change and all planes had to taxi to the other side of PHL.  This put us a full 2 hours late.

 

i know the weather is out of their control. But BA had so many issues and were less than helpful with dealing with the issues.  Before this trip I was a fan of BA.

 

just my experience. YMMV.

I too have had very bad recent experiences recently travelling with BA business class and have decided to avoid them going forward.  In particular, transferring between terminal 3 and 5 is a nightmare such that I wouldn't do it again or, if I had to, make sure that there was a 4 hour difference between arrival and departure times. Otherwise you will find yourself running for the transfer bus (try and get a seat as it is a bit of a wild ride) and running to get through the 'conformance' gates before the computer decides that you have passed the cut off time.  I am still waiting weeks later for BA's response for compensation for lost/delayed and damaged baggage.

[DENIE]

In 2022 we flew from Phoenix to London, then on to Rome for our Riviera cruise (2 days early).  A couple months before we left, BA changed our flight so a 3 hour layover became 2 hours.  Upon landing at T3, there was a plane in our stand, which cost 20 minutes.  No potty breaks now! We rushed as fast as possible to get to the extremely crowded and unfriendly T5, with lines slow as molasses.  We rushed to our gate in T5 about the time it was supposed to board, only to find it was delayed a 1/2 hour (whew!).  Even though we made it, our smaller suitcase did not.  Thank goodness for spending 2 nights in Rome, since the bag did not catch up with us until the last evening at 10:30 p.m.  Yes, Heathrow is a nightmare!!

[lorimay]

We just did this transfer Saturday. We had a 90 minute transfer time. The plane arrived but because it was before 6am couldn’t land earlier. We were business class so got off early, otherwise I don’t think we would have made it. Very long walk to the bus but the purple signage was excellent. Escalators up and down. Got to the other terminal- more escalators. Security was very slow even though we were fast track. I got pulled over for special screening of my shoes, then my bag got pulled out of line for a search. No sense of urgency at all. I had forgotten that in my travel purse I had a small bottle of hand sanitizer and it had to be tested. Finally we make it through and there was no gate information until 7 for a 7:50 flight. Once it was posted made a mad dash up and down more escalators to a train to the gate. Then the gate numbers were confusing and stood in the wrong line. Finally the uninterested gate agent pointed to the correct line. Held up at passport check while both agents  worked at a snail’s pace. Then more escalators and a very long jetway walk. I would say it would be very difficult if you have mobility issues. I will never do this again, except we have to on the way back. Does it really keep anyone that much safer?

[osandomir]

On our next flight in September we’ll transit through LHR. At some point the schedule was changed and 2 hour layover became the 3 hour+. Was disappointed with the change then but very happy now, especially after the recent computer meltdown that affected all aviation so badly.

[Twiga]

11 hours ago, lorimay said:

 Finally we make it through and there was no gate information until 7 for a 7:50 flight. Once it was posted made a mad dash up and down more escalators to a train to the gate. 

We were at Heathrow in June and gate numbers were not posted until 50 minutes or so before the flight.  However, the American Airlines app notified me of our gate in terminal 3 at 11:46 a.m. for our 2:45 p.m. departure. The gate was not posted on the departure board until 1:35 p.m.  The gate number that American Airlines told me was correct.  Of course this may not always be correct, but we were at the gate early, before the crowd.