Heathrow customs

[Girl of the South]

I was just trying to explain a really complicated concept with this Schengen thing - when I first started traveling we had checks at EVERY border! Between Belgium and the Netherlands or Italy and Switzerland. Every country had its own currency. On an overnight train trip we’d get woken up 3 or 4 times.

But it did make sense?

Weird that there’s Immigration in Iceland. It only for certain passengers, not everyone. I transfer through Frankfurt and it always gives me a headache. The lower floor of the main terminal is NOT Schengen, and the gates upstairs ARE!

Sorry to hear about Play. I flew Norwegian Air, which went out of business and then Play was born.

I enjoyed Virgin Atlantic! It’s a little quirky. Or it was pre Covid. Food was great - very well seasoned. Have a good trip!

 

[swimfin]

I haven't done it that way but last May (2024) we flew PLAY Airlines (which has pulled out of North America) from Copenhagen to the U.S. and PLAY uses Iceland as their connecting point. I don't know if it would be the same for you since you are doing the opposite but once we landed in Iceland we went through Customs, it was super fast and for us they just asked a question of did we cross into the France borders on X date. We did as we had gone from London to Brussels, Belgium which requires you to go through French customs in London.

Then we had to go through Customs once we landed back in the U.S. For us we both have Global Entry so it was a painless process.

Both my husband and I got what likely was an automatic approval for the ETA. We used the app because it was the easiest to actually take a photo of yourself. However, a caution on the app, it kinda sucks. It crashed the first time when my husband went to the payment screen and we had to redo my information and picture but the second attempt it went through. They advise you it could take several business days, could be longer or could be an automatic approval. You would receive an e-mail that you've submitted it and then a follow up e-mail with the result. I got my e-mail stating they were processing mine at 5:03pm and my approval e-mail at 5:04pm so that to me means they did an automatic approval. I have no idea if the fact that I've already traveled through the UK, through various countries in Europe, Japan, etc had anything to do with that as they can see if something went amiss elsewhere.

We did it on August 12th and it was $22.36 USD (conversion rate at that time) per person.

We're flying Virgin Atlantic (we leave next Sunday for the UK) and so I used my e-mail address for the UK ETA that I use for my Virgin Atlantic account as I figured it might be easier if they were the same for data information but that's just me.

THANK YOU! I did end up doing the ETA on my laptop. It was much easier and my husband did get automatic approval and I’m waiting on mine because my passport photo had a slight shadow. I just entered the information manually. I’m sure I’ll get my approval in the next couple of days I can re-upload it if needed.

 

[swimfin]

And here is the 'tunnel' that you'll walk through to the Bus (and T3 and Underground). This was the day the airport was closed. My hotel was the Garden Inn and the only way I could reach it (doors were all locked shut, elevators & escalators turned off) was a set of Emergency Stairs. 4 flights with my bags. Memorable but painful . . . You'll be coming in the opposite direction. And really, the Bus Station elevator is easy to miss but it is right across from the entrance to the Tube.

Have a great trip!

View attachment 999663

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

 

[swimfin]

For customs it can vary. When we landed in Heathrow in 2023 after flying from Athens, Greece where we landed with British Airways we had to be taken by a bus (it took two buses at least for all the passengers on the plane) to the customs terminal from the plane as the plane was not connected to any jet bridge, and then go through customs. I really don't remember how long it took though.

I'm not sure when you're going but I can try and message back here on September 8th to let you know how long our customs took, our flight at the moment is supposed to land at 12:30pm

That would be super helpful if you can! THANK YOU!