Heathrow customs

[swimfin]

Hello!
Trying to find some information about roughly how long it takes to get through customs at Heathrow. We are trying to pick our time to take the express coach down to Southampton and I don’t want to miss it because customs takes longer than anticipated. At the same time, I don’t want to be at Heathrow hours upon hours longer than needed.THANK YOU!

 

[BrianL]

Hello!
Trying to find some information about roughly how long it takes to get through customs at Heathrow. We are trying to pick our time to take the express coach down to Southampton and I don’t want to miss it because customs takes longer than anticipated. At the same time, I don’t want to be at Heathrow hours upon hours longer than needed.THANK YOU!

I went through Heathrow late last year and customes was very fast and easy. I am sure it may matter how busy it is though. It's alwys good to add a little bit of pad time.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Hello!
Trying to find some information about roughly how long it takes to get through customs at Heathrow. We are trying to pick our time to take the express coach down to Southampton and I don’t want to miss it because customs takes longer than anticipated. At the same time, I don’t want to be at Heathrow hours upon hours longer than needed.THANK YOU!

Thats a how long is a piece of string question.

Heathrow is one of the worlds busiest airports. Answers can vary depending on day of week, time of day and which terminal you arrive at.

 

[Disnsyncey]

Customs should be just walking through a door of "nothing to declare", takes 5 seconds......immigration, the last time I went through immigration at Heathrow was the DESPAIRING day of the Microsoft meltdown, stuck in London instead of flying to France......they had the automatic gates and even amidst the craziness that day, it was literally 1 min (I think I had to find a person to help cuz I broke the computer apparently haha).....but I bet it was late enough in the day that there weren't many arrivals at that time.....

If it is a company that thrives on international arrivals, they will have multiple buses going and they should have your flight number and will know how things are going, same goes for any private drivers......they keep an eye on things and will either build it into their wait time or advise you how to pad your schedule (because what if your plane is 3 hours late?)

 

[angel's momma]

We did it last Oct., our first international flight. Our flight arrived around noon, and our research indicated that we should expect very long lines at immigration. We were surprised that there wasn't a line at all, we walked right up to the automatic gates.

As others have said, it depends on when you arrive.

 

[swimfin]

Customs should be just walking through a door of "nothing to declare", takes 5 seconds......immigration, the last time I went through immigration at Heathrow was the DESPAIRING day of the Microsoft meltdown, stuck in London instead of flying to France......they had the automatic gates and even amidst the craziness that day, it was literally 1 min (I think I had to find a person to help cuz I broke the computer apparently haha).....but I bet it was late enough in the day that there weren't many arrivals at that time.....

If it is a company that thrives on international arrivals, they will have multiple buses going and they should have your flight number and will know how things are going, same goes for any private drivers......they keep an eye on things and will either build it into their wait time or advise you how to pad your schedule (because what if your plane is 3 hours late?)

EXACTLY THIS! I am definitely accounting for the worst case scenario; however, just trying to figure out a general “norm“ with trying to get through!

 

[swimfin]

Thats a how long is a piece of string question.

Heathrow is one of the worlds busiest airports. Answers can vary depending on day of week, time of day and which terminal you arrive at.

Thats a how long is a piece of string question.

Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports. Answers can vary depending on day of week, time of day and which terminal you arrive at.

yes, I understand it can vary. That’s why I was trying to say roughly. Anything can happen on any given day just trying to get a feel of what people have experienced!

 

[jimmymc]

I've had it take 5 minutes and an hour. I think it's generally short, unless you get stuck arriving with 4 other international flights.