London Heathrow layover

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

We are arriving at Terminal 5. We should have Global Entry by that time.

Global Entry is for entry INTO America. It has nothing to do with entry into UK. When you arrive at Terminal 5 you will have to go through UK immigration and passport check. You will join all the masses of people in the non UK / Non EU switchback lines. The average time from leaving the plane to clearing immigration and getting your bags is 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes. Terminal 5 immigration and passport check is notorious for taking a long time.

We leave Heathrow from Terminal 3. If we do this, we will hop onto the express train that leaves from terminal 5 every 15 minutes and arrives at Paddington station for a transfer (we've done the walk to the tube before).

Heathrow Express goes from Terminal 5, then stops at Terminal 2 and 3 and then goes direct to Paddington. I have taken Heathrow Express to Paddington. Its 15 minutes from Terminal 2 and 3, so about 20 minutes from Terminal 5.

If things are delayed, we may simply play around Paddington station - I never got to visit with the bear statue before - and we remain flexible.

Why would you spend the time and money and energy getting to Paddington, then not having the time to do anything else and just stay at the station??? Spend the money on an airline lounge and just relax between flights.

The return will also be the express train back to Terminal 3, about a 20 minute ride. We explored the lockers, but the time requirement to return to Terminal 5 after Windsor and then get to Terminal 3 shuts this idea down.

We will not book a ticket for Windsor until the morning of, in case of delays or problems, as we can book online while in the customs Q. We usually travel with backpacks but for this would pack almost everything in the suitcase. Flexibility is our watchword with travel.

Like most Americans you are seriously underestimating the time and distances involved. Ive lived in London, travelled all means of transport to and from Heathrow, I know the tube stations, the crowd patterns and flows, the distances, travel times, walking times. Ive hauled 50 pound spinner wheeled cases on and off trains, buses, tubes.

You are on a layover, and flying out of Terminal 3. You have to check in and do bag drop minimum 2 hours before a short haul European flight. Where have you factored this in to your calculations???

 

[Woodview]

To Grifdog22

You have been given very good advice from Bad Pink Tink 2.0 and others who know London

Heathrow is a World Wide mix of passengers going in every direction

Global entry will not help you to beat the system

Once you Leave the Terminal 5 and go on to London you are in fresh air AND on return you have to start joining the Q for
Security & passport checks again

BEST BET is to Travel to T 3 have a meal,

Then go to Duty Free shops Knowing that

U.K.is not in the EU so you can buy ?? to

to Poland AND when you Leave Poland


you can buy more Duty free ( ?? ) as you are flying to a

non EU country ( U.K.)

AND then when Back at Heathrow you can

buy Duty Free again as you are going to U.S.A.

Work the ( Duty Free ) system

 

[Woodview]

Well said Bad Pink Tink 2.0


Thank you

..................................

Stanstead is another tough airport to travel through

.............................

Amsterdam is getting better but still takes time

A long walk from Passport to Gate D 22

 

[WeLoveABD]

Global Entry is for entry INTO America. It has nothing to do with entry into UK. When you arrive at Terminal 5 you will have to go through UK immigration and passport check. You will join all the masses of people in the non UK / Non EU switchback lines. The average time from leaving the plane to clearing immigration and getting your bags is 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes. Terminal 5 immigration and passport check is notorious for taking a long time.

Heathrow Express goes from Terminal 5, then stops at Terminal 2 and 3 and then goes direct to Paddington. I have taken Heathrow Express to Paddington. Its 15 minutes from Terminal 2 and 3, so about 20 minutes from Terminal 5.


Why would you spend the time and money and energy getting to Paddington, then not having the time to do anything else and just stay at the station??? Spend the money on an airline lounge and just relax between flights.


Like most Americans you are seriously underestimating the time and distances involved. Ive lived in London, travelled all means of transport to and from Heathrow, I know the tube stations, the crowd patterns and flows, the distances, travel times, walking times. Ive hauled 50 pound spinner wheeled cases on and off trains, buses, tubes.

You are on a layover, and flying out of Terminal 3. You have to check in and do bag drop minimum 2 hours before a short haul European flight. Where have you factored this in to your calculations???

I've agreed with most of the comments in this thread but take exception to your "like most Americans" comment. Rude, unnecessary.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

I've agreed with most of the comments in this thread but take exception to your "like most Americans" comment. Rude, unnecessary.

Maybe I’m just feeling charitable but I took it to mean something more like “most Americans are not familiar with the scale of Heathrow,” which, if you haven’t experienced it, can be very surprising. The last time I was in London we had almost 3 hours to make a meeting in Central London and arrived with about 2 minutes to spare. Between customs, the walk to the train/size of the airport, and transportation delays everything took a lot longer than I expected.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Maybe I’m just feeling charitable but I took it to mean something more like “most Americans are not familiar with the scale of Heathrow,” which, if you haven’t experienced it, can be very surprising. The last time I was in London we had almost 3 hours to make a meeting in Central London and arrived with about 2 minutes to spare. Between customs, the walk to the train/size of the airport, and transportation delays everything took a lot longer than I expected.

Exactly. When you travel international to a country you have never been before, things are very different in real life to what they seem in videos, photos or maps.

I say the same thing to Irish and UK people when they travel to California for the first time. Many UK and Irish really underestimate the scale and distances between point A and point B in the LA area, for example they see on the map that Disneyland and Universal are not that far in miles, but totally underestimate the chaos that is LA traffic

 

[aggiedog]

I'll chime in too. We had a relatively long layover (close to 3 hours) at Heathrow a few years ago and barely made our connection. I had been hoping just to stop by somewhere for a grab and go food and didn't even have time for that. No way would I try to leave the airport.

I also get the "most Americans" comment, as I've seen similar posts by US citizens on various boards. I also spend a LOT of time educating UK residents on travel times around Texas, i.e. it takes way longer than they estimate to get anywhere. Seems to be a universal problem. LOL

 

[Alison S]

We have a six hour layover at Heathrow on a December Thursday en route to ABD Poland. When we went on the London/Paris ABD the visits to Buckingham Palace and Windsor castle were cancelled as they were closed; ABD substitution was poor. (Buckingham had been closed for some time for renovations and the Queen was therefore in residence at Windsor - ABD acted like it was a surprise...but we hadn't known it until we were there.

I see Windsor is about 12 miles from Heathrow. While we recognize we need to allow time to get thru customs and back thru security, a couple of hours at Windsor castle would "fill the gap" of something we really wanted to do last time we were there with ABD. Has anyone done something like this, and if so we would welcome your suggestions.

I looked into going to Windsor from Heathrow directly for my trip last month. The transit links are not good (like it's faster to get to paddington than windsor!). The only way I would do it is by using a taxi or uber. The problem is that you would need to decide that day- if everything works out, your flight is early, you speed through customs, etc and you still have 5-6 hours remaining. You wouldn't really want to buy tickets in advance since they're quite expensive, so you'd need to do that online when you get there (if they are still available) or on site and you'd have to wait in line for them. For me, Windsor Castle didn't take that long to explore- 2 hours was fine. I personally still wouldn't do it since I am not that adventerous