Travelling from the US to Scotland

[helenk]

My son and his fiancee are taking their honeymoon in Scotland (she has family still living there)
Any way, they are looking at flights and a lot of people have told him that British Airways is the best airline to travel to the UK. Any opinions, suggestions? They will be flying out of Philadelphia, PA to Heathrow and then from Heathrow to Glasgow.
Since we are not familar with Heathrow, if their flight from the US arrives in Heathrow at 9:55 will they be okay with am 11:30 flight to Glasgow. On the return flight if they land at Heathrow at 15:20 will they make the connecting flight at 16:45 or would they be better arriving at 12:20 for the 16:45 flight?

 

[#1MMFan]

Well, I normally go with British Airways. Generally speaking they are good. You might also want to consider US Airways who fly direct from Philadelphia to Glasgow (I have done this route when seeing my relatives in neighbouring Maryland).
They should have enough time at the connection between arriving in Heathrow and leaving for Glasgow, and the hold luggage normally will be checked right through to Glasgow.
Coming home, they might want to have a wander in Heathrow to either eat or pick up some duty free etc, so they might prefer leaving Glasgow at the early time. If the airline tickets suggested the flight arriving at 15.20 then leaving at 16.45 then you would assume they think that's enough time. When I was going to Vancouver, BC via Heathrow my flight from Glasgow was a little delayed (unusual) and they had laid on airport transport from the arrival gate to whisk us to the departure gate for the flight to Vancouver. We were stressed about the possibility of missing the flight, but they had it all worked out so we didn't have any problems.
When arriving at Glasgow, make sure that they know to collect their luggage from baggage claim 3 - the majority of people's luggage from the Heathrow flight will come off on one of the other baggae claims, but people whose initial departure point was international, they collect their baggage separately (it's right next to the others, but you need to take it past the watchful eye of customs).

 

[Cyrano]

They should be find regarding times for connections.
One think to be aware of when splitting the journey is that hand luggage has to be below a certain size otherwise it is added to you baggage hold allowance when checking in at UK airport.

 

[helenk]

Thank you for replies, I am going to copy this and give it to my son. I will have him look into USairways as well.
This is the first time any of us have travelled outside the US without going through a group travel agency, so this is all new and being the mom I am, I worry that they will be stranded somewhere.

 

[#1MMFan]

No chance of them getting stranded. Glasgow is quite the cosmopolitan, bustling city. Don't worry, we don't all have straw coming out our ears (or wear kilts for that matter)

 

[helenk]

No chance of them getting stranded. Glasgow is quite the cosmopolitan, bustling city. Don't worry, we don't all have straw coming out our ears (or wear kilts for that matter)

Oh I'm not worried about Glasgow, I'm worried about my son's common sense (or lack there of)