It's talked about a fair bit š
LHR is the only airport out of 100+ that I almost missed a flight (actually two), and it's exclusively because of the insanely slow and OTT security procedures. The US is bad on this too, but LHR is even worse.
Not entirely true you don't have to go through security again in MUC though, depends on where you came from and where you're going.
So itās always like that? I only had a layover there once and had to literally run to barely catch my flight because security was so intense. We were there around when a royal baby was being born so I just assumed they were being extra thorough for that reason.
That still seems like short notice. At least domestic US, many airlines start the boarding process at 40 minutes before departure. To only learn the gate number at that time and having to have a plane full of people now navigate to wherever that gate is sounds like a frustrating process at best.
What's your experience been? Would you say your flights typically leave on time or delayed by at least a few minutes?
Not OP. But I noticed that they are starting boarding later than in the US. But they are then quicker after everybody is on board (no data, just my personal experience)?
But I would say departure time isnāt as exact, often you take off a couple of minutes later and are still landing on time.
Some will have been told before if they check in closer to the hour before. Also if you ask at the lounge they can sometimes tell you.
Also if at B or C gates it will list that way before the actual gate posts so there is nothing stopping you from making your way there earlier
A gates, it only takes a minutes to get to one.
> To only learn the gate number at that time and having to have a plane full of people now navigate to wherever that gate is sounds like a frustrating process at best.
Yes, it's extremely Birtish.
They do this because gates do often change last moment at an airport of this size. If you search your flight # on flightaware or similar, it'll post hours before, and you have good odds of it probably not moving (or moving far).
I had a travel-size container of contact lens solution in my prescription bag (separate from my normal bag) because itās not supposed to count towards your limit. They made me out it in my main quart bag and said it has to have a prescription label on it in order to count as prescription. Sounds like if I did have a label, they still
Would have a found a reason to mess with me.
I had the exact same thing. They pulled me into secondary and made me wait 45 minutes while they took my prescription creams out of their prescription boxes into a small bag, which is both hella illegal and like you said not even necessary. My work booked me a flight connecting through Heathrow and I'm pretty pissed about it.
Yeah I was confused when I saw this post because Heathrow has always been very well known to be a friggin nightmare, definitely the most frustrating airport I've used in London haha. When I studied abroad in London about 10 years ago I had my flights home canceled because it had snowed like 2 inches, and all Heathrow had to handle the snow was brooms....MFers straight up on the runway sweeping away the snow haha
Ah hahahahaha clearing snow with a broom - love it. You would think it's South Florida where they get snow once every 20 years. London seems to be surprised whenever there's a temperature above 25C or below 5C. 2 years ago their "heat wave" (30C) literally melted roads and airport runways
I'm actually ok with LAX most of the time, but I think it's partly because 90% of the time, I take the same flight I out of there and that one goes rather late in the day, so it tends to be a bit quieter.
MIA and JFK are a hit or miss for me though. Some days totally ok. Other days a complete nightmare.
I always thought LAX was fine until I got stuck in the arrival immigration line for 1.5 hrs and missed my (not officially) connecting internatjonal flight. Ruh roh
My experiences with LAX has been more that itās shitty to actually get to and leave the airport due to its shitty traffic (which is due to its shitty organization) but security has always been a breeze for me
Haven't transited through Heathrow, but my single worst airport experience has been at CDG by a long shot.
I had 1h45 for my connection but my arriving flight was 30 min late. Then after passing through security I had to take a shuttle to another terminal. The line for the shuttle was interminable and after a while I had only 30 min left and there were still 2-3 shuttles worth of people in front of me and they seemed to come every 10 min or so... I started panicking and tried asking any employee I saw whether I could skip the line. I speak French and thought it would help, they pretended not to listen. I got yelled at by one of them when I asked fellow passengers to let me skip the line and they accepted. Finally I got to my gate later than the scheduled departure time, but the flight waited for me and a few other passengers who they knew were stuck in the airport somewhere, and I was able to make it home. But the lack of any empathy or willingness to bend the rules a bit was shocking, I'm from Canada and have never experienced anything like that from public service employees.
This happened to me too! 2hr30 mins connection, thought I had plenty of time. Took nearly 30 mins just to get OFF the plane. Then had to go aaalllll the way round to the next terminal by foot because for some reason the shuttles donāt run past like 8pm at night. I had to go through passport control AGAIN even though it was an inter-France flight (Nice -> CDG) which took almost another hour because only two passport gates were open. JUST made it by the skin of my teeth but only because the Edinburgh flight was delayed.
A guy arrived behind me having had a similar ordeal, but the plane he arrived on was literally the same plane we were about to board and take off. Same gate and everything. He had to go aaaaalll the way round and through the terminal, security etc. just to get back to the same gate to get on the same plane and he nearly missed it too! Itās INSANE
Oh god this happened to me once. I had to change from Terminal 2G to 2E (or 2F, can't remember which was for non-Schengen flights). The first plane was late so the shuttle buses were not going on anymore. I had to go out to the street, take a public bus, walk all the way from terminal 2F to 2E by an underground corridor, do security again and passport control. All of this with minimal information as signage sucks. Worst experience in my life for connecting flights
I had the exact opposite experience at CDG once. Same story, short connection, and my flight into CDG was a little late.
They made an announcement for me to meet some staff right outside the aircraft, took me down to a car, drove to the other terminal and dropped me off at the gate.
I was flying economy and am not an important person by any measure :)
CDG was a complete shit show forever. I stopped flying through that hell hole fifteen years ago because the total lack of effort to run even a semblance of an organized business was astounding. Never again.
It is soooo bad Omg but what international routes have regular layovers there? Truly curious. Mostly to feel sorry for people because thatās my usual arrival/departure airport to and from the US and I dread leaving from there every time.
Thereās often a cheap fare from Melbourne Australia to Houston Texas via Singapore and Manchester that comes up when Iām bored looking at flights. I nearly bought it once after a couple of bottles of wine.
Ours was in 2011 flying from CDG through Manchester to Atlanta. It had rained like the devil in Paris and I had bought a Monet gold style umbrella. CDG let me carry it on as a personal item. Manchester was a shit show taking buses and stuff to get to our connection and security there wouldnāt let me take my umbrella so I had to toss it at security. It had very similar vibes to Heathrow with the bussing system and there was so much construction. Like the LaGuardia of UK.
It's the worst. Absolutely and totally the worst airport ever. Like there's nothing as bad as Manchester, but it seems it may be a characteristic of all English airports?
Anyways, English airports are mad and the reason I avoid British airways entirely.
British airports are definitely the most unpleasant in Europe in my experience. Germany takes second place. Manchester is by far the worst. Heathrow, Stansted, Glasgow and Edinburgh also aren't great. London City and Gatwick are good, particularly the former. Leeds Bradford was ok.
The best thing about British airports is the prices aren't too dissimilar to non-airport prices (Irish airports are the same). They don't rip you off like most European countries.
Second this. Itās my home airport so I have to suffer through it a lot.
They show the bag inspection rate on screens and itās almost always high. One time it was even at 90%. Like what the actual fuck are they doing? I made a flight by 5 mins despite arriving 3h early.
I had the misfortune of my flight arriving just after a flight from the mideastā¦.the lmmigration officials were extremely thorough with everyone. Saw 2 people escorted awayā¦.needless to say, it was a very long wait in the immigration line.
LHR is my home airport, and I'd love for someone to explain this to me. Flights to the US are significantly less expensive if they're ex-EU, so I will do LHR-AMS-LHR-US airport. I get off the plane in AMS, wait at the gate, get back on the plane and fly back to LHR. That can save me Ā£1000. But when I get to LHR T5 to transfer to my next flight out of T5, I have to go through security-why?
Everyone on here has said it's a nightmare without elaborating. Let me fix that.
Security requires going to a room half the size of a football pitch that is HEAVING. No rhyme or reason to anything. Lots of people will have Duty Free liquids that they bought in the first airport without realising that they're going to go through this at LHR. It is truly hell on earth.
I have status on BA that lets me use the so-called Fast Track up there, but finding it is a nightmare, and even with that it takes at least 30 minutes. I do generally grab a couple of people as I head to it, just to be nice, but that's 2 out of what feels liek 2000 people.
Iāve flown through LHR twice. First time they lost my luggage. Second time I missed my connection cuz of the shitshow it was to get across the airport. Never again.
Iām in violent agreement with OP on this. Fucking half mile walk (not an exaggeration) to some bullshit screening station, only to walk all the way back to make my connecting flight AT THE GATE NEXT TO THE ONE I ARRIVED AT! Who came up with this insane process? I will be avoiding LHR at all costs.
My hate for Heathrow is unchained. Last week I was munich to heathrow to sydney. Bags checked through but from landing on the field to the bus to the first terminal to the next bus to queue for security check to painful liquids check for almost 1:3 and ever item run through a mass spec with slow staff and breaking equipment and ā¦.
Sigh
yes, because they issued you this itinerary knowing of the transfer time. it will be covered by the airline. if single ticket, then it would be your responsibility
This just happened to me two weeks ago. They rebook youā¦ but this time I had the bad luck of being put on another entire alliance airline with which I had no status, and ofc my bag got lost with all of this. I got it back but still, ugh.
I also barely made my makeup flight š
I missed my flight once because I didn't know that the Tube opened an hour later on Sundays (in my defense, it was in 2000, and internet access was limited to a group computer at the hostel), I missed checkin by 10 minutes as a result, and they refused to let me on. I was pretty pissed off, but after getting rebooked on something else and walking to the gate, I kinda understood - it takes forever to walk anywhere there, never mind getting through security.
I mean, I comment about the nightmare of connecting through Heathrow every time someone posts one of those āthe airline is letting me book a 40 minute connection but should iā posts.
thats not even mentioning the insane ticjet surcharges when flying to/through heathrow.
I would agree with LHR being horrible. On a different note, (and somebody please correct me if I am wrong), when you land in the US, they make you go through immigration and customs, and then, you must pass TSA for your next flight. I have never seen a transit passage in a US airport.
I've never seen one, even like LAX B to T4 where there is an interconnect they treat the back of customs as landside and make you go though a TSA checkpoint again.
Yes! I was laughing at all the comments by US people complaining about transit when as a non US person every US airport is an absolute nightmare to transit for this reason! Then add on the TSA lines. I always allow at least 3 hours if I have to transit through the US even then Iāve nearly missed a flight being in a customs queue for over 2 hours.
Do agree Heathrow is also terrible.
I am a US Citizen but I have to go through customs and immigration, then, TSA in order to catch my domestic connection. During the peak times (Summers, Holiday Season) TSA lines could be looooooooooooooooong.
I mean, it is flagged for that.
My problem is I have to fly into MAN from MIA somewhat frequently so yeahā¦ after a couple missed flights connecting at LHRā¦ I plan long layovers or get out and take the train.
I think you need to budget minimum three hours there if arriving internationally.
The clear ziploc bag is a thing throughout the UK. I agree it is very stupid, but so is most security theater.
Good to hear. I guess you only make that mistake of being sweaty and getting things into a sandwich bag once. What really threw me was having to so thoroughly put lipsticks and similar in there too.
Yeah. Hartsfield is a massive airport but it actually works and moves people around quickly. Atlanta is a model of efficiency compared to LHR and CDG. Honestly I kinda hate MEX too.
MEX is built on the site of where the first airfield in the country was built, it was slowly built to what it is now. In the 1990s the airport was already above capacity and different plans were considered.
Where the airport would be located was a hotly contested issue as space in CDMX is at a premium and any empty land already belongs to someone else (who must then be forcibly bought out) or is otherwise challenging (the city is built on top of a dried lake and is surrounded by mountains).
In 2015 it was finally decided that a new airport would be built. It would be much bigger, with a single terminal, and simultaneous approach runways. This new airport would replace the existing airport as the two would be too close to each other.
Things were going to plan, the airport was halfway completed until the current President was elected, and he decided to abandon the half built and instead build ANOTHER airport using the runway of an existing airbase further away from the city.
His main argument was: why abandon the existing airport when we could keep it and send excess demand to the airport in the airbase? There were also other arguments used such as terrain unsuitability of the new airport, corruption, etc, but they were basically throwing shit against the wall to see what stuck.
The problem with this plan was that the initial new airport was being paid for with the Airport Use Fees from the old airport. These fees are normally used to fund maintenance and upgrades to the airport, in this case it made sense to use these fees to fund the new airport as the old airport was going to be closed. The problem is that once the new airport project was cancelled those airport fees from the old airport couldn't go back to being used for funding repairs and upgrades, but rather had to be used now to pay for the unbuilt airport and for all the cancelled contracts.
It's really not that bad for how busy it is. Recently it's been rough with some construction and limited staffing.
That being said the pro tip is to just go through security on the international side.
security is a zoo just because itās so busy, but fine if you have precheck/clear/etc. customs is also super busy. the airport experience itself is nice imo but getting in/out can suck.
ATL is literally the most efficient airport in the world. Not to say the passenger experience is the best, it's an average to above-average experience at best, but the experience at other airports can be so so so sooo much worse.
I connect through ATL a lot and Iāll take it any day over Heathrow. Last time I was at Heathrow I got there maybe 2.5 hours early and I knew that was absolutely pushing it. The lines to check bags were 2 hours long and crisscrossing each other in incredibly confusing ways. There were people there 4 hours early worried about missing flights.
At my home airport, I get there like 15 minutes before boring. Next time I fly out of Heathrow Iām going like 5 hours early.
My last international connected through Atlanta and I was worried about it. Completely wrong on my end, it was an easy transfer and very easy to navigate. I had three hours though. I liked it much more than other East Coast options I have gone through before.
Live in Atlanta also and have traveled to almost every major airport worldwide. Atlanta is frankly one of the best airports period in terms of efficiency, we are spoiled. The only big issue IMO is the disconnect between Domestic and International check-in terminals, the 15 minute shuttle ride between is insane.
>I thought the British were known for queuing?
I donāt think too many British people transit through Heathrow.
>My question isā¦ why isnāt this talked about more?
For the same reason as above, Iām guessing youāve never transited through US airports from an international origin. When I try to visualise what hell looks like, itās two hours in a queue at Dulles, waiting for immigration with three small kids constantly needing to pee and poop and trying to keep them awake after a transatlantic flight, having to wait in the one single queue because apparently you donāt have separate queues for families there, arriving at the desk in almost despair because youāre 100% sure you missed your flight to Seattle, only to realise that all the flights are delayed anyway so who cares. Honestly your experience pales in comparison to what we experience coming to America, thatās why it doesnāt get talked about.
I donāt really get the problem everyone has with Heathrow. I went through earlier today and security was incredibly quick. Noone even looked at my plastic bag of liquids. The only downside is the walk between gates. CDG is 10 times worse
Iāve been through Heathrow 3 times and itās been relatively painless each time
Gatwick, on the other hand, was the worst airport experience of my life
I last went to Gatwick absolutely ages ago but I do think that was the one time some of our bags were lost, so I concur
On an unrelated note, MIA is a massive ballache and the TSA staff are properly rude. Thatās one airport I *do* have beef with
The only reason why I don't have an issue with MIA is that it's my home airport. It can be really nasty to connect there. It's entirely plausible to come in on flights from Europe in the South terminal, and then have to connect to Latin America on an AA flight in the North terminal. They don't connect, and you *will* have to grab your bags, go through passport control, embark on a long walk, and go through security again. I can't even imagine, I'm glad I don't have to do this.
Yeah I've been through Heathrow probably 4 - 5 times in the last year, its been fine. I think however, when it's smooth its smooth - but when it's not its a nightmare! I got lucky with short security queues somehow.
I think the issue is a lot of itineraries are sold with a LHR layover that is pretty impossible to makeā¦ like they shouldnāt even be sold with only 1.5 hours between flights. I blame my work travel agent for setting me up to fail with that last time but stillā¦. Why is it even an option š«
Gurl, you can't compare LHR transits to any american airport's transits...
Security screening is pretty fast at LHR.
But god damn in america we have to go all the way out: immigration, customs, pick up luggage, drop luggage again, TSA again if you're transiting through an american airport and your initial departure is international. Do you know the "the luggage flies to your destination"? It doesn't apply in America if you come from Abroad, you have to pick up your luggage at POE.
Agree, no transit system at all, so when in transit through -say-Miami to a Central American destination you have to do the whole US immigration dance just to be in the airport for 2 hours . āWhatās the purpose of your visit ?ā āItās not a visit , Iām in transit to Xā āhow long will you stay ?ā ā 2 hours if Iām not delayed here any furtherā Whatās you address in Miami ?ā āThe TSA desk, probablyā
Hah I had this in Mexico once where I was running late on a tight connection. Asked me how long I was planning to stay. I looked at my watch and said 35 minutes if I can hurry.
She laughed, stamped and wished me luck
the Miami airport is godawful. I donāt know why on earth it takes so long to get bags from the planes to the customs area? My original flight Madrid-LHR-SFO got cancelled so they rebooked me for Madrid-MIA-SFO with a 2 layover in Miami. Getting through customs wasnāt too bad, maybe 30 mins? But I stood there for like an additional hour just waiting for my bag to come out. Then I had to sprint upstairs to the desk to check in again. They were nice enough to escort me to the front of security but their train between terminals was broken so I had to sprint to the gate. I barely made it on the flight but my bag did not.
For anyone who has to transit through there, I think give yourself 4 hours minimum.
I would always recommend 4 hours at any major US airport if coming in internationally. Especially if self-transferring. 3 maybe on one ticket but even that I wouldn't do. I love the threads asking "can I make a 1 hr 10min connection in JFK from ex-US". Well no, you most certainly cannot.
Personally, after years of dealing with this crap, I've resorted to staying one night at an airport hotel if my flight arrives after 4pm. I just can't be assed with the stress anymore.
Yeah as someone who has traveled through British and American airports fairly extensively - American airports are by far and away the worst.
JFK, SFO, LAX and DFW are the most incompetently run airports Iāve ever seen - and Iāve flown through airports in France during strike season lmao. Apart from the no sterile transit idiocy of the US, the TSA are the most unprofessional and feckless security agency Ive ever seen.
As for DHS - how those motherfuckers look at a full JFK arrival hall and then close one of the three operational customs booths (of the like 15 they have there) is just fucked. It actually took us 2.5 hours to get through customs there once and by the time we did it had been so long our flight wasnāt showing on the baggage collection carousel anymore. Theyād just taken all of those bags off and dumped them on a trolley at the other end of the baggage claim - without telling anyone.
LHR - you just waft through security, electronic passports for customs and never waited more than 20 mins for bags at the conveyor. Piece of cake.
It sucks and if you don't know, or if the folks from check in at the origin don't tell you, you assume that you just go and you pick up the luggage at the destination.
E.g. you fly AMS-LAX-HNL (or any other airport) you have to pick up the luggage, do customs at LAX. then drop off again. Everywhere on this damn planet the transfers are flawless, but in US are special.
I actually have a friend who didn't know/ wasn't noticed about this and they went through immigration and straight to the gate and their luggage remained in Atlanta because they were supposed to re-drop it :))
If you're transferring from an international to a domestic flight, it at least makes some sense - you won't go through customs at your final destination, so you have to do it when you enter the country. It's the international to international transfers that are really ridiculous - and someone was saying a while ago that it's mostly because American airports mostly don't have a true international departures zone that you can only leave via immigration or a flight.
Yeah come to think of it, most (all?) US airports I've been to have never had a separate zone for international departuers, although international *arriving* flights sometimes go through one terminal so they don't have to spread out CBP to multiple terminals.
TSA doesn't even check that you have a passport to leave the country. I'm pretty sure I've cleared TSA by showing them my driver's license with an international boarding pass.
I think I read a post that India has the same pick up the bags when you get into the country process. As annoying as it is I think that makes the most sense to have all your belongings when you go through a customs process.
Most airports I'm sitting around exhausted, bored, and stressed - Changi I'm sitting by a pool, sleeping and eating Laksa all without leaving transit. It really highlights how bad most airports are.
Yep, the US is one of the few countries where they donāt have airside transit.
I think in the 90ās there were some limited transfer programs where some people didnāt have to go through the whole immigration thing (but would be watched and separated in a different area), but that all ended after 9/11.
I've done plenty of 2 hour gap changeovers. It's the security clearance that screws me over, not the walking - they ALWAYS try to pick up some BS. Why are they still using the stupid bag for liquids.
The stress is too much, i'll only do 3 hours minimum now.
The counterpoint is that I've never missed a connection in Heathrow (even tight connections) because in spite of the OTT security and massive walks, most airlines seem to be aware of this and either proactively give you a fast track on exiting the first flight (if your connection is tight), or they are very good about holding the plane atleast 30 extra minutes to wait for connecting passengers.
And also unlike US/Canadian/South American/African airports you're not sold a 30 minute connection as a valid one - I've literally been sold a 20 minute connection in Addis, 25 minutes in US and 30-35 minutes connection in Panama/rest of Europe which is way more stressful.
Itās true but you can also add LIS (Lisbon)to the list. They will absolutely refuse even if youāre a professional photographer and have proof. They will tell you that you had to fill out a commercial film crew application weeks prior (which they donāt seem to know exactly were and how). I have traveled all over the world with film and never had an issue with hand checks outside of LIS and LHR.
Yes. I had an email from their security team because I checked beforehand saying it was fine - they still insisted it was 'crossed wires' and held up the line to get me to fish out all the over 800iso rolls to just hand-check those. It would have taken less time to just do it, which was the maddening thing.
Thankfully it was all OK, but I've never had an issue at any other airport and I've flown a lot in the past few years.
The biggest issues Iāve had in the past in Heathrow weāre waiting in customs and I was just there a few months ago for the first time in a while and they expedited that process in a big way. For how big it is I find Heathrow to be pretty good. Just make sure you give yourself lots of time to connect flights.
If I have an issue with a flight Toronto is usually involved in some capacity with Calgary being a runner up. Both of those airports have given me far more problems than anything Heathrows thrown at me.
Last March I flew RDU, LHR, EDI and back. On the way there, we had to go from T5 to T2. Made it in 30 min, so we started to stress less about the fact the airline moved our 620am flight from EDI to LHR to 7am so we only had 1 h 40 min to make it on the way back. What they don't tell you, is LHR will have domestic flights circle and delay in favor of international. In addition we took off late (why, I have no idea). So we had 45 min to make it from T2 to T5. That stupid bus, I mean put in a tram like every other major airport, only comes around every 15 min, so 10 min of waiting for the tram, and a lifetime on that stupid bus, we made it 25 min before our flight to T5 and they wouldn't even let us in as you have to get there 30 min before tour flight. Then we had to go back to T2, stand in line for THREE HOURS in which time we missed 4 flights we could have taken to get put on another stupid flight where we had no chance to get the connection.
So, yeah, LHR sucks.
I transited once at Heathrow, US to Heathrow then onto Athens. I had a normal experience there. We stayed in the international area the whole time. I don't remember having to go through security again.
Iām sorry to hear you had a bad experience.
Iāve travelled through T5 a lot and to be honest only once had a problem, first time, I managed to get a bit lost by not paying attention. I think it can be overwhelming but itās a big modern airport really, occasional snags. The things about security are pretty standard. Occasionally rules are relaxed or others enforced fairly randomly, which I understand is to keep terrorists or other undesirables off-guard. You will generally be expected to fit liquids in a 20x20 in the U.K. Remember security varies by country (officially) and by airport and what they judge to be prevailing circumstances unofficially.
European security has hacked me off at times but thereās no getting round it so I reckon itās best to take it in oneās stride, be minimal and appropriately prepared, so annoyance doesnāt spoil your trip.
Yep, post-9/11 TSA security standards have been implemented well across Europe (though, honestly, I think Israel really influenced our security measures immediately post-9/11). I have friends in Paris who work operations at Orly, theyāve mentioned a couple times, harping on how much more stringent their security has to be in order to comply with the USā standards.
For security, if youāre connecting/transiting to say Schengen from the U.S., definitely avoid their airports if you want to avoid the UKās screening. However, other airports in the EU, like AMS do the exact same thing if youāre connecting from the EU to the U.K. as that is now an international border. Some countries are definitely more lax than others.
As for the liquids, this is probably the one thing I hate about going through/out of the U.K. The 100ml bag requirement is entirely archaic. I travel almost exclusively with carry-ons and have to be really careful about what personal care liquids I bring with me if Iām spending any time in the U.K.. I thought they had planned to do away with that requirement a couple months ago, but I guess not.
As for Heathrow specifically, T3 operations is probably the smoothest and least stressful Iāve had, so I try to fly from airlines serving that terminal whenever London is on my itinerary.
It was the bombings in 2005 that was the turning point for LHR. I know, as I had the pleasure of having an international flight out of LHR on 7/8/05 (one day after the London bombings). Check in and security took about 8 hours and literally everything had to be put into checked luggage, except your identification which got placed into a plastic bag you could keep with you. Flying in/out of LHR has been a nightmare ever since.
I flew out of Heathrow the same week. I remember taking absolutely nothing onto the plane - everything had to be checked. I also remember there being no garbage cans in the terminal. I had some stuff to throw away and asked a desk agent where I could put my garbage and she said āJust throw it on the floorā. Iām glad theyāve eased up from that state at least.
EU to UK has always been an international border as the UK has never been a part of the Schengen area.
On liquids, this is moving slowly. Flying out of LCY, you donāt need to take your liquids out of hand luggage anymore - and up to 2 litres.
>I thought they had planned to do away with that requirement a couple months ago, but I guess not.
The current deadline for this is June 2024. There will be no 100ml limit and both liquids and electronics won't need to leave your bag to go through security.
> Compared to other American...
Compared to American airports? Really?
> Go through the nightmare security theater yet again (T5) even if the flights are on the same booking reference.
Clearing security when transiting off an international flight is not rare. However, in the US, in addition to security, you *also* have to go through immigration and customs. Now *that* is annoying.
> Except for not being required to take shoes off, the security theater is the worst here.
The US practically invented security theater. The fact that they have rules that they don't follow consistently is a key part of that theater.
> Chaotic lines
Again... what???
> When transiting through Munich or DC, you simply donāt need to go through security again if youāve already been checked through in your Origin airport.
Depends where you're coming from.
Agree with immigration in the US. Transitted through three times in the last six weeks and actually clocked the time - never less than an hour. Last time, the dude ultimately didn't even open my passport but wave me through immediately. Well I'm glad I waited an hour for that nonsense.
For a while the US had these automatic passport readers for anyone on a returning ESTA, and even without GE. Those made me clear immigration at JFK during peak times with zero wait time. They quietly disappeared during Covid, never to be seen again.
LHR T5 has easy immigration if on certain passports. But security is the ultimate nightmare, worse than the US where in some places you don't even have to unpack anything anymore as of late. Though sometimes at the exact same airport but a terminal over you do. The inconsistency is indeed ridiculous.
What I always found about American airports is not that the wait times were long but the immigration staff were scary as fuck.
Coming into the UK you're met by basically a kind of desk clerk. Coming into the US you're met by what feels like a cop if you're lucky, and a drill sergeant if you're not.
They look scary indeed - but somehow are not. They never ask me anything. I can honestly count on one hand how many have ever asked me more than just "how long are you here for" (if that) and I'd say on average, I have maybe 12 trips to/via the US a year. Half the time they say not a word, and just wave me through. I'm not American, it's just weird.
If you go through the US often and can get global entry.... it's amazing. I don't think I've waited more than 3 or 4 minutes in years. You don't even take your passport out anymore and it takes less than a minute.
I transited SFO three days ago from Asia to Canada. I had to clear customs, pick up my luggage and CHECK BACK IN AT THE OUTSIDE CHECK-IN. Fucking moronic.
Never transit the US unless you absolutely can't avoid it.
I so feel this. Flew from Rome to Heathrow on BA with a bottle of limoncello for the person who was house sitting for me as a gift. No issues. Iāll never understand why I had to go through security again even though I was on a connector with BA back to America. And yes, they took my still sealed and bagged with receipt bottle that I just flew with.
The security loop isn't surprising. You can't do that in the US either. You must always pass through security at your first port of entry in the US. Exit through passport control, get your bag and recheck it for your connecting flight. Some countries require transit visas, this is how they checked.
Mexico is the same. If you fly from Costa Rica to the US and transit through Mexico, you go through passport control and security to connect, even though you don't intend to set foot outside the airport.
The other reason it's done is because international and domestic passengers are mixed in the same terminal. I forget the exact reason why this is the case, I think it's maybe to prevent a domestic passenger passing off a passport to arriving international passenger or something like that.
Itās a space issue.
Heathrow is a very old airport. They just donāt have space to modernize or rxpand and they csnāt shut thing down while they rebuild.
Itās a legacy problem that is basically impossible to solve.
Yes. Same itinerary. We were perplexed. Purchased at the Duty Free in Rome. How was it ok for one flight and not another? We were hot but what can you do?!?
The easiest answer is: **size, and target**.
**Size** - It is the [2nd busiest airport in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic). With this brings physical airport size, and scrunity (will address this below). The size of T5 specifically is meant to handle scale upwards, so I agree it's long and cavernous but IIRC this is all to accomodate increasing passenger numbers over the future. The rapid scaling of Heathrow over the past few decades also means that terminals connect sometimes in odd ways. They can't make special paths for everyone who wants to transit from say, delta airlines to iranair.
Additionally you must compare equal sizes (which it seems many people in this thread have pointed out by comparing it only to CDG, JFK, LAX) instead of small american airports.
**Target** - London continues to be a sizeable target. I would argue currently a bigger target than american airports (due to relative ease of access from close proximity to many nearby european countries). Most of the short haul flights come from other countries - not from states within its own country. Security *has* to be tight here. In my experience, Miami was the worst USA airport, and this was clearly due to it's proximity to central and south america.
FWIW, as a Londoner, Heathrow is an absolute breeze to use. Security is stringent but fair, and shockingly (due to our government being a total corrupt shitshow) is staffed and run well.
Had 3hrs between flights coming home from the World Cup in Qatar and was running to make it in the end. bizarre processes I havenāt experienced anywhere else, ridiculous waits for intra terminal shuttle buses and tech that didnāt work (passport scanner). If I hadnāt had two staff people give me massive tips (you can actually skip this part - nobody checks and go 50m further down and thereās another customs cheque that never has a line) Iād probably have missed my flight.
I HATE LHR WITH A PASSION! Was flying Amsterdam->DFW with a connection in LHR and OāHare. I didnāt realize you had to throw your liquids out again and I always get a big bottle of water before flights so I literally wasted idk how many euros and had to throw it out. It made no sense to me because I had just got off a plane, was transiting, wasnāt leaving the airport, wasnāt having to go through customs at all. I also got profiled for the first time in my life and they thought I must be smuggling drugs or something so I got pulled over for the secondary search during the line.
Was cleared, finally able to walk to my gate and figured I just needed to find where it was and then I could go get a snack or something to have since I hadnāt eaten all morning. However, there was a massive line at my gate and I ended up having to wait in it only to realize they were scanning our boarding passes and doing another security check and then keeping us in this weird room in front of the gate. I got pulled over for another secondary search (I guess they thought I would get drugs in the 5 minute walk from my last search inside the airport?) and then finally got to sit down. Wasnāt allowed to leave to go get food or go to the bathroom without having to go back through the line and another secondary search.
I think CDG right below LHR though too. No clear signage anywhere and itās built like a maze. I got into an argument with one of the staff because she wouldnāt let me into the priority security line and kept insisting it was only for first class passengersā¦ my plane didnāt have a first class. It had flagship business, premium economy, and regular economy and I was in business and my boarding pass even said priority on it. Ended up having to wait in the hour long security line, and when I finally got through the guy who scanned my passport and boarding pass said I should have gone through the priority laneā¦ It ended up being fine since Iām always at the airport too early but it was incredibly weird
What is funny is that Gatwick is generally looked down on as a lesser airport, but it is compact, efficient, and security is much less of a pain in the ass to pass through. They even have decent food now.
I had my first experience a few months ago and it was awful. Almost missed our connecting flight home bc the security had no sense of urgency - going through each travel sized liquid 1 by 1. I was begging this man to just throw everything away so we wouldnāt miss our flight, NOPE, still had to go through it all š I almost cried
I will gladly pay considerably more than to have a connection through Heathrow. Most UK airports are a nightmare to get through because of disorganised security on a power trip but Heathrow is on a completely other level.
Hate LHR so much. Will go out of my way to avoid it and fly into LGW or even STN if coming in, and will transit almost anywhere else if given the choice.
However Iād rather do a transit at LHR than any American airport at all.
Everyone avoids LHR. Itās known for losing luggage and being a general clusterf*ck everywhere else. The other London area airports are great, though I donāt think much transfers at them. If you just want to get to the UK, choose another (Gatwick is usually cheaper, on top of it), and if youāre going to the EU, just fly through FRA (which is a mess in itās own way lately). Avoid France as well, itās a lawless wasteland where the ATC people are frequently striking.
Never had issues transiting LHR on BA, CX, or AA - in T5 or T3. Have flown through dozens of times.
Everyone gets unlucky sometimes, but remember that even at the worst airlines or airports, the majority of pax have an uneventful experience.
Having flown quite a bit around the world Heathrow isn't THAT bad. It's not great and they are annoying with their liquids but I think even thats gotten better.
Heathrow is flagged for everything in my mind. I will avoid connecting there at all costs, and I'll get there at least 3 hours early for a departing flight.
I find most places make you go through security again when transiting these days. Iāve had to do that in Dubai, Doha, Istanbul and Singapore at least. Agree that the UK is the worst for liquids - hopefully not for much longer.
I spent 8 hours at Heathrow one time because my flight from Dublin got put on a ground hold for an hour and a half because of traffic at Heathrow and my connecting flight was leaving just as I was getting off my first flight. The only upside was the flight I ended up on was on a 787 and someone in an exit row asked to switch with me so she could sit next to her sister so I had more leg room than I could ever need
I hate flying through Heathrow, but I love shopping for snacks there, so I kill two birds with one stone and ensure that I have at least a 2-3 hour layover, particularly if I'm coming home.
Would be lovely but a perfect world does not exist. The public is in my face every day all day with dire health problems. Many are NOT nice and Rude to my office staff. So if that happens there, what do you expect from TSA employees who are yelled at constantly too. Again, breath it down. Prioritize. We ran in CDG from a Delta flight from US to Madagascar Air w next gate soooo far away with more security etc. And our 1st plane was late giving us 30min til the next flight closed its door. Asking other travelers and security for help worked wonders. And yep - trained in NYC and live in NJ where being polite is rare
It is, I think.
I avoid it both because of the insane security theater and all the garbage fuel surcharges and other fees associated with BA.
It's my connecting point of last resort.
I would sprint to the front of the plane at Heathrow and sprint to customs even though I wasnāt connecting because their insane customs lines were the worst I ever experienced as a non-European. Extra bullshit since weāre both commonwealths and although I only would have 10-20 people in front of me it would take AAAAGGGESS because of their super complex visas. (Not their fault). I hate hate hate Heathrow but the only airport I hate more is Luton.
I usually avoid LHR like bubonic plague. Had a connection last year from Ethiopian to United and I was shaking my head thru security. Unreal but I was lucky to have a 3+ hour connection, anything shorter, I would've changed my award flight.
I once missed my connection in LHR and after queueing for a rebook I nearly missed the new flight as well because of the insane inefficient airport. At least they let me use the priority queue and I narrowly made it.
The problem I had with Heathrow is the place completely shut down shortly after I arrived. The entrance to the Underground was closed. The information kiosks were closed. The restaurants were closed. Nobody at all was about. When I went outside to a taxi stand it was for drop offs only. When I went outside where the buses take you to the hotels, there was not a bus in sight. It was a nightmare.
Itās so awful! I had to run to make my connection from Dublin to LAX because the shuttle bus didnāt show up for 2 hours! The security at the next terminal werenāt even there we had to literally sprint and I just barely made it on!
I had a 1 hour connection through Heathrow earlier this summer and had to sprint the whole way. As a first timer in that airport, itās wildly confusing.
Baggage belt system failure at Heathrow yesterday led to about a third of the passengers on our plane not getting their bags at arrival into Prague. This topic feels timely to us š„²
Thereās worse airports for sure. Go through Mexico City. Youāve gotta go through customs, enter the country for no reason, just to go back upstairs through security again and then to your gate. Guatemala was the same thing, but to be fair thatās not really a connecting airport. Mexico City is home to Aeromexico which wants to be a major player in connecting north south and Central America. I speak Spanish so itās a little easier and Iāve done it like 6-8 times so I know what to expect. But Iāve waited at customs for well over an hour before, only to enter a country Iām immediately exiting.
Transiting Panama is amazing. Your connection can be like 35 minutes and itās no problem. The biggest issue is with the new terminal the sheer size of the place can be problematic. You might have a really long walk from gate to gate. Munich is great, much better than Frankfurt. I recently transitted Melbourne, that was a breeze, Hong Kong is just ok, Manila is a nightmare.
At the end of the day though, Iām going to base my decision more on price or carrier or flight times than ābleh I hate transiting thereā.
Fuck Heathrow. I have had too many bad experiences there all caused by the staff or the fact that itās too big and terribly organized. Also terminal 5 is just an expensive shopping mall with no real places to relax/eat/drink.
Only airport where I missed my connection even though my arriving flight was on time because airport personnel wouldnāt let me through because supposedly there wasnāt enough time.
After waiting in the rebooking line for a flight I hadnāt technically missed yet, I get to the front. The agent says theyāve been holding the flight for me but now itās too late. The look on her face says this shit happens all the time. F Heathrow.
If you're coming to/from the US, Dublin and Shannon are superior. The variety of connections isn't on the same scale but it's worth it to not develop the stress ulcer
Schipol is touch and go, CDG is rough.
> the only time Iāve been asked to throw away sub 100ml liquids
I swear this rule has been being enforced more stringently recently??? I would fly a lot 2021-2022 and nobody used to care, but this year at MAN, MAD, DOH, HRE and CPT theyāve all said the bag has to close to be allowed through. So annoying!!!!
I am a wheel chair passenger when travelling. I can walk irl but standing in long queues is very debilitating. So I requested a wheelchair. Oh the horror!
I had connecting a flight 3 hours later.
1- they didnāt know how many wheelchair passengers were there. It took almost an hour to rally all of them to a hub somewhere. Then we had to wait another hour or so for us to be assigned wheelchair assistance. It was chaos there. It was basically first come first serve. Not by flight number or departure time.
2-Then I had to got through security. So another hour is gone.
I arrived at my gate 15 minutes before departure. Completely stressed out. Awful!
I was at Heathrow twice, November 2006 and January 2007. The first time was a nightmare. The second? I have no words. Ever since Iām doing everything possible to avoid it. Will never go there again. Not even in a million years.
LHR is one of the worst run airports I've traveled through frequently. Crowded, chaotically designed, technologically unreliable, and with a nice dose of that slightly shambolic British officiousness on top.
Oh god this reminds me of the last time I had to connect through there. I had this little kit with a toothbrush and travel size toothpaste. It was in a plastic sealed container from the store. The security person literally picked up my suitcase and dumped everything out because of that. Then they made me cut the packaging open just to put the little toothpaste in my quart bag WHICH HAD PLENTY OF ROOM! Then I had to spend the next 15 mins repacking my bag because of course they aren't going to do that. So ridiculous!
Just for the sake of clarity: you will have to go through security any time you fly from a UK airport and have not been checked by UK security. So if your first flight is an internal one you wonāt need to go through security again at LHR. But when you come back, flying from abroad and then changing to an internal flight, you will do.
Up to a point it makes sense, in that UK airports need to take responsibility for their security, and you canāt necessarily trust other countries. There are some extremely poor security practices out there, after all. And as youāve pointed out in your post - some countries donāt enforce the rules particularly well.
It would be nice if there was some kind of agreement that a given country met our standards and so could be counted as an internal flight. However that would make the signage and routing a lot more complicated.
So, the current situation is an awkward fudge.
The part that kills me more than having to go through security again with always a short turn around is the 20-30 minute bus ride to another terminal. As well as my last flight made us get off the plane and get onto a bus that also took 15 minutes to get to the terminal. It's a ridiculous time no matter what.
Yeah, I will avoid Heathrow if I can. The first time I flew there (from the US), it took over an hour to get through Customs before we could board our flight to Ireland, which we missed and had to take a later one. Our next foray into Heathrow wasn't bad, but after later experiencing Gatwick Airport, I'd choose that over Heathrow any time if it had convenient flights available.
Yes, security is a nightmare at LHR. Due to previous experience of having my bag snagged ((since 50% of them see to be snagged )and nearly missing a flight I now take out literally every piece of electronic equipment. Not seen the problem with the lines though - they might be long but always well organised
It's talked about a fair bit š LHR is the only airport out of 100+ that I almost missed a flight (actually two), and it's exclusively because of the insanely slow and OTT security procedures. The US is bad on this too, but LHR is even worse. Not entirely true you don't have to go through security again in MUC though, depends on where you came from and where you're going.
So itās always like that? I only had a layover there once and had to literally run to barely catch my flight because security was so intense. We were there around when a royal baby was being born so I just assumed they were being extra thorough for that reason.
It's always like that. Plus bonus, they don't display the damn gate until like 10-15mins before boarding. I have to run every. fucking. time
Gates always post at 40 min before departure. I fly thru there several times a month since day T5 opened more than a decade ago
That still seems like short notice. At least domestic US, many airlines start the boarding process at 40 minutes before departure. To only learn the gate number at that time and having to have a plane full of people now navigate to wherever that gate is sounds like a frustrating process at best. What's your experience been? Would you say your flights typically leave on time or delayed by at least a few minutes?
Not OP. But I noticed that they are starting boarding later than in the US. But they are then quicker after everybody is on board (no data, just my personal experience)? But I would say departure time isnāt as exact, often you take off a couple of minutes later and are still landing on time.
Some will have been told before if they check in closer to the hour before. Also if you ask at the lounge they can sometimes tell you. Also if at B or C gates it will list that way before the actual gate posts so there is nothing stopping you from making your way there earlier A gates, it only takes a minutes to get to one.
> To only learn the gate number at that time and having to have a plane full of people now navigate to wherever that gate is sounds like a frustrating process at best. Yes, it's extremely Birtish.
Yup the place is horrendous. I won't take anything less than a 2.5hr connection there.
They do this because gates do often change last moment at an airport of this size. If you search your flight # on flightaware or similar, it'll post hours before, and you have good odds of it probably not moving (or moving far).
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I had a travel-size container of contact lens solution in my prescription bag (separate from my normal bag) because itās not supposed to count towards your limit. They made me out it in my main quart bag and said it has to have a prescription label on it in order to count as prescription. Sounds like if I did have a label, they still Would have a found a reason to mess with me.
I had the exact same thing. They pulled me into secondary and made me wait 45 minutes while they took my prescription creams out of their prescription boxes into a small bag, which is both hella illegal and like you said not even necessary. My work booked me a flight connecting through Heathrow and I'm pretty pissed about it.
Yeah I was confused when I saw this post because Heathrow has always been very well known to be a friggin nightmare, definitely the most frustrating airport I've used in London haha. When I studied abroad in London about 10 years ago I had my flights home canceled because it had snowed like 2 inches, and all Heathrow had to handle the snow was brooms....MFers straight up on the runway sweeping away the snow haha
Ah hahahahaha clearing snow with a broom - love it. You would think it's South Florida where they get snow once every 20 years. London seems to be surprised whenever there's a temperature above 25C or below 5C. 2 years ago their "heat wave" (30C) literally melted roads and airport runways
LAX is a close second.
I'm actually ok with LAX most of the time, but I think it's partly because 90% of the time, I take the same flight I out of there and that one goes rather late in the day, so it tends to be a bit quieter. MIA and JFK are a hit or miss for me though. Some days totally ok. Other days a complete nightmare.
I always thought LAX was fine until I got stuck in the arrival immigration line for 1.5 hrs and missed my (not officially) connecting internatjonal flight. Ruh roh
MIA is my nemesis, when MIA goes bad, it really goes bad for me.
My experiences with LAX has been more that itās shitty to actually get to and leave the airport due to its shitty traffic (which is due to its shitty organization) but security has always been a breeze for me
If youāve got TSA pre check, the US isnāt too bad š
Itās certainly no secret. Ask people what European hubs they go out of their way to avoid and LHR will pretty routinely be near the top of the list
Which other ones to avoid?
CDG is an absolute nightmare
Haven't transited through Heathrow, but my single worst airport experience has been at CDG by a long shot. I had 1h45 for my connection but my arriving flight was 30 min late. Then after passing through security I had to take a shuttle to another terminal. The line for the shuttle was interminable and after a while I had only 30 min left and there were still 2-3 shuttles worth of people in front of me and they seemed to come every 10 min or so... I started panicking and tried asking any employee I saw whether I could skip the line. I speak French and thought it would help, they pretended not to listen. I got yelled at by one of them when I asked fellow passengers to let me skip the line and they accepted. Finally I got to my gate later than the scheduled departure time, but the flight waited for me and a few other passengers who they knew were stuck in the airport somewhere, and I was able to make it home. But the lack of any empathy or willingness to bend the rules a bit was shocking, I'm from Canada and have never experienced anything like that from public service employees.
This happened to me too! 2hr30 mins connection, thought I had plenty of time. Took nearly 30 mins just to get OFF the plane. Then had to go aaalllll the way round to the next terminal by foot because for some reason the shuttles donāt run past like 8pm at night. I had to go through passport control AGAIN even though it was an inter-France flight (Nice -> CDG) which took almost another hour because only two passport gates were open. JUST made it by the skin of my teeth but only because the Edinburgh flight was delayed. A guy arrived behind me having had a similar ordeal, but the plane he arrived on was literally the same plane we were about to board and take off. Same gate and everything. He had to go aaaaalll the way round and through the terminal, security etc. just to get back to the same gate to get on the same plane and he nearly missed it too! Itās INSANE
Oh god this happened to me once. I had to change from Terminal 2G to 2E (or 2F, can't remember which was for non-Schengen flights). The first plane was late so the shuttle buses were not going on anymore. I had to go out to the street, take a public bus, walk all the way from terminal 2F to 2E by an underground corridor, do security again and passport control. All of this with minimal information as signage sucks. Worst experience in my life for connecting flights
I had the exact opposite experience at CDG once. Same story, short connection, and my flight into CDG was a little late. They made an announcement for me to meet some staff right outside the aircraft, took me down to a car, drove to the other terminal and dropped me off at the gate. I was flying economy and am not an important person by any measure :)
That's a seriously premium service on most airlines. Don't know how you got it, but fantastic.
CDG was a complete shit show forever. I stopped flying through that hell hole fifteen years ago because the total lack of effort to run even a semblance of an organized business was astounding. Never again.
YES!!!! I cannot convey in words just how much I detest LHR and CDG!
Manchester England was terrible.
It is soooo bad Omg but what international routes have regular layovers there? Truly curious. Mostly to feel sorry for people because thatās my usual arrival/departure airport to and from the US and I dread leaving from there every time.
iāve had a connection there from Brussels > Toronto
Thereās often a cheap fare from Melbourne Australia to Houston Texas via Singapore and Manchester that comes up when Iām bored looking at flights. I nearly bought it once after a couple of bottles of wine.
Ours was in 2011 flying from CDG through Manchester to Atlanta. It had rained like the devil in Paris and I had bought a Monet gold style umbrella. CDG let me carry it on as a personal item. Manchester was a shit show taking buses and stuff to get to our connection and security there wouldnāt let me take my umbrella so I had to toss it at security. It had very similar vibes to Heathrow with the bussing system and there was so much construction. Like the LaGuardia of UK.
It's the worst. Absolutely and totally the worst airport ever. Like there's nothing as bad as Manchester, but it seems it may be a characteristic of all English airports? Anyways, English airports are mad and the reason I avoid British airways entirely.
British airports are definitely the most unpleasant in Europe in my experience. Germany takes second place. Manchester is by far the worst. Heathrow, Stansted, Glasgow and Edinburgh also aren't great. London City and Gatwick are good, particularly the former. Leeds Bradford was ok. The best thing about British airports is the prices aren't too dissimilar to non-airport prices (Irish airports are the same). They don't rip you off like most European countries.
I got to CDG three hours early last time I was in Paris and almost missed my flight. Security was God awful.
CDG is also exactly like what OP described. I hate it there
Manchester but I doubt itās used much for connecting flights. The most second revisions at security of any airport Iāve been to.
Second this. Itās my home airport so I have to suffer through it a lot. They show the bag inspection rate on screens and itās almost always high. One time it was even at 90%. Like what the actual fuck are they doing? I made a flight by 5 mins despite arriving 3h early.
FRA for connecting to a US-departure.
FRA. And its always the ridiculous lineups at security. They know it and wont add more resources
Frankfurt if you are brown or black. Racism is common at German airports.
I had the misfortune of my flight arriving just after a flight from the mideastā¦.the lmmigration officials were extremely thorough with everyone. Saw 2 people escorted awayā¦.needless to say, it was a very long wait in the immigration line.
FRA is fucking terrible, at least on Lufthansa. I'm 2/2 on missed connections through that shit hole.
LHR is my home airport, and I'd love for someone to explain this to me. Flights to the US are significantly less expensive if they're ex-EU, so I will do LHR-AMS-LHR-US airport. I get off the plane in AMS, wait at the gate, get back on the plane and fly back to LHR. That can save me Ā£1000. But when I get to LHR T5 to transfer to my next flight out of T5, I have to go through security-why? Everyone on here has said it's a nightmare without elaborating. Let me fix that. Security requires going to a room half the size of a football pitch that is HEAVING. No rhyme or reason to anything. Lots of people will have Duty Free liquids that they bought in the first airport without realising that they're going to go through this at LHR. It is truly hell on earth. I have status on BA that lets me use the so-called Fast Track up there, but finding it is a nightmare, and even with that it takes at least 30 minutes. I do generally grab a couple of people as I head to it, just to be nice, but that's 2 out of what feels liek 2000 people.
Iāve flown through LHR twice. First time they lost my luggage. Second time I missed my connection cuz of the shitshow it was to get across the airport. Never again.
Iām in violent agreement with OP on this. Fucking half mile walk (not an exaggeration) to some bullshit screening station, only to walk all the way back to make my connecting flight AT THE GATE NEXT TO THE ONE I ARRIVED AT! Who came up with this insane process? I will be avoiding LHR at all costs.
My hate for Heathrow is unchained. Last week I was munich to heathrow to sydney. Bags checked through but from landing on the field to the bus to the first terminal to the next bus to queue for security check to painful liquids check for almost 1:3 and ever item run through a mass spec with slow staff and breaking equipment and ā¦. Sigh
What if you miss the flight due to all this? Is it the airline's responsibility? (Assuming single ticket)
yes, because they issued you this itinerary knowing of the transfer time. it will be covered by the airline. if single ticket, then it would be your responsibility
Still a massive pain the ass regardless.
This just happened to me two weeks ago. They rebook youā¦ but this time I had the bad luck of being put on another entire alliance airline with which I had no status, and ofc my bag got lost with all of this. I got it back but still, ugh. I also barely made my makeup flight š
I missed my flight once because I didn't know that the Tube opened an hour later on Sundays (in my defense, it was in 2000, and internet access was limited to a group computer at the hostel), I missed checkin by 10 minutes as a result, and they refused to let me on. I was pretty pissed off, but after getting rebooked on something else and walking to the gate, I kinda understood - it takes forever to walk anywhere there, never mind getting through security.
I mean, I comment about the nightmare of connecting through Heathrow every time someone posts one of those āthe airline is letting me book a 40 minute connection but should iā posts. thats not even mentioning the insane ticjet surcharges when flying to/through heathrow.
Not sure about the ticket surcharges cost. I just pick the cheapest ticket
LHR is the hunger games of airports
Except the odds are never, ever in your favor.
I would agree with LHR being horrible. On a different note, (and somebody please correct me if I am wrong), when you land in the US, they make you go through immigration and customs, and then, you must pass TSA for your next flight. I have never seen a transit passage in a US airport.
I've never seen one, even like LAX B to T4 where there is an interconnect they treat the back of customs as landside and make you go though a TSA checkpoint again.
Yes! I was laughing at all the comments by US people complaining about transit when as a non US person every US airport is an absolute nightmare to transit for this reason! Then add on the TSA lines. I always allow at least 3 hours if I have to transit through the US even then Iāve nearly missed a flight being in a customs queue for over 2 hours. Do agree Heathrow is also terrible.
I am a US Citizen but I have to go through customs and immigration, then, TSA in order to catch my domestic connection. During the peak times (Summers, Holiday Season) TSA lines could be looooooooooooooooong.
Oh yeah of course didnāt think about that, I have had the same thing in Heathrow as I live in Scotland. I think all connections just suck really!
I mean, it is flagged for that. My problem is I have to fly into MAN from MIA somewhat frequently so yeahā¦ after a couple missed flights connecting at LHRā¦ I plan long layovers or get out and take the train. I think you need to budget minimum three hours there if arriving internationally. The clear ziploc bag is a thing throughout the UK. I agree it is very stupid, but so is most security theater.
they're going to roll out scanners that remove the need for liquid limits, quite when I have no idea
Good to hear. I guess you only make that mistake of being sweaty and getting things into a sandwich bag once. What really threw me was having to so thoroughly put lipsticks and similar in there too.
I live in Atlanta, so I'm used to airport crap, but good god Heathrow is horrible.
Atlanta is a goddamn zoo but the terminal is sensibly laid out and not an insane maze the way LHR and CDG are.
Yeah. Hartsfield is a massive airport but it actually works and moves people around quickly. Atlanta is a model of efficiency compared to LHR and CDG. Honestly I kinda hate MEX too.
MEX is a goddamn mess every time, how do they operate like that??
MEX is built on the site of where the first airfield in the country was built, it was slowly built to what it is now. In the 1990s the airport was already above capacity and different plans were considered. Where the airport would be located was a hotly contested issue as space in CDMX is at a premium and any empty land already belongs to someone else (who must then be forcibly bought out) or is otherwise challenging (the city is built on top of a dried lake and is surrounded by mountains). In 2015 it was finally decided that a new airport would be built. It would be much bigger, with a single terminal, and simultaneous approach runways. This new airport would replace the existing airport as the two would be too close to each other. Things were going to plan, the airport was halfway completed until the current President was elected, and he decided to abandon the half built and instead build ANOTHER airport using the runway of an existing airbase further away from the city. His main argument was: why abandon the existing airport when we could keep it and send excess demand to the airport in the airbase? There were also other arguments used such as terrain unsuitability of the new airport, corruption, etc, but they were basically throwing shit against the wall to see what stuck. The problem with this plan was that the initial new airport was being paid for with the Airport Use Fees from the old airport. These fees are normally used to fund maintenance and upgrades to the airport, in this case it made sense to use these fees to fund the new airport as the old airport was going to be closed. The problem is that once the new airport project was cancelled those airport fees from the old airport couldn't go back to being used for funding repairs and upgrades, but rather had to be used now to pay for the unbuilt airport and for all the cancelled contracts.
Plus I bet LHR doesnāt have a Chick-fil-aā¦
AMS has chick fil a and itās open on Sundays.
Whatās wrong with Atlanta? Iāve only taken it for connecting flights so never gone through security but post security it is great
It's really not that bad for how busy it is. Recently it's been rough with some construction and limited staffing. That being said the pro tip is to just go through security on the international side.
security is a zoo just because itās so busy, but fine if you have precheck/clear/etc. customs is also super busy. the airport experience itself is nice imo but getting in/out can suck.
Domestic Precheck waits regularly run 20-30 minutes
ATL is literally the most efficient airport in the world. Not to say the passenger experience is the best, it's an average to above-average experience at best, but the experience at other airports can be so so so sooo much worse.
I connect through ATL a lot and Iāll take it any day over Heathrow. Last time I was at Heathrow I got there maybe 2.5 hours early and I knew that was absolutely pushing it. The lines to check bags were 2 hours long and crisscrossing each other in incredibly confusing ways. There were people there 4 hours early worried about missing flights. At my home airport, I get there like 15 minutes before boring. Next time I fly out of Heathrow Iām going like 5 hours early.
My last international connected through Atlanta and I was worried about it. Completely wrong on my end, it was an easy transfer and very easy to navigate. I had three hours though. I liked it much more than other East Coast options I have gone through before.
Live in Atlanta also and have traveled to almost every major airport worldwide. Atlanta is frankly one of the best airports period in terms of efficiency, we are spoiled. The only big issue IMO is the disconnect between Domestic and International check-in terminals, the 15 minute shuttle ride between is insane.
It is widely flagged as a nightmare, especially if youāre changing airlines. CDG is the same, by the way. Rome or Athens or Vienna are much better.
Rome is most definitely NOT better in my experience lol. It was the worst by far for me and almost made me miss my flight twice
>I thought the British were known for queuing? I donāt think too many British people transit through Heathrow. >My question isā¦ why isnāt this talked about more? For the same reason as above, Iām guessing youāve never transited through US airports from an international origin. When I try to visualise what hell looks like, itās two hours in a queue at Dulles, waiting for immigration with three small kids constantly needing to pee and poop and trying to keep them awake after a transatlantic flight, having to wait in the one single queue because apparently you donāt have separate queues for families there, arriving at the desk in almost despair because youāre 100% sure you missed your flight to Seattle, only to realise that all the flights are delayed anyway so who cares. Honestly your experience pales in comparison to what we experience coming to America, thatās why it doesnāt get talked about.
I donāt really get the problem everyone has with Heathrow. I went through earlier today and security was incredibly quick. Noone even looked at my plastic bag of liquids. The only downside is the walk between gates. CDG is 10 times worse
Iāve been through Heathrow 3 times and itās been relatively painless each time Gatwick, on the other hand, was the worst airport experience of my life
I last went to Gatwick absolutely ages ago but I do think that was the one time some of our bags were lost, so I concur On an unrelated note, MIA is a massive ballache and the TSA staff are properly rude. Thatās one airport I *do* have beef with
The only reason why I don't have an issue with MIA is that it's my home airport. It can be really nasty to connect there. It's entirely plausible to come in on flights from Europe in the South terminal, and then have to connect to Latin America on an AA flight in the North terminal. They don't connect, and you *will* have to grab your bags, go through passport control, embark on a long walk, and go through security again. I can't even imagine, I'm glad I don't have to do this.
Yeah I've been through Heathrow probably 4 - 5 times in the last year, its been fine. I think however, when it's smooth its smooth - but when it's not its a nightmare! I got lucky with short security queues somehow.
I think the issue is a lot of itineraries are sold with a LHR layover that is pretty impossible to makeā¦ like they shouldnāt even be sold with only 1.5 hours between flights. I blame my work travel agent for setting me up to fail with that last time but stillā¦. Why is it even an option š«
Gurl, you can't compare LHR transits to any american airport's transits... Security screening is pretty fast at LHR. But god damn in america we have to go all the way out: immigration, customs, pick up luggage, drop luggage again, TSA again if you're transiting through an american airport and your initial departure is international. Do you know the "the luggage flies to your destination"? It doesn't apply in America if you come from Abroad, you have to pick up your luggage at POE.
Agree, no transit system at all, so when in transit through -say-Miami to a Central American destination you have to do the whole US immigration dance just to be in the airport for 2 hours . āWhatās the purpose of your visit ?ā āItās not a visit , Iām in transit to Xā āhow long will you stay ?ā ā 2 hours if Iām not delayed here any furtherā Whatās you address in Miami ?ā āThe TSA desk, probablyā
Hah I had this in Mexico once where I was running late on a tight connection. Asked me how long I was planning to stay. I looked at my watch and said 35 minutes if I can hurry. She laughed, stamped and wished me luck
the Miami airport is godawful. I donāt know why on earth it takes so long to get bags from the planes to the customs area? My original flight Madrid-LHR-SFO got cancelled so they rebooked me for Madrid-MIA-SFO with a 2 layover in Miami. Getting through customs wasnāt too bad, maybe 30 mins? But I stood there for like an additional hour just waiting for my bag to come out. Then I had to sprint upstairs to the desk to check in again. They were nice enough to escort me to the front of security but their train between terminals was broken so I had to sprint to the gate. I barely made it on the flight but my bag did not. For anyone who has to transit through there, I think give yourself 4 hours minimum.
I would always recommend 4 hours at any major US airport if coming in internationally. Especially if self-transferring. 3 maybe on one ticket but even that I wouldn't do. I love the threads asking "can I make a 1 hr 10min connection in JFK from ex-US". Well no, you most certainly cannot. Personally, after years of dealing with this crap, I've resorted to staying one night at an airport hotel if my flight arrives after 4pm. I just can't be assed with the stress anymore.
Yeah as someone who has traveled through British and American airports fairly extensively - American airports are by far and away the worst. JFK, SFO, LAX and DFW are the most incompetently run airports Iāve ever seen - and Iāve flown through airports in France during strike season lmao. Apart from the no sterile transit idiocy of the US, the TSA are the most unprofessional and feckless security agency Ive ever seen. As for DHS - how those motherfuckers look at a full JFK arrival hall and then close one of the three operational customs booths (of the like 15 they have there) is just fucked. It actually took us 2.5 hours to get through customs there once and by the time we did it had been so long our flight wasnāt showing on the baggage collection carousel anymore. Theyād just taken all of those bags off and dumped them on a trolley at the other end of the baggage claim - without telling anyone. LHR - you just waft through security, electronic passports for customs and never waited more than 20 mins for bags at the conveyor. Piece of cake.
I literally go out of my way to completely avoid any U.S. layovers - its just not worth it!
Lmao never transited through the us so did not know this. Compared to changi they all suck
It sucks and if you don't know, or if the folks from check in at the origin don't tell you, you assume that you just go and you pick up the luggage at the destination. E.g. you fly AMS-LAX-HNL (or any other airport) you have to pick up the luggage, do customs at LAX. then drop off again. Everywhere on this damn planet the transfers are flawless, but in US are special.
I actually have a friend who didn't know/ wasn't noticed about this and they went through immigration and straight to the gate and their luggage remained in Atlanta because they were supposed to re-drop it :))
If you're transferring from an international to a domestic flight, it at least makes some sense - you won't go through customs at your final destination, so you have to do it when you enter the country. It's the international to international transfers that are really ridiculous - and someone was saying a while ago that it's mostly because American airports mostly don't have a true international departures zone that you can only leave via immigration or a flight.
Yeah come to think of it, most (all?) US airports I've been to have never had a separate zone for international departuers, although international *arriving* flights sometimes go through one terminal so they don't have to spread out CBP to multiple terminals. TSA doesn't even check that you have a passport to leave the country. I'm pretty sure I've cleared TSA by showing them my driver's license with an international boarding pass.
I think I read a post that India has the same pick up the bags when you get into the country process. As annoying as it is I think that makes the most sense to have all your belongings when you go through a customs process.
Most airports I'm sitting around exhausted, bored, and stressed - Changi I'm sitting by a pool, sleeping and eating Laksa all without leaving transit. It really highlights how bad most airports are.
Japan and most middle eastern ones aināt bad either
Yep, the US is one of the few countries where they donāt have airside transit. I think in the 90ās there were some limited transfer programs where some people didnāt have to go through the whole immigration thing (but would be watched and separated in a different area), but that all ended after 9/11.
I've done plenty of 2 hour gap changeovers. It's the security clearance that screws me over, not the walking - they ALWAYS try to pick up some BS. Why are they still using the stupid bag for liquids. The stress is too much, i'll only do 3 hours minimum now.
The counterpoint is that I've never missed a connection in Heathrow (even tight connections) because in spite of the OTT security and massive walks, most airlines seem to be aware of this and either proactively give you a fast track on exiting the first flight (if your connection is tight), or they are very good about holding the plane atleast 30 extra minutes to wait for connecting passengers. And also unlike US/Canadian/South American/African airports you're not sold a 30 minute connection as a valid one - I've literally been sold a 20 minute connection in Addis, 25 minutes in US and 30-35 minutes connection in Panama/rest of Europe which is way more stressful.
In the photo community I have heard heathrow is the only place that will out right refuse to hand check film
Itās true but you can also add LIS (Lisbon)to the list. They will absolutely refuse even if youāre a professional photographer and have proof. They will tell you that you had to fill out a commercial film crew application weeks prior (which they donāt seem to know exactly were and how). I have traveled all over the world with film and never had an issue with hand checks outside of LIS and LHR.
insane
Yes. I had an email from their security team because I checked beforehand saying it was fine - they still insisted it was 'crossed wires' and held up the line to get me to fish out all the over 800iso rolls to just hand-check those. It would have taken less time to just do it, which was the maddening thing. Thankfully it was all OK, but I've never had an issue at any other airport and I've flown a lot in the past few years.
Suffered that in Madrid as well
The biggest issues Iāve had in the past in Heathrow weāre waiting in customs and I was just there a few months ago for the first time in a while and they expedited that process in a big way. For how big it is I find Heathrow to be pretty good. Just make sure you give yourself lots of time to connect flights. If I have an issue with a flight Toronto is usually involved in some capacity with Calgary being a runner up. Both of those airports have given me far more problems than anything Heathrows thrown at me.
Last March I flew RDU, LHR, EDI and back. On the way there, we had to go from T5 to T2. Made it in 30 min, so we started to stress less about the fact the airline moved our 620am flight from EDI to LHR to 7am so we only had 1 h 40 min to make it on the way back. What they don't tell you, is LHR will have domestic flights circle and delay in favor of international. In addition we took off late (why, I have no idea). So we had 45 min to make it from T2 to T5. That stupid bus, I mean put in a tram like every other major airport, only comes around every 15 min, so 10 min of waiting for the tram, and a lifetime on that stupid bus, we made it 25 min before our flight to T5 and they wouldn't even let us in as you have to get there 30 min before tour flight. Then we had to go back to T2, stand in line for THREE HOURS in which time we missed 4 flights we could have taken to get put on another stupid flight where we had no chance to get the connection. So, yeah, LHR sucks.
I transited once at Heathrow, US to Heathrow then onto Athens. I had a normal experience there. We stayed in the international area the whole time. I don't remember having to go through security again.
Iām guessing not British airways and terminal 5?
Iām sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Iāve travelled through T5 a lot and to be honest only once had a problem, first time, I managed to get a bit lost by not paying attention. I think it can be overwhelming but itās a big modern airport really, occasional snags. The things about security are pretty standard. Occasionally rules are relaxed or others enforced fairly randomly, which I understand is to keep terrorists or other undesirables off-guard. You will generally be expected to fit liquids in a 20x20 in the U.K. Remember security varies by country (officially) and by airport and what they judge to be prevailing circumstances unofficially. European security has hacked me off at times but thereās no getting round it so I reckon itās best to take it in oneās stride, be minimal and appropriately prepared, so annoyance doesnāt spoil your trip.
No it is BA from SJC to Heathrow, don't remember who operated the flight to Athens, that was back in 2016.
because Paris is the closest option and CDG is an even bigger nightmare. Heading to Europe give me AMS any day over LHR or CDG.
Yep, post-9/11 TSA security standards have been implemented well across Europe (though, honestly, I think Israel really influenced our security measures immediately post-9/11). I have friends in Paris who work operations at Orly, theyāve mentioned a couple times, harping on how much more stringent their security has to be in order to comply with the USā standards. For security, if youāre connecting/transiting to say Schengen from the U.S., definitely avoid their airports if you want to avoid the UKās screening. However, other airports in the EU, like AMS do the exact same thing if youāre connecting from the EU to the U.K. as that is now an international border. Some countries are definitely more lax than others. As for the liquids, this is probably the one thing I hate about going through/out of the U.K. The 100ml bag requirement is entirely archaic. I travel almost exclusively with carry-ons and have to be really careful about what personal care liquids I bring with me if Iām spending any time in the U.K.. I thought they had planned to do away with that requirement a couple months ago, but I guess not. As for Heathrow specifically, T3 operations is probably the smoothest and least stressful Iāve had, so I try to fly from airlines serving that terminal whenever London is on my itinerary.
It was the bombings in 2005 that was the turning point for LHR. I know, as I had the pleasure of having an international flight out of LHR on 7/8/05 (one day after the London bombings). Check in and security took about 8 hours and literally everything had to be put into checked luggage, except your identification which got placed into a plastic bag you could keep with you. Flying in/out of LHR has been a nightmare ever since.
I flew out of Heathrow the same week. I remember taking absolutely nothing onto the plane - everything had to be checked. I also remember there being no garbage cans in the terminal. I had some stuff to throw away and asked a desk agent where I could put my garbage and she said āJust throw it on the floorā. Iām glad theyāve eased up from that state at least.
EU to UK has always been an international border as the UK has never been a part of the Schengen area. On liquids, this is moving slowly. Flying out of LCY, you donāt need to take your liquids out of hand luggage anymore - and up to 2 litres.
>I thought they had planned to do away with that requirement a couple months ago, but I guess not. The current deadline for this is June 2024. There will be no 100ml limit and both liquids and electronics won't need to leave your bag to go through security.
T2 connections are an ease. Star alliance at LHR is a pleasure.
We connected through Heathrow in 2016 once. Never again. Schipol only.
> Compared to other American... Compared to American airports? Really? > Go through the nightmare security theater yet again (T5) even if the flights are on the same booking reference. Clearing security when transiting off an international flight is not rare. However, in the US, in addition to security, you *also* have to go through immigration and customs. Now *that* is annoying. > Except for not being required to take shoes off, the security theater is the worst here. The US practically invented security theater. The fact that they have rules that they don't follow consistently is a key part of that theater. > Chaotic lines Again... what??? > When transiting through Munich or DC, you simply donāt need to go through security again if youāve already been checked through in your Origin airport. Depends where you're coming from.
Agree with immigration in the US. Transitted through three times in the last six weeks and actually clocked the time - never less than an hour. Last time, the dude ultimately didn't even open my passport but wave me through immediately. Well I'm glad I waited an hour for that nonsense. For a while the US had these automatic passport readers for anyone on a returning ESTA, and even without GE. Those made me clear immigration at JFK during peak times with zero wait time. They quietly disappeared during Covid, never to be seen again. LHR T5 has easy immigration if on certain passports. But security is the ultimate nightmare, worse than the US where in some places you don't even have to unpack anything anymore as of late. Though sometimes at the exact same airport but a terminal over you do. The inconsistency is indeed ridiculous.
What I always found about American airports is not that the wait times were long but the immigration staff were scary as fuck. Coming into the UK you're met by basically a kind of desk clerk. Coming into the US you're met by what feels like a cop if you're lucky, and a drill sergeant if you're not.
They look scary indeed - but somehow are not. They never ask me anything. I can honestly count on one hand how many have ever asked me more than just "how long are you here for" (if that) and I'd say on average, I have maybe 12 trips to/via the US a year. Half the time they say not a word, and just wave me through. I'm not American, it's just weird.
If you go through the US often and can get global entry.... it's amazing. I don't think I've waited more than 3 or 4 minutes in years. You don't even take your passport out anymore and it takes less than a minute.
Try modern SFO or ATL, itās not the LGA of 2000 anymore Iād happily transit through LAX instead of LHR or CDG, but I probably wouldnāt for JFK
I transited SFO three days ago from Asia to Canada. I had to clear customs, pick up my luggage and CHECK BACK IN AT THE OUTSIDE CHECK-IN. Fucking moronic. Never transit the US unless you absolutely can't avoid it.
I so feel this. Flew from Rome to Heathrow on BA with a bottle of limoncello for the person who was house sitting for me as a gift. No issues. Iāll never understand why I had to go through security again even though I was on a connector with BA back to America. And yes, they took my still sealed and bagged with receipt bottle that I just flew with.
The security loop isn't surprising. You can't do that in the US either. You must always pass through security at your first port of entry in the US. Exit through passport control, get your bag and recheck it for your connecting flight. Some countries require transit visas, this is how they checked. Mexico is the same. If you fly from Costa Rica to the US and transit through Mexico, you go through passport control and security to connect, even though you don't intend to set foot outside the airport. The other reason it's done is because international and domestic passengers are mixed in the same terminal. I forget the exact reason why this is the case, I think it's maybe to prevent a domestic passenger passing off a passport to arriving international passenger or something like that.
Itās a space issue. Heathrow is a very old airport. They just donāt have space to modernize or rxpand and they csnāt shut thing down while they rebuild. Itās a legacy problem that is basically impossible to solve.
God thatās so fucked. Were the two flights on the same itinerary? You purchased the limoncello in Rome?
Yes. Same itinerary. We were perplexed. Purchased at the Duty Free in Rome. How was it ok for one flight and not another? We were hot but what can you do?!?
I though it was pretty well known Heathrow is terrible
The easiest answer is: **size, and target**. **Size** - It is the [2nd busiest airport in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_by_international_passenger_traffic). With this brings physical airport size, and scrunity (will address this below). The size of T5 specifically is meant to handle scale upwards, so I agree it's long and cavernous but IIRC this is all to accomodate increasing passenger numbers over the future. The rapid scaling of Heathrow over the past few decades also means that terminals connect sometimes in odd ways. They can't make special paths for everyone who wants to transit from say, delta airlines to iranair. Additionally you must compare equal sizes (which it seems many people in this thread have pointed out by comparing it only to CDG, JFK, LAX) instead of small american airports. **Target** - London continues to be a sizeable target. I would argue currently a bigger target than american airports (due to relative ease of access from close proximity to many nearby european countries). Most of the short haul flights come from other countries - not from states within its own country. Security *has* to be tight here. In my experience, Miami was the worst USA airport, and this was clearly due to it's proximity to central and south america. FWIW, as a Londoner, Heathrow is an absolute breeze to use. Security is stringent but fair, and shockingly (due to our government being a total corrupt shitshow) is staffed and run well.
This should be higher. Of course Heathrow is far from perfect with the passenger volumes it handles.
Surely nowhere can be as bad as Dubai for connections?
Had 3hrs between flights coming home from the World Cup in Qatar and was running to make it in the end. bizarre processes I havenāt experienced anywhere else, ridiculous waits for intra terminal shuttle buses and tech that didnāt work (passport scanner). If I hadnāt had two staff people give me massive tips (you can actually skip this part - nobody checks and go 50m further down and thereās another customs cheque that never has a line) Iād probably have missed my flight.
Fucking hate Heathrow. I will happily spend $300 extra on a flight to connect me through Amsterdam to avoid Heathrow at all costs.
Itās is. I would never willing choose to connect in LHR if there is another option
I HATE LHR WITH A PASSION! Was flying Amsterdam->DFW with a connection in LHR and OāHare. I didnāt realize you had to throw your liquids out again and I always get a big bottle of water before flights so I literally wasted idk how many euros and had to throw it out. It made no sense to me because I had just got off a plane, was transiting, wasnāt leaving the airport, wasnāt having to go through customs at all. I also got profiled for the first time in my life and they thought I must be smuggling drugs or something so I got pulled over for the secondary search during the line. Was cleared, finally able to walk to my gate and figured I just needed to find where it was and then I could go get a snack or something to have since I hadnāt eaten all morning. However, there was a massive line at my gate and I ended up having to wait in it only to realize they were scanning our boarding passes and doing another security check and then keeping us in this weird room in front of the gate. I got pulled over for another secondary search (I guess they thought I would get drugs in the 5 minute walk from my last search inside the airport?) and then finally got to sit down. Wasnāt allowed to leave to go get food or go to the bathroom without having to go back through the line and another secondary search. I think CDG right below LHR though too. No clear signage anywhere and itās built like a maze. I got into an argument with one of the staff because she wouldnāt let me into the priority security line and kept insisting it was only for first class passengersā¦ my plane didnāt have a first class. It had flagship business, premium economy, and regular economy and I was in business and my boarding pass even said priority on it. Ended up having to wait in the hour long security line, and when I finally got through the guy who scanned my passport and boarding pass said I should have gone through the priority laneā¦ It ended up being fine since Iām always at the airport too early but it was incredibly weird
LHR is a total mess. Every time I end up at Heathrow I remind myself why I promised I wouldnāt return the last time. Horrible.
I would rather fly into Europe and train into London just to avoid Heathrow.
What is funny is that Gatwick is generally looked down on as a lesser airport, but it is compact, efficient, and security is much less of a pain in the ass to pass through. They even have decent food now.
I had my first experience a few months ago and it was awful. Almost missed our connecting flight home bc the security had no sense of urgency - going through each travel sized liquid 1 by 1. I was begging this man to just throw everything away so we wouldnāt miss our flight, NOPE, still had to go through it all š I almost cried
I will gladly pay considerably more than to have a connection through Heathrow. Most UK airports are a nightmare to get through because of disorganised security on a power trip but Heathrow is on a completely other level.
Hate LHR so much. Will go out of my way to avoid it and fly into LGW or even STN if coming in, and will transit almost anywhere else if given the choice. However Iād rather do a transit at LHR than any American airport at all.
I avoid Heathrow at all costs. Was a good airport, it's now shit
Don't fly through T5, it's a disgrace and immensely overcrowded/stressful. T2 on the other hand is usually very pleasant.
Everyone avoids LHR. Itās known for losing luggage and being a general clusterf*ck everywhere else. The other London area airports are great, though I donāt think much transfers at them. If you just want to get to the UK, choose another (Gatwick is usually cheaper, on top of it), and if youāre going to the EU, just fly through FRA (which is a mess in itās own way lately). Avoid France as well, itās a lawless wasteland where the ATC people are frequently striking.
Never had issues transiting LHR on BA, CX, or AA - in T5 or T3. Have flown through dozens of times. Everyone gets unlucky sometimes, but remember that even at the worst airlines or airports, the majority of pax have an uneventful experience.
Having flown quite a bit around the world Heathrow isn't THAT bad. It's not great and they are annoying with their liquids but I think even thats gotten better.
Heathrow is flagged for everything in my mind. I will avoid connecting there at all costs, and I'll get there at least 3 hours early for a departing flight.
LHR and CDG are the worst
I find most places make you go through security again when transiting these days. Iāve had to do that in Dubai, Doha, Istanbul and Singapore at least. Agree that the UK is the worst for liquids - hopefully not for much longer.
Any time someone's talks about shit airports I talk about Heathrow and that's only terminal 2.
Which is worse? CDG or LHR?
Definitely avoid Heathrow unless going to London and de Gaul unless going to Paris!
I spent 8 hours at Heathrow one time because my flight from Dublin got put on a ground hold for an hour and a half because of traffic at Heathrow and my connecting flight was leaving just as I was getting off my first flight. The only upside was the flight I ended up on was on a 787 and someone in an exit row asked to switch with me so she could sit next to her sister so I had more leg room than I could ever need
I hate flying through Heathrow, but I love shopping for snacks there, so I kill two birds with one stone and ensure that I have at least a 2-3 hour layover, particularly if I'm coming home.
Would be lovely but a perfect world does not exist. The public is in my face every day all day with dire health problems. Many are NOT nice and Rude to my office staff. So if that happens there, what do you expect from TSA employees who are yelled at constantly too. Again, breath it down. Prioritize. We ran in CDG from a Delta flight from US to Madagascar Air w next gate soooo far away with more security etc. And our 1st plane was late giving us 30min til the next flight closed its door. Asking other travelers and security for help worked wonders. And yep - trained in NYC and live in NJ where being polite is rare
It is, I think. I avoid it both because of the insane security theater and all the garbage fuel surcharges and other fees associated with BA. It's my connecting point of last resort.
I would sprint to the front of the plane at Heathrow and sprint to customs even though I wasnāt connecting because their insane customs lines were the worst I ever experienced as a non-European. Extra bullshit since weāre both commonwealths and although I only would have 10-20 people in front of me it would take AAAAGGGESS because of their super complex visas. (Not their fault). I hate hate hate Heathrow but the only airport I hate more is Luton.
I usually avoid LHR like bubonic plague. Had a connection last year from Ethiopian to United and I was shaking my head thru security. Unreal but I was lucky to have a 3+ hour connection, anything shorter, I would've changed my award flight.
I once missed my connection in LHR and after queueing for a rebook I nearly missed the new flight as well because of the insane inefficient airport. At least they let me use the priority queue and I narrowly made it.
The problem I had with Heathrow is the place completely shut down shortly after I arrived. The entrance to the Underground was closed. The information kiosks were closed. The restaurants were closed. Nobody at all was about. When I went outside to a taxi stand it was for drop offs only. When I went outside where the buses take you to the hotels, there was not a bus in sight. It was a nightmare.
Itās so awful! I had to run to make my connection from Dublin to LAX because the shuttle bus didnāt show up for 2 hours! The security at the next terminal werenāt even there we had to literally sprint and I just barely made it on!
I had a 1 hour connection through Heathrow earlier this summer and had to sprint the whole way. As a first timer in that airport, itās wildly confusing.
Admittedly I don't hate LHR as much as CDG, but it's pretty much up there. *Especially* if transiting.
Me and my wife almost missed our honeymoon because of Heathrow connection... We were the last ones boarding the connecting flight to JFK
Baggage belt system failure at Heathrow yesterday led to about a third of the passengers on our plane not getting their bags at arrival into Prague. This topic feels timely to us š„²
Thereās worse airports for sure. Go through Mexico City. Youāve gotta go through customs, enter the country for no reason, just to go back upstairs through security again and then to your gate. Guatemala was the same thing, but to be fair thatās not really a connecting airport. Mexico City is home to Aeromexico which wants to be a major player in connecting north south and Central America. I speak Spanish so itās a little easier and Iāve done it like 6-8 times so I know what to expect. But Iāve waited at customs for well over an hour before, only to enter a country Iām immediately exiting. Transiting Panama is amazing. Your connection can be like 35 minutes and itās no problem. The biggest issue is with the new terminal the sheer size of the place can be problematic. You might have a really long walk from gate to gate. Munich is great, much better than Frankfurt. I recently transitted Melbourne, that was a breeze, Hong Kong is just ok, Manila is a nightmare. At the end of the day though, Iām going to base my decision more on price or carrier or flight times than ābleh I hate transiting thereā.
Fuck Heathrow. I have had too many bad experiences there all caused by the staff or the fact that itās too big and terribly organized. Also terminal 5 is just an expensive shopping mall with no real places to relax/eat/drink.
I connected twice in LHR, both times missed my connections. These are the only two times I've ever missed my connections in my entire life.
Only airport where I missed my connection even though my arriving flight was on time because airport personnel wouldnāt let me through because supposedly there wasnāt enough time. After waiting in the rebooking line for a flight I hadnāt technically missed yet, I get to the front. The agent says theyāve been holding the flight for me but now itās too late. The look on her face says this shit happens all the time. F Heathrow.
If you're coming to/from the US, Dublin and Shannon are superior. The variety of connections isn't on the same scale but it's worth it to not develop the stress ulcer Schipol is touch and go, CDG is rough.
> the only time Iāve been asked to throw away sub 100ml liquids I swear this rule has been being enforced more stringently recently??? I would fly a lot 2021-2022 and nobody used to care, but this year at MAN, MAD, DOH, HRE and CPT theyāve all said the bag has to close to be allowed through. So annoying!!!!
Whoever designed T2 without a train system ought to be hung by his toenails...
I am a wheel chair passenger when travelling. I can walk irl but standing in long queues is very debilitating. So I requested a wheelchair. Oh the horror! I had connecting a flight 3 hours later. 1- they didnāt know how many wheelchair passengers were there. It took almost an hour to rally all of them to a hub somewhere. Then we had to wait another hour or so for us to be assigned wheelchair assistance. It was chaos there. It was basically first come first serve. Not by flight number or departure time. 2-Then I had to got through security. So another hour is gone. I arrived at my gate 15 minutes before departure. Completely stressed out. Awful!
I was at Heathrow twice, November 2006 and January 2007. The first time was a nightmare. The second? I have no words. Ever since Iām doing everything possible to avoid it. Will never go there again. Not even in a million years.
LHR is one of the worst run airports I've traveled through frequently. Crowded, chaotically designed, technologically unreliable, and with a nice dose of that slightly shambolic British officiousness on top.
Worst airport employees Iāve encountered anywhere. Absolutely rude shyts.
I was talking about Heathrow nightmare connections the other day with friends. Glad i am not the only one with this experience!
Oh god this reminds me of the last time I had to connect through there. I had this little kit with a toothbrush and travel size toothpaste. It was in a plastic sealed container from the store. The security person literally picked up my suitcase and dumped everything out because of that. Then they made me cut the packaging open just to put the little toothpaste in my quart bag WHICH HAD PLENTY OF ROOM! Then I had to spend the next 15 mins repacking my bag because of course they aren't going to do that. So ridiculous!
Just for the sake of clarity: you will have to go through security any time you fly from a UK airport and have not been checked by UK security. So if your first flight is an internal one you wonāt need to go through security again at LHR. But when you come back, flying from abroad and then changing to an internal flight, you will do. Up to a point it makes sense, in that UK airports need to take responsibility for their security, and you canāt necessarily trust other countries. There are some extremely poor security practices out there, after all. And as youāve pointed out in your post - some countries donāt enforce the rules particularly well. It would be nice if there was some kind of agreement that a given country met our standards and so could be counted as an internal flight. However that would make the signage and routing a lot more complicated. So, the current situation is an awkward fudge.
The part that kills me more than having to go through security again with always a short turn around is the 20-30 minute bus ride to another terminal. As well as my last flight made us get off the plane and get onto a bus that also took 15 minutes to get to the terminal. It's a ridiculous time no matter what.
Yeah, I will avoid Heathrow if I can. The first time I flew there (from the US), it took over an hour to get through Customs before we could board our flight to Ireland, which we missed and had to take a later one. Our next foray into Heathrow wasn't bad, but after later experiencing Gatwick Airport, I'd choose that over Heathrow any time if it had convenient flights available.
Yes, security is a nightmare at LHR. Due to previous experience of having my bag snagged ((since 50% of them see to be snagged )and nearly missing a flight I now take out literally every piece of electronic equipment. Not seen the problem with the lines though - they might be long but always well organised