Flights from London to Edinburgh; Copenhagen to London

Next summer we are flying to London from Atlanta, to catch a cruise out of Edinburgh (Azamara cruise). How much time should we allow landing in London before scheduling our short flight to Edinburgh? I know that's a hard question, but assuming we're relatively on time arriving in London, is two hours enough time to grab our bags and go through customs and get to the next gate? Four hours? We're flying Virgin Atlantic to London Heathrow. Thinking British Airways after that. We're going to be in Edinburgh 4 nights pre-cruise.

Then, the cruise ends in Copenhagen. How much time do we need to allow to leave the ship (we do self-disembarking), get to the airport, and fly to London?

Thanks for answers/help. This will be our first time flying within Europe. Normally we just fly in or out from the US.

Try the Europe boards, since thes aren't Celebrity cruise questions?

OK, I am sure lots of cruisers have had a great time with flight transfers on BA....it just hasn’t been our experience...Coming from the UK you would think Heathrow would be seen as our ‘hub’ but we now find Schiphol and Charles de Gaul as preferred changes. We avoid the BA terminal at Heathrow.

With a BA flight from the US we spent an hour and 10 minutes on the tarmac ‘waiting for a gate’ only then to be told to ‘run’ for our local connection. When we arrived (late at gate) we were ‘told off’!! Our BA Antigua flight had us arrive minus luggage despite a 2 hour overlap....(bags took 2 days to arrive).

I would give longer than a two hour gap...To be perfectly honest I would look at other options too! No concerns re Virgin, never had an issue. Can not advise re Copenhagen....

Virgin (ATL - LHR) will fly into Terminal 3. BA (LHR - EDI) will fly out of Terminal 5, so you have got to get across the airport...allow at least an hour. Collecting luggage and immigration...at least 90 mins. Check in and security at T5 (even if you are checked through from ATL) ...allow an hour. Wiggle room...at least an hour. That makes 4 1/2 hrs and doesn't allow for delays at the ATL end. I'm assuming you will fly from ATL overnight, so immigration will be busy (lots of overnights from USA and Far East come in early), so I'd rather be safe than sorry and allow at least 4 and maybe nearer 5 hours between flights. I'd rather sit in LHR for an hour than miss the connection, but its up to you. I don't know how long it takes to get to CPH from the port, but would imagine you can do it in less than an hour. Check in and security...say an hour. Flight is about an hour I think.

Hope this helps.

Simon

PS Don't know where you are staying in Edinburgh, but cheapest way from the airport to the city centre is the tram. I think its £5.50 each. http://edinburghtrams.com/tickets/ticket-options

I would agree with chemmo, Heathrow can be a nightmare and I would never risk 2 hours, you could spend at leat half that time waiting to land!

There is no formal requirement to collect and recheck bags arriving into UK. I’d strongly advise you book this on a single ticket, ATL-LHR-EDI. On arrival you will clear immigration and then security, you can then go to your departure gate for EDI flight. You will collect bags on arrival at EDI.

If booked on single ticket and you are delayed the airline will automatically rebook you on next available flight.

I sorta agree with other advice here, insomuch, that if you can avoid LHR as a transfer point, then you should consider it. I believe EDI has direct flights from US. American Airlines and united for sure, possibly delta.

We do this a bit in revers when we travel to Miami in February most years. Unless I am on a single ticket covering both parts of the flight (which usually costs a fortune with Virgin on a BA flight) I like to be in Heathrow the day before and stay overnight in one of the airport hotels. I would not trust BA to operate a flight early morning to get me there for a 10am flight out of Heathrow. The flights that get bumped first are the Glasgow and Edinburgh flights from either Heathrow or Gatwick particularly early in the morning. I always like there to be at least two flights I can make to get to the connection. If it were me I would be doing the travel to arrive the days before you board and either stay a night in Edinburgh or Heathrow. The Virgin transatlantic flights tend to land early morning and there is a temptation to say I can get to Scotland to catch the cruise but, unless Celebrity are handling your flights for you, don't risk missing the start of your cruise.

Our plans for next month are we leave Edinburgh on the 14th, stay in Heathrow for the night, pick up the 9.40 Virgin Flight to Miami and then stay 3 nights pre cruise to allow some mall shopping time. No way I am missing the start of my cruise.

One the way back I am less concerned and typically leave around 4 hours between flights. I may miss a flight but not a cruise.

Thank you so far for the help.

We have spent countless days and hours researching flights.

Virgin Atlantic from Atlanta to London Heathrow is booked and paid for. It wasn't even close to the others on price and shortest duration travel time, even upgrading to premium economy. Getting to ATL from here is easy, they have many flights a day, non stop, all day long.

Looks like 4 hours is what we should assume for our flight to Edinburgh. We will be in the Edinburgh area four-1/2 days so we don't care what time we arrive. We're renting a car as we're headed out all over the place in Scotland while we're there. (husband has relatives there and of course we have tickets to the British Open at Carnoustie!!).

Obviously we know that a single ticket (multiple city flight) is often the best way, but this time it wasn't working money-wise and dealing with so many flights just to get there. The most direct and shortest flight for us was what we booked.

When we fly to Edinburgh we have the luxury of not having to arrive at a certain time. Also when we disembark at Copenhagen we plan to spend a few days in London, so again, not necessary to get there a specific time.

The only other time we flew into London it was seamless and everything went quickly. We'll assume the worst and allow about 4 hours after arrival.

We do this a bit in revers when we travel to Miami in February most years. Unless I am on a single ticket covering both parts of the flight (which usually costs a fortune with Virgin on a BA flight) I like to be in Heathrow the day before and stay overnight in one of the airport hotels. I would not trust BA to operate a flight early morning to get me there for a 10am flight out of Heathrow. The flights that get bumped first are the Glasgow and Edinburgh flights from either Heathrow or Gatwick particularly early in the morning. I always like there to be at least two flights I can make to get to the connection. If it were me I would be doing the travel to arrive the days before you board and either stay a night in Edinburgh or Heathrow. The Virgin transatlantic flights tend to land early morning and there is a temptation to say I can get to Scotland to catch the cruise but, unless Celebrity are handling your flights for you, don't risk missing the start of your cruise.

 

Our plans for next month are we leave Edinburgh on the 14th, stay in Heathrow for the night, pick up the 9.40 Virgin Flight to Miami and then stay 3 nights pre cruise to allow some mall shopping time. No way I am missing the start of my cruise.

 

One the way back I am less concerned and typically leave around 4 hours between flights. I may miss a flight but not a cruise.

Oh no way we'd miss the start of a cruise either! If you read my update, you'll see we're staying about 4 days each end of the cruise.

Edited after reading update.

At this point all you can do is cross your fingers and hope for the best. Our last flight into LHR was 4 hours late arriving due to a delayed departure and adverse winds. If you miss your flight to EDI, you'll have to pay for new tickets on a later flight.

We are doing something similar. Flying from ATL to DUB. Getting off in DUB and then taking an afternoon flight to EDI where we will spend 4 nights before heading back to Dublin for our cruise. We have allowed a little over 4 hours between flights. Flying Delta to DUB, and Air Lingus to Edinburgh.