Heathrow immigration and custom times.

Can anyone who recently flew into LHR tell me how long it took you to go through Customs and Immigration?

We are coming in at 11am on a Thursday in August. Need to figure when to ask for a car pickup.

Thanks!

Can anyone who recently flew into LHR tell me how long it took you to go through Customs and Immigration?

It's the other way around: immigration first, then customs (after baggage collection).

 

If you truly are after recent personal anecdote, and if 2½ weeks ago is recent enough, then it took me three minutes. Maybe 15 minutes if you also count disembarkation and the transfer from the aircraft to the immigration area, as it took them a while to get the aircraft door open. But then we were the first aircraft to land that morning and we were about 15 minutes early.

 

However, if what you're really after is advice as to how long it's likely to take you, then the answer is probably about 45-60 minutes, with a large degree of possible random variation.

Even as a Brit, I would allow 45-60 mins. It can be a long walk from some gates, luggage can take a while, then its luck of the drawer as to how long immigration can take (these should be the other way round) , if plane is predominantly Non European then the queues can be lengthy.

Even as a Brit, I would allow 45-60 mins..

 

 

I honestly can’t remember the last time it has taken me that long at LHR. Like G, my last time (3 weeks ago) had no delay at all at immigration. And bags almost beat us, even though we were on a T5 ‘C’ gate. But then, I have a machine readable UK passport and I expect the OP hasn’t....

Doesn't even really matter anyway.

The car service picking you up will know your airline, your scheduled arrival time, and your actual arrival time. They know from experience that on X day at this time, it should take X amount of time for my passenger to exit arrivals. I also believe that the price includes a 1 hour wait time for you to exit arrivals.

 

This all assumes that you have a professional car service meeting you at arrivals.

And bags almost beat us ...

Although this truly is an unpredictable variable. Normally, my bags will come out fairly quickly because most of the time the prioritisation system works to a reasonable extent. But the last time I collected a checked bag at LHR was near the end of February, when we'd come back in First. No end of bags were delivered while we and some other fellow First passengers stood and waited. Some then came but the rest of us still waited. And there was general assent that it really was "random bag day" that morning.

Doesn't even really matter anyway.

The car service picking you up will know your airline, your scheduled arrival time, and your actual arrival time. .

 

Agreed.

Tell them your flight number & scheduled arrival time, they'll work it out from there.

And they can monitor whether your flight is on-time.

 

JB :)

The amount of time to clear immigration and customs vary widely by terminal and time of day. In the past year we have flown into LHR Terminal 4 on Alitalia and TAP from Rome and Lisbon arriving in the late afternoon. Since we are US citizens the immigration process took over an hour. We were in contact with our car service through Whats App, so they knew would be late. On the other hand times were much shorter (15 minutes) when we arrived on the morning Delta flight from MSP

Ahh, Heathrow.

As others say, it can be a LONG walk to immigration.

Then passport / immigration clearance can take 3 minutes or 45 minutes. I have two passports, one from an EU country and an Australian, so I pick the lines accordingly.

I know this sounds naughty, but I will avoid any lines with a lot of turban wearing people in it. There are always long waits, as seemingly every passenger has the wrong papers, holding everyone up.

Perhaps you can also ask your cabin crew if they might have a fast track card for arrivals. Usually these are for First or Business class only, but if the crew is nice, they may sneak you one. Makes going through immigration a lot faster...

I am an American citizen arrived at LHR Terminal 2 a couple of weeks ago and the line took one hour. Go to the restroom before you get in line! At least LHR had free WiFi!!

 

 

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That is still fast compared to Brits arriving at Chicago O'Hare airport I have twice waited 2 hours here and Newark can be just as bad did 1 hour 45 mins here recently

We flew into Heathrow a few weeks ago and were surprised to see how long the line was to customs. Thankfully we had flown business class from the US and had a "fast pass" to go to the short line so it only took us ten minutes or so. From what I heard the other line took about 2 hours to get through. I did find out this was a little longer than usual because of school being out.

We flew into Heathrow a few weeks ago and were surprised to see how long the line was to customs. Thankfully we had flown business class from the US and had a "fast pass" to go to the short line so it only took us ten minutes or so. From what I heard the other line took about 2 hours to get through. I did find out this was a little longer than usual because of school being out.

Are you sure you mean "customs" and not Border Control (immigration) ?. Passing through customs normally entails simply walking through a passageway with the dreaded one-way mirrors!

 

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We flew into Heathrow a few weeks ago and were surprised to see how long the line was to customs. Thankfully we had flown business class from the US and had a "fast pass" to go to the short line so it only took us ten minutes or so.

It must have been immigration, not customs. There is no fast track through customs.

We arrived on June 22 at 8 am and it took 1 1/2 hours to go through immigration. Other people on our cruise said it took them 2+ hours. Go to restroom before getting in line.

Out of idle curiosity, I timed myself through Heathrow T5 this evening. Those in the know will see that lots of things went well - best runway and direction, a stand near immigration, fortuitous timing for the train etc. And crucially, off course, I am a British citizen with a biometric passport. I know LHR very well, which also helps obviously. But it may provide some useful data points for others.

 

This was a BA flight from Geneva, scheduled arrival 1810, in economy with one checked bag (no priority)

 

1758: Landed (runway 27R) - this after a couple of circles in the southern stack, but to be fair to ATC we were ahead of schedule

 

1805: On stand, T5A - not sure of gate, but a stone’s throw from immigration hall

 

1814: Off plane - I was right down the back, surrounded by an excited school party, so took a while!

 

1819: Through immigration control - using the automatic gates (lots open, for once) with 2 people in front of me at the gate I used

 

1830 - bag arrived

 

1831 - through Customs [emoji846]

 

1838 - on HEX platform (quick stop to purchase ticket), for the 1842 departure

 

1902 - arrive Paddington

 

 

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I picked a couple up from LHR this week. Their flight landed at 07.10 - they got through to arrivals at 10.10!! I think T3 was having a bad day, as a lot of people coming through were complaining about the length of time. However it's more typical for people to get through between 50 - 60 minutes after landing. Sooner if in business class. Don't know whether an ordinary taxi would've waited 2 hours for them though.

It makes quite a big difference which gate you arrive at. You were lucky to arrive close to immigration. Sometimes you can walk for what seems like miles and miles from the plane to immigration!

 

 

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It makes quite a big difference which gate you arrive at. You were lucky to arrive close to immigration. Sometimes you can walk for what seems like miles and miles from the plane to immigration!

 

 

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I made that point in the first paragraph of my post and in the timeline....

 

Actually, in this case, the critical path was my bag’s journey, not mine. So I could have taken an extra 11 minutes to get through immigration and still left the airport at the same time. That’s enough time to get from pretty much anywhere in T5 to the immigration hall - as per my earlier post when I arrived almost at the same time as my bag from the C gate satellite.

 

And to reiterate for visitors, the overriding factor is almost always nationality.

 

 

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I made that point in the first paragraph of my post and in the timeline....

 

Actually, in this case, the critical path was my bag’s journey, not mine. So I could have taken an extra 11 minutes to get through immigration and still left the airport at the same time. That’s enough time to get from pretty much anywhere in T5 to the immigration hall - as per my earlier post when I arrived almost at the same time as my bag from the C gate satellite.

 

And to reiterate for visitors, the overriding factor is almost always nationality.

 

 

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Yes, it was the point you made in the first paragraph of your post which I was replying to!

 

Sorry the ‘quote’ got lost.