Changing Planes/Airlines in LHR

[logan25]

I am trying to cobble together my travel arrangements for a cruise in May. One option is to fly through London Heathrow and change planes. Would three hours be sufficient to claim luggage coming from Copenhagen on British Airways, pass through customs and check in for American Airlines flight to US?

[Twickenham]

I am trying to cobble together my travel arrangements for a cruise in May. One option is to fly through London Heathrow and change planes. Would three hours be sufficient to claim luggage coming from Copenhagen on British Airways, pass through customs and check in for American Airlines flight to US?

 

Is this on 1 ticket or 2? If 1 ticket, you won't have to touch your luggage at LHR, it'll be just a straight connection and 3 hours is plenty. If separate tickets, I would want more like 4-5 hours to do the transfer, especially as I think you will need to change terminals.

[threetowner16]

Ba arrives into Ter5 at LHR AA departs from Ter3 as said above if on a through ticket no problem as airside transfer bus, if on two separate tickets you would have to take the Heathrow express from T5 to LHR central then about 5/10 minute walk to T3 ,the train is every 15minutes, so 3hrs wouldn't be sufficient connecting time

[dogs4fun]

American Airlines and British Airways are codeshare partners. Your luggage will be checked all the way through to your point of entry into the US when you will need to retrieve it to go through US customs. When you check-in at CPH you will note that your luggage is tagged all the way to your final destination.

I always allow myself 2 hours to change planes at LHR and that is plenty.

Edited March 16, 2016 by dogs4fun

[Globaliser]

One option is to fly through London Heathrow and change planes. Would three hours be sufficient to claim luggage coming from Copenhagen on British Airways, pass through customs and check in for American Airlines flight to US?

Whether you are doing this on one ticket or two, BA policy is to through-check your bags onto the onward AA flight. This is not because the two airlines are codeshare partners, but because AA is another oneworld alliance member.

 

If you have booked a through-ticket, the details of your onward flight will come up automatically and the BA agent at Copenhagen should be able to through-tag the bags and print both boarding passes without doing anything complex.

 

If you are travelling on two separate tickets, you will need to show your onward flight details to the check-in agent at Copenhagen. The fact that the onward flight is on AA should be enough for them to build the bag tag manually.

 

However, you should be prepared for the check-in agent to be unable to print the second boarding pass. This is not a problem; when you get to LHR, you will need to transfer to T3 and you can pick up the onward BP at the AA transfer desk there. If you do this, show the AA agent your bag tag receipt, so that the number can if necessary be entered into your AA booking and so that AA will accept the bag for your flight when BA hands it over.

 

If you get both BPs at Copenhagen, you should ask the gate agent whether they want the bag tag number for the same reason.

 

So long as your bag is through-checked (whether you're travelling on one ticket or two), you will not need to clear immigration or customs at Heathrow. Instead, follow the purple signs for Flight Connections Terminal 3, and you will be taken to the airside transfer bus that takes you straight to T3. You will have to clear security at T3 but that should be the only formality there.

[logan25]

Thank you everyone for the input. My husband talked some sense into me, and I will travel on one ticket from Copenhagen through Heathrow to Dallas.

 

I appreciate the guidance on transport and signage.

[Globaliser]

Thank you everyone for the input. My husband talked some sense into me, and I will travel on one ticket from Copenhagen through Heathrow to Dallas.

More important than whether it's one ticket or two, is it possible to get yourself onto the Heathrow-Dallas flight operated by BA? If it is, then you wouldn't have to change terminals at Heathrow. With the Joint Business Agreement, all AA-operated and BA-operated flights between these two cities carry an AA flight number and a BA flight number.

[ozark74]

More important than whether it's one ticket or two, is it possible to get yourself onto the Heathrow-Dallas flight operated by BA? If it is, then you wouldn't have to change terminals at Heathrow. With the Joint Business Agreement, all AA-operated and BA-operated flights between these two cities carry an AA flight number and a BA flight number.

 

That is not always true. We flew BA from Barcleona to Heathrow arriving at terminal 3 and had to go to terminal 5 to connect to our BA flight to Chicago.

[Globaliser]

That is not always true. We flew BA from Barcleona to Heathrow arriving at terminal 3 and had to go to terminal 5 to connect to our BA flight to Chicago.

But on current arrangements, it is true for the specific itinerary that the OP was asking about, and it would avoid the concern that they had about changing terminals during the connection that would be part of it.

[Northender]

LHR is probably the worst airport for connections in the whole wide world.

Never have I had to do so much walking with staying on the same airline.:(:(

 

I would avoid LHR at all costs on our next overseas flight.

[Globaliser]

LHR is probably the worst airport for connections in the whole wide world.

Never have I had to do so much walking with staying on the same airline.:(:(

 

I would avoid LHR at all costs on our next overseas flight.

Planning smart is better than adopting blanket attitudes, though. Some LHR connections are truly dreadful. Some are no worse than at any other airport of a comparable size - and better than many, so that "avoid LHR at all costs" could simply net you a worse experience somewhere else.

 

Hence, for example, my suggestion to the OP of doing both sectors on BA rather than one on BA and one on AA; and ozark74's itinerary being better if you do BA then AA.

[scottbee]

LHR is probably the worst airport for connections in the whole wide world.

Never have I had to do so much walking with staying on the same airline.:(:(

 

I would avoid LHR at all costs on our next overseas flight.

 

You've never visited LAX ?

[Globaliser]

You've never visited LAX ?

:D

 

Sometimes, I wonder whether posters who make categorical statements like this have ever done some of the worse connection possibilities, even in the developed world. International --> domestic at Perth, for example? (Even if staying on the same airline.) It's enough to drive you to drink, all by itself.

[orchestrapal]

:D

 

Sometimes, I wonder whether posters who make categorical statements like this have ever done some of the worse connection possibilities, even in the developed world. International --> domestic at Perth, for example? (Even if staying on the same airline.) It's enough to drive you to drink, all by itself.

 

You are so right.

How many airports has the poster been through? Makes one wonder??