Time needed after Heathrow arrival from EWR to catch BA flight to Paris?
Mar 11th, 2009, 10:56 AM
#1
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Time needed after Heathrow arrival from EWR to catch BA flight to Paris?
My daughter and friends have round trip tickets to Heathrow for a 6 week Europe trip. They plan on starting out in Paris and decided they'd like to catch a Paris flight from Heathrow (don't want to switch airports). They do plan on spending the last few days in London.
How much time after their scheduled arrival time is enough to catch the next flight considering they will have to go through customs, get their bags, then recheck into another flight (British Airlines). They will be flying in on Virgin AIrways from EWR.
I was thinking 3 hr minimum. Is that enought?
How much time after their scheduled arrival time is enough to catch the next flight considering they will have to go through customs, get their bags, then recheck into another flight (British Airlines). They will be flying in on Virgin AIrways from EWR.
I was thinking 3 hr minimum. Is that enought?
Mar 11th, 2009, 11:54 AM
#2
That's probably about right, as I suspect Virgin will not inter-line their bags to BA. If they took the BA flight from EWR, they could send their bags all the way and probably could get through T5 in 90 min. or less.
Mar 11th, 2009, 04:46 PM
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I used to do a lot of BA-BA transfers at Heathrow (not since they opened T5). I would recommend that they budget at least 2.5 hours (and personally, I would plan 3 hours between flights). If your plane lands on time, and gets to the gate on time, and there's a jetway, and you're not a 30 minute walk from customs, and there's no line at customs, and your luggage arrives on time, and there's no line to go through security again, you could do it in 90 minutes. But there are a lot of points at which a delay could occur. There is enough shopping at Heathrow to keep them busy if they end up having a lot of spare time. It's better to have the time and not be stressed out about missing a flight.
Mar 12th, 2009, 06:14 AM
#7
The baggage check-through is the crux of the matter. If the bags are inter-lined, then it's an airside (no UK formalities) transfer - follow signs to flight connections, bus, security at T5, badda-bing, 90 min. is dead easy. Last time I did it (T3 < > T5 airside) it was around 45 min. gate-to-gate (or gate-to-lounge as the case may be.)
However if Virgin (symbol is VS by the way) doesn't forward the bags to BA, then one has to go "landside" - through UK immigration, bag claim, customs, trolley, train to T5, check-in, bag re-check, security... so three hours is not unreasonable.
However if Virgin (symbol is VS by the way) doesn't forward the bags to BA, then one has to go "landside" - through UK immigration, bag claim, customs, trolley, train to T5, check-in, bag re-check, security... so three hours is not unreasonable.
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Mar 12th, 2009, 09:29 AM
#12
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I called VS and there's no way they could arrange for automatic transfer of the bags.
Carry on is a good idea, if they can pack light.
Where do you catch the eurostar? Doesn't that require taking the train from the airport into london, and hten to the eurostar station? It also seemed much more expensive than a flight from what i rad. These girls are on a tight budget.
Carry on is a good idea, if they can pack light.
Where do you catch the eurostar? Doesn't that require taking the train from the airport into london, and hten to the eurostar station? It also seemed much more expensive than a flight from what i rad. These girls are on a tight budget.
Mar 12th, 2009, 10:02 AM
#13
They can take the Piccadilly tube line to King's Cross-St. Pancras, although they might have to walk a bit to get to the Eurostar area.
Don't they have to come back to London as well? A student return fare on Eurostar could well be cheaper than flights. Check for rates on eurostar.co.uk (in pounds) as well as eurostar.com. Fares vary by date, too. And I don't think of BA as what you'd call cheap.
Don't they have to come back to London as well? A student return fare on Eurostar could well be cheaper than flights. Check for rates on eurostar.co.uk (in pounds) as well as eurostar.com. Fares vary by date, too. And I don't think of BA as what you'd call cheap.
Mar 12th, 2009, 10:06 AM
#14
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They are doing a big loop, so will be returning to London from Berlin by plane, a few days before their departure. They didn't plan on spending much time in London because it's so expensive.
Mar 12th, 2009, 10:14 AM
#16
One way student fare on Eurostar can be as low as $65 if they're traveling on the right day/time. The tube will be 4 GBP if they're not using Oyster, plus they won't have to get into Paris from the airport. But you'll still have the problem of how to long to allow after scheduled arrival time. Actually, with the current exchange rate, London isn't as expensive as it was.
Mar 12th, 2009, 10:33 AM
#17
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Don't you have to take a train first to get to the city in order to get the tube to the Eurostar? The girls will jet lagged and tired. They don't want it to be as simple as possible.
