Clearing customs and immigration at Heathrow

[wcGma]

I apologize if this question has been answered recently. I will be arriving in the UK at Heathrow from the US around 7am in August. How long should I plan for it to take to claim baggage and go through customs/immigration?  I am wondering if anyone has recent experience since the summer travel period has started. Thank you. 

[gumshoe958]

Assuming you have a biometric US passport (one with a chip that can be read by a machine), immigration should be quick as you can use the automated E-gates without the need to see an officer and unless something’s gone wrong there are rarely long queues.

 

Customs is just a walk through, no time at all.

 

So the big unknown is baggage reclaim. But from plane to landside I’d estimate on average it takes about 45 minutes, give or take.

[Catchum]

Agreed if you have a biometric us passport and no children under the age of 12 it is seamless. Except Heathrow is a huge place and it is often a long long long walk to get to passport control. Customs is a walk through and bags are a lottery but 45mins to 1hour to be on your way is not unrealistic.

[Meander Ingwa]

Have never been stopped in customs, ever, at Heathrow.  Unless you have something to declare, you have your passport scan and walk ( and walk and walk) to your onward transportation .  My last trip in February was no more than 45 minutes.  In December was even less than that.  All on weekdays, early morning from USA

[Fauntlej]

I agree with previous posters that picking up your luggage takes a long time. We waited an hour for luggage after we went through passport control in 5 minutes. Be sure to factor that into what you do next.

 

 

[ssawjo]

After leaving Customs/Immigration in Terminal 3 (American Airlines), it appears that it will not take long to go through passport control but quite a bit of time to retrieve luggage.  Question:  After retrieving our luggage, how long is the walk to the National Express Bus and is there proper signage to the Bus Centre?  

 

Asking because our flight arrives at 1230 hours, and I am planning on taking the National Express Bus to Southampton.  The best time right now for bus departure would be 1345 hours.  Is this reasonable?

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

Bill

[gumshoe958]

Once you have your luggage, it’s about a 10 minute walk to Heathrow Central bus station via clearly signed underground tunnels (including some moving walkways, if they’re working).

 

The 1345 bus is certainly doable, but I would recommend buying the £5 “Change & Go” add-on which allows you to take a later bus if you miss it, subject to availability.

[klfrodo]

4 hours ago, ssawjo said:

After leaving Customs/Immigration in Terminal 3 (American Airlines), it appears that it will not take long to go through passport control but quite a bit of time to retrieve luggage.  Question:  After retrieving our luggage, how long is the walk to the National Express Bus and is there proper signage to the Bus Centre?  

 

Asking because our flight arrives at 1230 hours, and I am planning on taking the National Express Bus to Southampton.  The best time right now for bus departure would be 1345 hours.  Is this reasonable?

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

Bill

Here's a YouTube video for familiarization. Was posted 7 mos ago

 

 

[alexgtp]

We just went thru Heathrow customs in June. United flight.

If you have a biometric passport, there is a line with digital kiosks, you will put your passport on the scanner. Once approved the gate will open and you walk thru. You will than walk to the agent where they will stamp your passport. Extremely efficient. And I am not a fan of Heathrow!

I would say we went thru in about 15 min.

We took the Heathrow express to Paddington station. The walk is very long and took us about 20 minutes to get to the train area. Sign's are clearly marked from the main terminal to the train area. So very hard to get lost. But it ws quite a long walk.

I would say it can take anywhere from 15 min to 45 min to get thru, all depends on how many flights are arriving and going thru passport control.

[tiffintheok]

A slightly different question, still related to going through Customs at Heathrow.

 

When you get off the plane, do you have to go straight on to Customs? or are you able to stop and freshen up, possibly take a shower in the Lounge before then heading on over to Customs?

[gumshoe958]

7 minutes ago, tiffintheok said:

A slightly different question, still related to going through Customs at Heathrow.

 

When you get off the plane, do you have to go straight on to Customs? or are you able to stop and freshen up, possibly take a shower in the Lounge before then heading on over to Customs?

No, unless you have a connecting flight you must go straight to immigration, then baggage reclaim and finally clear customs. There are toilets en route, but not showers.

 

British Airways, Virgin/Delta, American & United/Air Canada all have arrivals lounges with showers, but they are landside and you must clear immigration & customs and collect your baggage before accessing them.
 

Note they are normally only open until lunchtime and tend to have stricter access rules than the airside departure lounges.

[tiffintheok]

1 minute ago, gumshoe958 said:

No, unless you have a connecting flight you must go straight to immigration, then baggage reclaim and finally clear customs. There are toilets en route, but not showers.

 

British Airways, Virgin/Delta, American & United/Air Canada all have arrivals lounges with showers, but they are landside and you must clear immigration & customs and collect your baggage before accessing them.
 

Note they are normally only open until lunchtime and tend to have stricter access rules than the airside departure lounges.

Thank you very much. I suspected this was the case. Will just have to hope that my status will let me access one of those lounges and bring wipes just in case.

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, tiffintheok said:

Will just have to hope that my status will let me access one of those lounges and bring wipes just in case.

You should be able to know before you travel if you will have access, rather than hoping! An alternative might be a day room at one of the airport hotels, but that's probably an expensive way to get a shower....

Edited July 23, 2023 by Cotswold Eagle

[Globaliser]

11 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Note they are normally only open until lunchtime and tend to have stricter access rules than the airside departure lounges.

 

11 hours ago, tiffintheok said:

Will just have to hope that my status will let me access one of those lounges ...

 

Every airline's rules will be slightly different. But as a generalisation, arrivals lounge access is only for premium cabin passengers, plus top-tier frequent flyers. Many passengers who can get in to departures lounges (eg through lower-tier frequent flyer status) don't have access to arrivals lounges. So it really will be worth your while finding out in advance.

[tiffintheok]

6 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

 

Every airline's rules will be slightly different. But as a generalisation, arrivals lounge access is only for premium cabin passengers, plus top-tier frequent flyers. Many passengers who can get in to departures lounges (eg through lower-tier frequent flyer status) don't have access to arrivals lounges. So it really will be worth your while finding out in advance.

I am flying Business Class on this trip. So I think that I do get access. 

 

Showering after arrival isn't something that I think I'll *have* to do. It's just something that I think I might like to do before getting on National Express to Southampton. Wanted to know if it was even an option.

[Globaliser]

20 minutes ago, tiffintheok said:

I am flying Business Class on this trip. So I think that I do get access.

 

Yes, that usually qualifies, and then you wouldn't need to rely on your status for access.

[Turtles06]

We flew into Heathrow from the US last September, arriving in the evening. We got thru the immigration eGates in seconds, but the walk to get there from our arrival gate was so incredibly long, that by the time we’d cleared immigration, our checked baggage had already been put out. 

[Host Bonjour]

On 7/24/2023 at 11:34 AM, tiffintheok said:

Wanted to know if it was even an option.

 

Certain credit cards are providing access to clubs and lounges to their members American Express does for Platinum Card and also the Chase Sapphire card, but the annual fee for the cards are steep however the travel benefits are immense if it seems likely you'll use them. 

 

Some clubs have been restricting access to lounges due to the access from outsiders (day passes etc) because airline status members have found them too crowded and unable to enjoy the perks they've earned.

 

But lucrative partnerships with major cards such as Amex, JPMorgan Chase or another major sponsor might not eliminate all partner perks, but buying in airport day passes may go by the wayside if they haven't already. 

 

There's also just been record-breaking travel numbers since 2019, and everyone is arriving in not great condition, maybe because even on international flights, where even coach was generally comfortable, it's not as great as it used to be, upgrades are harder to come by, and mileage programs aren't what they used to be.

 

So now everyone wants access to a lounge rather than sitting in a noisy, packed gate with a news outlet, souvenir shop and sandwich concession while waiting and looking for somewhere to charge their phones/tablets etc. Who wouldn't want a better place to wait?

 

 

 

 

[Travel Lifestyle]

Can you share how your experience went going through immigration at Heathrow? I have a flight landing at 6:30am from the US and I'm catching another flight from Heathrow to Luxembourg which leaves at 8:25am. I was wondering if that's enough time for an early morning.

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, Travel Lifestyle said:

Can you share how your experience went going through immigration at Heathrow? I have a flight landing at 6:30am from the US and I'm catching another flight from Heathrow to Luxembourg which leaves at 8:25am. I was wondering if that's enough time for an early morning.

 

Why are you going through immigration at all? Do you have two separate tickets? And which are your operating airlines? Which terminal(s) are your flights to/from?

[Travel Lifestyle]

31 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Why are you going through immigration at all? Do you have two separate tickets? And which are your operating airlines? Which terminal(s) are your flights to/from?

Yes, two separate tickets from two different airlines, landing in terminal 2 and going to terminal 3 for the next flight

[Travel Lifestyle]

On 7/4/2023 at 12:01 AM, wcGma said:

I apologize if this question has been answered recently. I will be arriving in the UK at Heathrow from the US around 7am in August. How long should I plan for it to take to claim baggage and go through customs/immigration?  I am wondering if anyone has recent experience since the summer travel period has started. Thank you. 

Can you share how long it took you? I have a similar situation and I'm wondering if it's quicker for early morning flights.

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, Travel Lifestyle said:

I have a flight landing at 6:30am from the US and I'm catching another flight from Heathrow to Luxembourg which leaves at 8:25am. I was wondering if that's enough time for an early morning.

 

18 minutes ago, Travel Lifestyle said:

Yes, two separate tickets from two different airlines, landing in terminal 2 and going to terminal 3 for the next flight

 

17 minutes ago, Travel Lifestyle said:

... I'm wondering if it's quicker for early morning flights.

 

I don't think that's enough time. A 6.30 am arrival is one of the worst times of the day to arrive at Heathrow if you need to clear immigration. (For context, the night curfew is basically lifted at 6.00 am. The first non-curfew flight will land at 6.02 am, and then for the next hour or so it's pretty much a constant and continuous stream of arriving aircraft, mostly long-hauls on widebodies; there are so many at this time of the day that it's one of the periods of the day when Heathrow will sometimes use both runways for landings at the same time.) Even if you can use the e-gates, there will very probably be queues for them which can take quite a few minutes to navigate.

 

If you have checked bags, you'll also need to get to BA's check-in counter at Terminal 3 before that closes. I can't immediately remember whether that's 60 or 45 minutes before departure, but you would have to be physically present at the check-in counter before 7.25 am or 7.40 am or else the electronic shutter will come down and you'll have missed the flight.

[Travel Lifestyle]

17 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

 

 

I don't think that's enough time. A 6.30 am arrival is one of the worst times of the day to arrive at Heathrow if you need to clear immigration. (For context, the night curfew is basically lifted at 6.00 am. The first non-curfew flight will land at 6.02 am, and then for the next hour or so it's pretty much a constant and continuous stream of arriving aircraft, mostly long-hauls on widebodies; there are so many at this time of the day that it's one of the periods of the day when Heathrow will sometimes use both runways for landings at the same time.) Even if you can use the e-gates, there will very probably be queues for them which can take quite a few minutes to navigate.

 

If you have checked bags, you'll also need to get to BA's check-in counter at Terminal 3 before that closes. I can't immediately remember whether that's 60 or 45 minutes before departure, but you would have to be physically present at the check-in counter before 7.25 am or 7.40 am or else the electronic shutter will come down and you'll have missed the flight.

Oh I see, makes sense now. Thank you!

[Globaliser]

Here's a moving illustration, in time lapse, of activity at this time of the morning. The landing aircraft are probably about a minute apart from each other in real time.