Folks

Anybody traveled thru Heathrow recently? I know it was a mess during the pandemic.

THX

Mark

I traveled through there 1 year ago after a Med cruise. It was still a huge mess.

This summer, lounges were crazy.

Heathrow is even worse than Charles De Gaulle in paris.

Avoid at any cost!

My wife and I flew in Sept 29 and out Oct 14.Easy-peasy. Short to non-existent lines for everything, courteous security people (far more so than TSA, though I admit that’s not saying much.) It is probably the biggest airport I’ve been in, but I thought it was pretty easy to deal with. Only stupid thing was having to take an elevator to ground transport.
However, I was not flying with firearms.
My first time dealing with Heathrow and based on that single experience would not hesitate doing so again.

quote:

Originally posted by sdirks:
My wife and I flew in Sept 29 and out Oct 14.Easy-peasy. Short to non-existent lines for everything, courteous security people (far more so than TSA, though I admit that’s not saying much.) It is probably the biggest airport I’ve been in, but I thought it was pretty easy to deal with. Only stupid thing was having to take an elevator to ground transport.
However, I was not flying with firearms.
My first time dealing with Heathrow and based on that single experience would not hesitate doing so again.

Do - hesitate!!

I have been through a couple times this year on return journeys and whilst I have seen it worse (during the pandemic) it it NEVER a pleasant experience.

I end up using Heathrow due to where I live (the north of Scotland) to make connections but would always use another hub if I could - Schipol or Frankfurt - not always possible for me.

I transited Heathrow in May and about 10 times since Covid started, and also arrived/stayed over in London/departed this May. It's seldom a pleasant experience - if everything goes smoothly, it's tolerable.

If you're flying from the US on AA and then departing on a BA flight or vice versa, you have to switch terminals by bus and it takes about 30 minutes. Flying BA from the US to Heathrow, you don't have to switch terminals.

Since AA is the only airline serving our small Oklahoma town, I always fly AA to DFW and almost always end up connecting through LHR when going to Europe. If I can transit in Helsinki (by flying DFW-Helsinki on FinnAir) I do, but it only works occasionally.

I used to fly through Heathrow several times a year.

It was getting worse and worse every year.

Eventually I have decided to avoid it.

Until a few years ago on my way to Canada.

Worse experience in an international airport ever!

What was worse were flying BA!

The shitiest airline flying today!

So I made a decision to avoid that place.

We go to and from Heathrow every year, including through covid. NEVER had any major problems. Compared with LAX it is a haven of efficiency and humanity. Last time was in August. Only hassles with guns was last year when carrying a 375, a 243 and a 12g shotgun. Rifles were in case together, shotgun in a solid, locked suitcase. Emirates were happy with that arrangement. Security said not satisfactory. Fortunately the gun was a lightweight English sidelock which when taken apart fitted between the rifles, otherwise it would have been a big problem. Citizens of countries not able to use the electronic passport lane (Asians and Africans) can be held up for a long time. Perceptions of airports always depend on what passport you are using.

I connected through Heathrow about a year ago. My connection time was one hour because of my inbound flight was delayed. It was tight, but I made my connection. Now if I had been connected from say terminal 5 to 3 I would have been screwed.

Flew into Heathrow sans rifle back in March when I hunted with Mike Taylor. I actually found it quite easy...

I transited Heathrow yesterday (November 8th) on BA in-and-out of Terminal 5. It was actually very smooth; security lines were short. It was busy but not heaving.

Wondering. In on AA from Dallas at Heathrow, 7 hour layover, out on BA to Johannesburg. Does one have to pick up bags and recheck or check straight through Dallas/Johannesburg? Thanks folks.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
Wondering. In on AA from Dallas at Heathrow, 7 hour layover, out on BA to Johannesburg. Does one have to pick up bags and recheck or check straight through Dallas/Johannesburg? Thanks folks.

Your luggage will go straight through. You however, will have to take the bus from T3 to T5 and re-clear security.

Taking a gun?

quote:

Originally posted by Wesheltonj:
Your luggage will go straight through. You however, will have to take the bus from T3 to T5 and re-clear security.

Yes, unless the AA flight is actually a code-shared BA flight. In that case, you'll fly right into Terminal 5. You'll still have to clear security though.

At least that's the case if you're not taking a gun. If you are... I don't know.

Thanks for the info. No guns, archery equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by Wesheltonj:

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
Wondering. In on AA from Dallas at Heathrow, 7 hour layover, out on BA to Johannesburg. Does one have to pick up bags and recheck or check straight through Dallas/Johannesburg? Thanks folks.

Your luggage will go straight through. You however, will have to take the bus from T3 to T5 and re-clear security.

Taking a gun?

quote:

Originally posted by Wesheltonj:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
Wondering. In on AA from Dallas at Heathrow, 7 hour layover, out on BA to Johannesburg. Does one have to pick up bags and recheck or check straight through Dallas/Johannesburg? Thanks folks.

Your luggage will go straight through. You however, will have to take the bus from T3 to T5 and re-clear security.

Taking a gun?[/QUOTE No guns, archery equipment. Thanks for the info.

Folks,

We went through Heathrow T5 on entering the UK Nov 3 and out of T5 on our way to Spain Nov 8. We experienced no hassles at all and the Customs and security check went much faster than we had seen it in the past. We did not have guns but I have been thru Heathrow several times in the past with guns and it wasn't a big deal at all. I've laid over in the UK on multiple occasions with guns and it's still not a problem if you jump thru the proper hoops.

Mark

Flew in and out of Heathrow last week. No firearms involved. Piece of cake. Short, efficient lines, courteous people.

Any airport is fine as long as we the hunters fly with carry on and no guns…piece of cake then