My husband just told me that his brother said that having a return flight to the United States from Paris with a connection in Heathrow is a %26quot;pain.%26quot; He did not get an explanation of why it is a pain. I have tickets on hold that I need to by tomorrow morning and I do not know if I will be able to reach his brother by then to find out what he means by pain. I am planning on using frequent flier miles to buy my ticket and this is the only one available at the time I want to go. If I want to avoid the Heathrow airport I will have to buy a ticket instead. Does anyone have any idea of why Heathrow would be a particular %26quot;pain%26quot;?
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He is probably referring to the extra security check and baggage restrictions you have to go through when switching planes. This is a requirement at all UK airports I believe.
Even though you will be coming from a flight from Paris and have already gone through security in Paris, you will have to go through security again at Heathrow...a special security check for transfer flight passengers. This means you will have to leave the plane, walk all the way through the terminal (possibly long walk!) to the security checkpoint, stand in line, go through security, and then walk all the way back through the terminal to your next gate. It also means that even though you were allowed 2 pieces of carry-on baggage in Paris, you are allowed only 1 in London. No exceptions. No purses, no shopping bags....everything you have on you must fit into 1 bag.
I agree...it is a pain. But once you do it the first time and know what to expect it%26#39;s not that bad. Also make sure that you leave enough time between flights. At least an hour, maybe more depending on the time of day you%26#39;ll be passing through.
The Heathrow web site should give you all the info you need.
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Besides the above you may need to go through immigration.. we had a connection from Toulouse through Heathrow to Canada and had to clear immigration, customs. Took an hour.. I would allow 3 hours between flights to be safe but as said it%26#39;s not that big a hassle, especially if your ticket is on points!:)
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Thank you both for the information. Although it is nice to know what to expect neither of the issues mentioned will cause me any problems. I tend to walk around airports aimlessly instead of sitting around anyway and I do not carry-on much. Of course security lines are always a hassle but not worth having to pay for a ticket. I will be sure to check to make sure that I have plenty of time.
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