Heathrow connection times

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  • Ken from Vegas
    Ken from Vegas
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    Thanks for sharing, British. Interesting comparison between airports. Too bad this data isn't readily available to the public. Of course, these are minimums. I would add at least 20 minutes to the minimum for an international connection (more depending on the particular circumstances).

  • Smiling Sam
    Smiling Sam
    edited January 2024
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    Ken - I thought the same thing. I tried doing several searches to see if I could find the information in tabular form (since it seems like it’s useful information), but no such luck. You could find one or two, but that was it. The best I could find for the US was opinions:

    Don’t get less than 60-90 minutes for domestic connections, and 2-3 hours for international connections.

    I think the Phoenix airport is the worst airport domestically for allowing very short connection times. I’ve had airlines try to change my reservation to 20 minute connections from time to time. It’s a pain when they do that because you then have to call the airlines to adjust to something reasonable.

    I don’t thing airlines or airports should allow such minimum connection times (MCT). I understand why they do it (they aren’t making money when the planes are on the ground), but I think 60 minutes domestic and 2 hours international should be hard minimums.

    If you’re in economy it can take 20 minutes to deplane if you’re at the back of the plane. In addition they close the doors on the connecting flight 20 minutes before takeoff (sometimes). That could leave you just 20 minutes for your airport gate-to-gate transit time, assuming that 60 minutes was the MCT. I have missed a few flights where you get to your gate, after having run through the airport, only to hear the doors are closed, even though the plane is still sitting at the gate.

    These short connection times are one of the biggest worries/irritations/etc with travel. This is why the fewer the stops you can make the better you are, especially from a mental standpoint.

  • Sealord
    Sealord
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    Due to airline changes, our next Africa trip got down to a one hour connect time in Amsterdam. I considered the options to be ugly, so we have decided to stay overnight at the Sheraton in the airport. I’ve done the layover option before and I think it is better than the aluminum overcast option.

  • MikeHenderson
    MikeHenderson
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    Last time I went through Heathrow, I had to go from terminal 3 to terminal 5 on one of those buses. I thought I had gotten on the wrong bus and the bus was going to London :) - it was that long of a drive.

  • Smiling Sam
    Smiling Sam
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    Mike, the last time I did the terminal 3 to terminal 5 transit our bus was held up between terminals, for whatever reason. And of course the bus is loaded to the max so lots of the people are standing. We were parked, mid-transit, somewhere by what I think might be an old SST exhibit/museum for about 15-20.

    The anxiety levels on the bus grew as time was passing for the people with the shorter connection times.

  • Marla526
    Marla526
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    We went through Heathrow on both legs of our Mediterranean Isles tour this past October. UGGH! The worst ever. Our shuttle bus stopped for 20 minutes as well between terminals, for no apparent reason. On the way home, we nearly missed our connection coming home from Nice thru Heathrow. We are avoiding that airport as much as we do JFK from now on.

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