Heathrow - is this possible?

Becles

My parents are going to India in January. I was going through the flight details with my Dad yesterday so I can be around to play taxi to and from the airport!

He's booked the main Heathrow to Goa flights direct with Virgin, then booked separate flights with BA between Newcastle and Heathrow.

However, the Newcastle flight lands at Terminal 1 and the Goa flight leaves from Terminal 3. He's only allowed 90 minutes between the Newcastle flight landing and the Goa flight departing. He's checking in online at home so can just do a bag drop for the Goa flight.

Is this enough time to collect the cases from the Newcastle flight, get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 and catch the Goa flight?

Mam wants him to change to an earlier Newcastle flight but there is a hefty admin fee to do so, which Dad is refusing to pay. He's done the same on the way back with a short time between flights, and they are on the last Newcastle flight of the day so Mam is worried they could have to sleep in the airport overnight if they miss it.

hjb123

Has he booked the flights seperately or as one journey? It would probably be best to speak to the airline to see what they suggest.

Becles

He booked each seperately.

He thinks it'll be all right and they'll just run if needs be, but Mam doesn't want to start her holidays sprinting between terminals at the airport

hjb123

Take a look at this site - it details the connections for flights. It looks like your parents should be okay - providing there no delays.

blindman

hjb123 wrote:

Take a look at this site - it details the connections for flights. It looks like your parents should be okay - providing there no delays.

The problem they may have is that (I assume) there is no transfer of baggage between flights as they are different carriers.

The map at the link looks like it assumes baggage is transferred automatically.

At T1 domestic one turns left up an escalator to get to Connections whereas to collect your luggage you (in effect) Exit the T1 domestic terminal.

I would speak to BA to see what they say.

Personnaly I'd pay the hefty fee (is it worth more than the flight to Goa?)
as there could be a delay in the BA flight and\or their luggage could be off last.
If you collect luggage I think you then have to exit T1 go to the Heathrow express which will take you to T3, drop the bags and clear security and then get to the gate.

Their call

Becles

I would rather pay the admin fee and fly from Newcastle on an earlier flight, even if it meant wandering round Heathrow for a few hours. Dad prefers to do everything "just in time" though as he hates hanging around.

Thanks for the map and advice. I'll show him that and see if I can persuade him to change.

hjb123

Are they both with the same airline? If so I would contact them to see what they say.

Hope they have a good holiday.

pin

BA and Virgin won't interline (i.e. you won't be able to check your bag in Newcastle all the way to Goa).

90 transfer I think is cutting it a tiny bit fine, but easily doable. Reason I say that is they will land in T1 domestic and then have to collect their bags and then make it to T3 and then check in again and then deal with security at T3 (which is where the time thing may get a bit tricky).

Now the problem is if there is a delay getting from Newcastle to London, then your folks may run into trouble, because Virgin are under no obligations to put them on a later flight.

WiseInvestor_2

I too would advise caution.

The chances of their Newcastle-London flight arriving on time is - well - nil.
Allow 30-45 minutes to collect their bags and then another 15 minutes to reach T3 - by far the most chaotic terminal at Heathrow!

So even assuming they get off the Newcastle flight on time, they'll reach the Virgin desk just 30 minutes before departure which I suspect isn't enough. T3 is a BIG terminal that can easily take 20 minutes to reach some gates assuming there are no queues through security.

Good Luck

PS. One thing I would advise is, since BA's domestic flights have a single 'domestic' class, either check-in 24 hours before into the front row or ask the cabin crew inflight to move them as close to the exit door as possible so they can be first off. Of course, they may just end up waiting longer at the baggage carousel, but if the staff at NCL can be persuaded to tie a PRIORITY tag onto their bags they might stand a slightly better chance. Either way, I'd pay the admin fee.

black-saturn

When I went to Cairo 2 weeks ago it took us 1 hour 45 minutes just to get through the security check as they have stepped up security especially at T3 and T4. I think they might be lucky and get it but it's a bit of a risk and cutting it fine. If they miss it they will have to pay extra anyway so to be on the safe side I would book an earlier flight.

hammy_the_hammer

what figures are you looking at for making the changes ? the money involved in changing the flights shouldn't be too much.
i wouldn't allow 90 minutes as i believe that to be unrealistic. if they did miss the flight to goa i don't think they would receive much sympathy from virgin . it could prove to be an extremely expensive mistake.
i would only do this if i was with the same airline and they had let me book this online.