What time to arrive in advance for early am domestic flight from Heathrow T5?

usignuolo

We are catching the first flight from Heathrow T5 to Newcastle on Friday morning, ie 07.15 am. You are recommended to arrive 90 minutes in advance for domestic flights. Do we really need to turn up at 05:45am given we are checking in online?

What time does T5 actually open anyway?

peachyprice

Yes, you do, in fact I'd be inclined to be there nearer 2 hours before. You may be flying domestic but you still have to go through the exact same security queues as all international flights. I don't know about T5, but with BA domestic flights out of T1 you also have to go through a secondary security check. So leave the same amount of time as you would for any other European flight.

Security opens at 05.30, so I would get there for then.

The only time you save on domestic flights is on arrival because you don't go though immigration and are filtered out a different way.

Alan_Bowen

I fly domestically from T5 on an almost weekly basis, if you have no bags to check, then the time limit you must not miss is to be through security at least 35 minutes before departure, miss that and you are stuffed. If you have bags to check in then allow another 10 minutes and 15 minutes for emergencies and that gives you an hour. Your photo check takes place at the gate so once you are through security, all you have to do is get to the gate, most domestic flights depart from gates 1-6, the gate number normally appears on the screen around 45-50 minutes before departure

martindow

I had a similar question a few weeks ago on the Overseas travel board and here is the thread for that

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5046508

We got to T5 allowing 80 minutes before a 07.00 plane which was plenty of time with just carry on luggage and printing boarding cards at home. I think checked luggage would have been OK as well - there were no queues at all at the counters.

InsideInsurance

An hour should be sufficient but obviously if something goes wrong you've only got yourself to blame and insurance wont payout where you havent left sufficient time

Guess it depends what you like doing too, personally I'd rather get there with time to spare and spend the extra time having breakfast or looking at the shops than potentially having to run through the airport. If you are leaving from 5C you need to allow a fair amount of extra time -v- if you are going from 5A

usignuolo

Well it never rains but it pours. With all the delays at Heathrow today BA website is acting very erratically and they have taken down on line check in and left a message up saying please check flight is operating before you checkin. However we have to leave for the airport before it opens to get there 90 minutes in advance.

I have checked out departures board and it says it is still scheduled to leave on time tomorrow but I fear we may be bumped for passengers who have not been able to get away today.

essex_boy

usignuolo wrote: »

We are catching the first flight from Heathrow T5 to Newcastle on Friday morning, ie 07.15 am. You are recommended to arrive 90 minutes in advance for domestic flights. Do we really need to turn up at 05:45am given we are checking in online?

What time does T5 actually open anyway?

As you've obviously no patience I'd advice to get there as late as possible to avoid spending as little time as possible in the airport.
Who knows you might even get lucky and end up on TV in a show like Airport UK where people like me laugh at the whingers that have missed the check in.
We spend the night in the Airport when we went from Stanstead or Gatwick and that includes children aged 4/5 or 6
Much prefer that than have the holiday ruined through a missed flight.
Nowadays we fly from Southend Airport,jump on a Taxi for a 15 minute journey then wait 2 hours to be allowed to be able to board our flight.
Happy Days.