connecting flight waiting time

shandy1

Hi, I'm browsing multi city flights for next year from Edinburgh to San Fransisco returning from San Diego.

British Airways have a flight leaving at 9.am arriving at Heathrow for 10.30.am, and the connecting flight is at 11.30.am. Will one hour be enough time for the connection?

I know you can't predict a flight being delayed, but what would you experienced travellers advise??
There is a flight at 8.am but it is currently priced £85 dearer.

I'm using Kayak and the cheaper fare is through Lastminute.com.
Cheers!

fifeken

The airline won't sell the ticket unless the Minimum Connecting Time is met, so they obviously think one hour is enough.

However, there is always the chance you're flight from Edinburgh is delayed causing you to miss the one to San Francisco as you say.

In this case, BA have to sort things out, so what I would do is check what other options BA have to get you there assuming you miss your flight. If there's another flight a few hours later then they'd put you on it (space permitting). If not they'd look at an indirect flight via another US city or another airlines flights. If any of these are available and won't cause you too much hardship, then go for it.

richardw

Nope, too risky. I always go for a 2 hour connecting time.

Caz3121

agreed, with conformance being 35 mins, this only leaves you 25 mins leaway. As a fairly regular on the EDI-LHR, it is not unusual to end up on an international stand waiting for buses (and, as has happened to me, sods law says, if you sit at the front of the plane for a quick exit, they will take ages to attach the stairs and decide to offload by the back...so I was last on the bus)...even the 8am flight will have an element of risk but less so

agrinnall

Can you get a flight the day before and hotel at Heathrow for the night for less than the cost of the 8 a.m. flight?

Alan_Bowen

60 minutes is the official minimum connecting time at Terminal 5, as you are arriving from a UK airport and have already cleared UK security, I don't think you have to clear security again. There are at least 2 flights a day to SFO from LHR, so long as the booking is on one ticket, they will put you on the next one, at no cost

shandy1

Thanks for the replies. The lower fare is no longer available but I noticed it's less than £600 flying to San Diego and back from San Francisco instead.
It's for a potential Pacific coast highway road trip for our honeymoon.

I will definitely book a fight with a wait 2hours + for the connecting fight.

mgdavid

use Kayak and the like to plan the trip - but book direct with the airline once you know what you want.

jackieblack

shandy1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. The lower fare is no longer available but I noticed it's less than £600 flying to San Diego and back from San Francisco instead.
It's for a potential Pacific coast highway road trip for our honeymoon.

I will definitely book a fight with a wait 2hours + for the connecting fight.

Would it be much more expensive the other way around? Into SF and out of SD?
PCH is MUCH better done north to south IMO

joerugby

jackieblack wrote: »

Would it be much more expensive the other way around? Into SF and out of SD?
PCH is MUCH better done north to south IMO

You should look into this.

I agree that the North-south views from the road are spectacular. Never done South-north

callum9999

richardw wrote: »

Nope, too risky. I always go for a 2 hour connecting time.

I've connected at T5 twice and would have easily made both in less than an hour.

As BA would be on the line for EU compensation if they miss the connection, I'd say an hour is reasonably safe. Particularly as there will be dozens of options to take if they do miss it.