Transferring between British Airways and Delta at LHR - T5 to T3 - is 2h30 sufficient?
Landing Heathrow T5 with BA
Leaving Heathrow T3 with Delta (actually, it's a Virgin Atlantic flight)
I would need to get through immigration, find my luggage, travel from T5 to T3, check in luggage, go through security, get to Virgin gate. Correct?
Is 2h35m sufficient?
Best Answer
While BA and VS does have an interline agreement it is not unheard of they refuse to check your luggage through. According to this forum thread they will interline outside of Oneworld (which VS is) only if you have a single ticket.
In this worst case, if you are coming from outside of then UK then you need to go through immigration to get your luggage indeed. If you are an EU citizen with an ePassport then from the gate to the luggage might be doable in 30 minutes including immigration. But if you are holding, for example, a US passport then you might be spending close to an hour altogether on this (don't forget that the UK airport builders are apparently advocates of health by exercising and make sure you walk a lot). An older Have Heathrow immigration queue times stabilized since the Olympics? answer mentioned 1-4 hours even although I personally never have seen such a huge crowd.
The transfer between T5 and T3 landside on the Heathrow Express takes about 20 minutes. You are down to 1:15. Checking in, going through security can be tight.
So: if you have two tickets, don't hold an ePassport then you are short on time. If you have a single ticket and BA plays ball or you hold an ePassport you are good. Be polite but firm with BA to get your baggage interlined -- it'll make your life oh so much easier.
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