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LHR international arrival confusion
Recently I arrived from the US into Heathrow, perhaps terminal 4 but I
don't recall for sure. I was confused by the signs and I am wondering what I should have done. I hold a UK passport and my itinerary had a connecting flight. However, I wasn't yet checked in for the connection, nor was my baggage checked through beyond LHR. So, just before passport control, there was a sign pointing left for UK passports and right for flight connections. Which way should I have gone, and why? I was confused because both directions seemed to apply! But then I worried that if I followed flight connections, I didn't know I would get to pick up my bag to get it onto the connecting flight, so I followed the UK passports sign and ended up picking up my bag and going landside and then I went and found check-in for my next flight, I just didn't know if I'd needlessly gone the long way around. -- Mark |
#2
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LHR international arrival confusion
"Mark Carroll" wrote in message ... Recently I arrived from the US into Heathrow, perhaps terminal 4 but I don't recall for sure. I was confused by the signs and I am wondering what I should have done. I hold a UK passport and my itinerary had a connecting flight. However, I wasn't yet checked in for the connection, nor was my baggage checked through beyond LHR. So, just before passport control, there was a sign pointing left for UK passports and right for flight connections. Which way should I have gone, and why? I was confused because both directions seemed to apply! But then I worried that if I followed flight connections, I didn't know I would get to pick up my bag to get it onto the connecting flight, so I followed the UK passports sign and ended up picking up my bag and going landside and then I went and found check-in for my next flight, I just didn't know if I'd needlessly gone the long way around. -- Mark You did precisely the correct thing and for the right reason. |
#3
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LHR international arrival confusion
In the last episode of , Mark Carroll
said: Recently I arrived from the US into Heathrow, perhaps terminal 4 but I don't recall for sure. I was confused by the signs and I am wondering what I should have done. I hold a UK passport and my itinerary had a connecting flight. However, I wasn't yet checked in for the connection, nor was my baggage checked through beyond LHR. So, just before passport control, there was a sign pointing left for UK passports and right for flight connections. Which way should I have gone, and why? I was confused because both directions seemed to apply! But then I worried that if I followed flight connections, I didn't know I would get to pick up my bag to get it onto the connecting flight, so I followed the UK passports sign and ended up picking up my bag and going landside and then I went and found check-in for my next flight, I just didn't know if I'd needlessly gone the long way around. You can always stop and ask, but if your bag isn't checked through, you need to pick it up, which in this case means entering the UK at this point (and I'm assuming flying domestically to complete your travel?) "Flight connections" means staying on the international side, in which case you avoid customs completely. This is where I typically go, traveling from Canada to Germany, but this is only an option if your bags are checked through, to my knowledge there is no bag pickup/dropoff on this side (nor would you likely be able to access your gate) The fact that the UK does this, while the US requires me to enter and then leave means that I fly through the UK on BA, and spend money at LHR instead of spending money in the US and on a US airline when I travel. -- Prayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion. -- Superintendent Chalmers |
#4
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LHR international arrival confusion
On Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:36:12 +0000, Mark Carroll
wrote: Recently I arrived from the US into Heathrow, perhaps terminal 4 but I don't recall for sure. I was confused by the signs and I am wondering what I should have done. I hold a UK passport and my itinerary had a connecting flight. However, I wasn't yet checked in for the connection, nor was my baggage checked through beyond LHR. So, just before passport control, there was a sign pointing left for UK passports and right for flight connections. Which way should I have gone, and why? I was confused because both directions seemed to apply! But then I worried that if I followed flight connections, I didn't know I would get to pick up my bag to get it onto the connecting flight, so I followed the UK passports sign and ended up picking up my bag and going landside and then I went and found check-in for my next flight, I just didn't know if I'd needlessly gone the long way around. No, you've done exactly the right thing. If your baggage isn't checked through you have to get through passport control to get your baggage and then go through 'groundside security' again to catch your flight. |
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LHR international arrival confusion
"DevilsPGD" wrote in message ... In the last episode of , Mark Carroll said: Recently I arrived from the US into Heathrow, perhaps terminal 4 but I don't recall for sure. I was confused by the signs and I am wondering what I should have done. I hold a UK passport and my itinerary had a connecting flight. However, I wasn't yet checked in for the connection, nor was my baggage checked through beyond LHR. So, just before passport control, there was a sign pointing left for UK passports and right for flight connections. Which way should I have gone, and why? I was confused because both directions seemed to apply! But then I worried that if I followed flight connections, I didn't know I would get to pick up my bag to get it onto the connecting flight, so I followed the UK passports sign and ended up picking up my bag and going landside and then I went and found check-in for my next flight, I just didn't know if I'd needlessly gone the long way around. You can always stop and ask, but if your bag isn't checked through, you need to pick it up, which in this case means entering the UK at this point (and I'm assuming flying domestically to complete your travel?) "Flight connections" means staying on the international side, in which case you avoid customs completely. This is where I typically go, traveling from Canada to Germany, but this is only an option if your bags are checked through, to my knowledge there is no bag pickup/dropoff on this side (nor would you likely be able to access your gate) The fact that the UK does this, while the US requires me to enter and then leave means that I fly through the UK on BA, and spend money at LHR instead of spending money in the US and on a US airline when I travel. The worst thing about the US systems is that those people who can't use the visa waver have to go to the aggro of getting a full visa, just to transit at a US airport tim |
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LHR international arrival confusion
You can always stop and ask, but if your bag isn't checked through,
you need to pick it up, which in this case means entering the UK at this point (and I'm assuming flying domestically to complete your travel?) You cannot trust airline staff to know the answer to this. In traveling EU to US via Canada, I was told that I must collect my check-on luggage in the *first* US stop, and re-check it. (this sounded reasonable because i've had to do that in the past). But it was bad info. *Two* staff members in two different cities along the way gave these same wrong instructions. I went to collect my bag, but it never appeared. I was forced to run, stand in line, and re-enter the secured area to catch the next flight. The bag was ultimately checked through the first city traversed in the destination country, and arrived at my destination. I was needlessly advised to go through TSA, and risk missing a connection. Travelers need a more certain way of knowing, without relying on airline staff. Sometimes there is a customs "pre-screening" check, and sometimes not. Sometimes there are multiple international airports (read: airports with customs). In some cases there is a customs service for the destination country doing a full customs process on the soil of a foreign country. How can we know? There must be an algorithm. |
#7
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LHR international arrival confusion
On Thu, 02 Jan 2014 07:49:00 +0800, Anonymous
wrote: You can always stop and ask, but if your bag isn't checked through, you need to pick it up, which in this case means entering the UK at this point (and I'm assuming flying domestically to complete your travel?) You cannot trust airline staff to know the answer to this. In traveling EU to US via Canada, I was told that I must collect my check-on luggage in the *first* US stop, and re-check it. (this sounded reasonable because i've had to do that in the past). But it was bad info. *Two* staff members in two different cities along the way gave these same wrong instructions. I went to collect my bag, but it never appeared. I was forced to run, stand in line, and re-enter the secured area to catch the next flight. The bag was ultimately checked through the first city traversed in the destination country, and arrived at my destination. I was needlessly advised to go through TSA, and risk missing a connection. Travelers need a more certain way of knowing, without relying on airline staff. Sometimes there is a customs "pre-screening" check, and sometimes not. Sometimes there are multiple international airports (read: airports with customs). In some cases there is a customs service for the destination country doing a full customs process on the soil of a foreign country. How can we know? There must be an algorithm. As a general rule when your bags are checked in they are 'tagged' with an international style tag. This has the trigraphs of any airports transited and the final airport destination marked on it. The check-in staff will also give you a stick on luggage claim sticker, usually affixed to the small folder your boarding cards come in. Always check your paperwork and always make sure, from the people who affix the tags to your baggage, where you will be collecting it. |
#8
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LHR international arrival confusion
"Bill" wrote in message ... On Thu, 02 Jan 2014 07:49:00 +0800, Anonymous wrote: You can always stop and ask, but if your bag isn't checked through, you need to pick it up, which in this case means entering the UK at this point (and I'm assuming flying domestically to complete your travel?) You cannot trust airline staff to know the answer to this. In traveling EU to US via Canada, I was told that I must collect my check-on luggage in the *first* US stop, and re-check it. (this sounded reasonable because i've had to do that in the past). But it was bad info. *Two* staff members in two different cities along the way gave these same wrong instructions. I went to collect my bag, but it never appeared. I was forced to run, stand in line, and re-enter the secured area to catch the next flight. The bag was ultimately checked through the first city traversed in the destination country, and arrived at my destination. I was needlessly advised to go through TSA, and risk missing a connection. Travelers need a more certain way of knowing, without relying on airline staff. Sometimes there is a customs "pre-screening" check, and sometimes not. Sometimes there are multiple international airports (read: airports with customs). In some cases there is a customs service for the destination country doing a full customs process on the soil of a foreign country. How can we know? There must be an algorithm. As a general rule when your bags are checked in they are 'tagged' with an international style tag. This has the trigraphs of any airports transited and the final airport destination marked on it. The check-in staff will also give you a stick on luggage claim sticker, usually affixed to the small folder your boarding cards come in. Always check your paperwork and always make sure, from the people who affix the tags to your baggage, where you will be collecting it. Doesn't work like that when you are flying to a point behind a US gateway. For instance London/Chicago/Denver will have a tag saying LHR/ORD/DEN but you have to collect the bag at ORD, go through immigration then customs and, as you exit customs recheck the bag with your domestic carrier. But "Anonymous" was (if I understand him correctly) doing something like London/Toronto/Denver/Butte. He says 2 airline staff told him to collect the bag at Denver (1st US point) then recheck for Butte but his bag never appeared at Denver and it appeared at Butte. I think I understand what happened but it intrigues me a bit. Toronto has airside transit (in other words you don't need to enter Canada to catch another international flight). It also hosts US immigration. What happens is you get off your plane from Europe, go to the US departure area and en-route you go through US immigration (while still in Canada). However, you don't go through US customs as far as I can see from the airport website. In any case, when the plane arrives at Denver it is treated by the US as coming from a US point (because immigration has been completed) so there is no need for the pax to go through customs (or immigration) and the bag can continue as an interline bag from one plane to the next at Denver. Something doesn't feel right in my explanation but based on what I see on the Toronto Pearson airport website http://www.torontopearson.com/Connecting.aspx that seems to be the process. |
#9
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LHR international arrival confusion
"Graham Harrison" writes:
(snip) Something doesn't feel right in my explanation but based on what I see on the Toronto Pearson airport website http://www.torontopearson.com/Connecting.aspx that seems to be the process. Yes -- admittedly, I don't recall what happened with customs, but I think I had a Halifax - Boston flight that had me do the US immigration bit in Halifax on the way out, which was a surprise. -- Mark |
#10
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LHR international arrival confusion
Bill writes:
No, you've done exactly the right thing. If your baggage isn't checked through you have to get through passport control to get your baggage and then go through 'groundside security' again to catch your flight. Thank you very much to you and others for explaining. Hopefully they have an easy corrective route for those who followed "flight connections" not realizing this! (It would be an easy mistake to make given how, coming to the US and connecting domestically, one gets quite used to picking up one's bag in flight connections, for port-of-entry customs reasons.) -- Mark |
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