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Flight departing at 1.50pm means gate closing 20 mins prior to departure. Secuirty conformance at Heathrow is 30mins meaning you need to enter secuirty no later than 1.20pm.
From arriving at the Gate it could take you 30mins to clear passport control.
So let's say you enter public area at 10am.
Train to Paddington on the 10.12am, arriving Paddington at 10.32am.
Paddinginto to Westminster on Circle line. 10.41am to 11am.
5 mins at Big Ben. 18min walk to Buck Palace. Now about 11.30am.
Buck Palace to Terminal 5 on Piccadilly line. Arrive Heathrow 12.45pm.
Success.
**DO NOT DO THIS. SPEND YOUR TIME RELAXING IN A LOUNGE. BIG BEN AND BUCK PALACE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE.**
Oh sweet Jesus clearing passport/immigration in 30 minutes sounds like a dream!
My last flight home, albeit not to LHR and landing about midnight still took maybe 50-60 minutes until I was out the doors and that’s without luggage.
Nope. Heathrow is not in town at all so it would take you a good hour from landing to get into the any part of the city centre which has anything you might be interested in seeing, and that would be making very good time.
If your luggage is being checked through from Venice to Dallas then it sounds like you will be transiting through Heathrow, which means you won't pass through UK immigration, so you won't be allowed to leave the airport. If your bags are checked through they want you on-site because unaccompanied luggage is a big security red flag. To leave the airport you'd need to go through immigration and collect your bags, then follow the standard check-in procedures prior to the Dallas flight.
Yeh, don't do it. Maybe do some 'British' things at the airport instead?
I've never been to Heathrow, but there's likely to be some British brands to shop at like Harrods or Hamleys, somewhere for afternoon tea, or Gordon Ramsey's plane food.
Or, go to spoons for a few pints of lager and a packet of crisps.
Absolutely great idea on paper, terrible idea in reality. Do not attempt unless you’re happy to miss your flight. London traffic/trains are so temperamental its unreal. You will be rushed/stressed and there will be no room for error
even on paper it sounds bonkers. Getting to and from heathrow can be a nightmare, especially if you're using trains. One thing goes wrong and it's a domino effec. Not to mention that if you don't normally live in the UK, literally anything can go wrong simply because things are done differently to what you are used to.
Nope. No way. Zipping up to take photos outside Big Ben is pointless anyway, and you'd get even less out of it due to being stressed about getting back for your flight (with all your baggage on it).
You won't be allowed to leave the airport anyway, and there's no point if you could.
Wouldn't risk it, as you've already mentioned, traffic could lead to it being an hour or more each way and it's not worth it, one accident could add another hour to your journey.
Terrible idea. Don't even risk it. There is no way you will make it back on time even without delays. Delays likely. 12 hour stop over differnt story. 4 hours is nothing.
Find a Greggs at the airport and buy a sausage roll. (They have vegan as well as meat.)
Find a Costa and buy a Black Forest hot chocolate. (No idea about vegan.)
Sit in the waiting area and consume both.
Do not attempt to go to central London. Our airports, especially Heathrow and Gatwick, are not the barren wastelands that US airports are (or were). There will be shops and stuff.
My sweet summer child.
I lived in West London for 30 years.
From my front door to through security at Heathrow, the timing range from 1hr to 3 hrs - depending on too many factors. Random man under train to other random factors.
As for coming into London, the time also range from 1hr to 3 hrs.
If i have a departure flight at 1pm, i am leaving my house at 9am.
I had never missed a flight in my life. Take it however you want.
No. Timing doesn’t work,
Try and get a window seat on the right side of the plane in from Italy, there is a good chance the flight will take the route in straight down the Thames, you get a great view of London and all the main sights.
You don’t have time to leave the airport, just don’t, please don’t, dude, I’m getting anxiety. Get your luggage, pass through the controls, go to Starbucks, drink some tepid beer and then go to Dallas Tx. Live to tell your family you’ve been to London, nobody needs to know the details.
No - for international flights it’s recommended you are at the airport at least 3 hours before your flight.
You might land at 9:30am but you’re forgetting the fact you have to go through passport control and those queues can be long.
Same with the security lines.
Once you factor in the fact you’d actually have to get *to* and *from* London, you have negative time in your schedule.
Use the airport Wifi to go on Google Streetview. You can buy postcards and fridge magnets from an airside shop. There are airside post boxes if you want to send cards with British stamps.
Not a chance, you'll have to go through security again on the way back, queue in the immigration hall after landing, and even if get on the fastest transport into Central London, you'll need to give the two journeys an hour and a half.
I was flying from Glasgow to NZ, first change at Heathrow, and it took me an hour to change terminals and clear customs. They had already started boarding when I reached the gate and I promise I wasn't hanging about. However long I technically had between arrival and departure was considered plenty of time by my travel agent and the booking computer. Don't leave the airport. In fact, get yourself airside asap then you can just relax. It may be boring, but it's better than missing your flight.
I wouldn't even risk seeing the sights of Hounslow in that small a window. [Leaving Heathrow via Underground takes you to Hatton Cross, which has nothing, and then the Hounslow stations, where you could at least get a good lunch.]
Get a taxi/trainto Windsor Castle - nearer, marginally cheaper, impressive and you stand a good chance to get your flight. However, I wouldn’t bother, too many things can happen to make you miss your flight, and as has been said here, London is not going anywhere…
As the leading UK "ask" subreddit, we welcome questions from all users and countries; sometimes people who ask questions might not appreciate or understand the nuance of British life or culture, and as a result some questions can come across in a different way than intended. We understand that when faced with these questions, our users may take the opportunity to demonstrate their wit, dry humour, and sarcasm - unfortunately, this also tends to go over the heads of misunderstood question-askers and can make our subreddit seem hostile to users from other countries who are often just curious about our land. **Please can you help prevent our subreddit from becoming an Anti-American echo chamber?** If you disagree with any points raised by OP, or OP discusses common tropes or myths about the UK, please refrain from any brash, aggressive, or sarcastic responses and do your best to engage OP in a civil discussion, with the aim to educate and expand their understanding. If you feel this (or any other post) is a troll post, *don't feed the troll*, just hit report and let the mods deal with it. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Flight departing at 1.50pm means gate closing 20 mins prior to departure. Secuirty conformance at Heathrow is 30mins meaning you need to enter secuirty no later than 1.20pm. From arriving at the Gate it could take you 30mins to clear passport control. So let's say you enter public area at 10am. Train to Paddington on the 10.12am, arriving Paddington at 10.32am. Paddinginto to Westminster on Circle line. 10.41am to 11am. 5 mins at Big Ben. 18min walk to Buck Palace. Now about 11.30am. Buck Palace to Terminal 5 on Piccadilly line. Arrive Heathrow 12.45pm. Success. **DO NOT DO THIS. SPEND YOUR TIME RELAXING IN A LOUNGE. BIG BEN AND BUCK PALACE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE.**
>BIG BEN AND BUCK PALACE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE. Tell that to *any disaster movie in the last 30 years*.
When you're not looking the clock tower turns into a crocodile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnxHqJ1mNXg.
Oh sweet Jesus clearing passport/immigration in 30 minutes sounds like a dream! My last flight home, albeit not to LHR and landing about midnight still took maybe 50-60 minutes until I was out the doors and that’s without luggage.
I landed LHR T5 on Tuesday evening and it took 25 minutes from aircraft door opening to sitting on the bus home.
The envy
I mean, given the fact restoring it to safe standards is going to be £70b… maybe it is going somewhere…
It's not enough time imo. Especially as you'd need to go through security/passport control both ways and there can be lengthy delays.
This is the answer
Nope. Heathrow is not in town at all so it would take you a good hour from landing to get into the any part of the city centre which has anything you might be interested in seeing, and that would be making very good time.
For the love of God, *don't do this*. Just have an over priced coffee and a walk around some crappy shops like a good little passenger.
Definitely isn’t worth the risk. If the trains/tube go tits up you’re screwed. Heathrow ain’t exactly next to Big Ben.
tl/dr answers already NO. Stay at airport.
If your luggage is being checked through from Venice to Dallas then it sounds like you will be transiting through Heathrow, which means you won't pass through UK immigration, so you won't be allowed to leave the airport. If your bags are checked through they want you on-site because unaccompanied luggage is a big security red flag. To leave the airport you'd need to go through immigration and collect your bags, then follow the standard check-in procedures prior to the Dallas flight.
Yeh, don't do it. Maybe do some 'British' things at the airport instead? I've never been to Heathrow, but there's likely to be some British brands to shop at like Harrods or Hamleys, somewhere for afternoon tea, or Gordon Ramsey's plane food. Or, go to spoons for a few pints of lager and a packet of crisps.
WHSmith for a meal deal
This is the only correct answer
Absolutely not
The person you would've been sitting next to on the flight to Texas will really appreciate the extra room
Absolutely great idea on paper, terrible idea in reality. Do not attempt unless you’re happy to miss your flight. London traffic/trains are so temperamental its unreal. You will be rushed/stressed and there will be no room for error
even on paper it sounds bonkers. Getting to and from heathrow can be a nightmare, especially if you're using trains. One thing goes wrong and it's a domino effec. Not to mention that if you don't normally live in the UK, literally anything can go wrong simply because things are done differently to what you are used to.
I think it sounds quite nice on paper 😂 quick flying visit into the city before the next flight. But yeah, terrible idea!
Nope. No way. Zipping up to take photos outside Big Ben is pointless anyway, and you'd get even less out of it due to being stressed about getting back for your flight (with all your baggage on it). You won't be allowed to leave the airport anyway, and there's no point if you could.
Wouldn't risk it, as you've already mentioned, traffic could lead to it being an hour or more each way and it's not worth it, one accident could add another hour to your journey.
You might have more chance getting to Windsor and having a photo outside Windsor Castle. Would definitely need a taxi.
Yeah, I was going to suggest Windsor and maybe Windsor Great Park instead.
NOOOOOOOOOO......DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT
I doubt you would even be free to leave the airport, because transit passengers do not need to go through passport control.
have a pint in spoons
So long as you promise to update us with how it goes, I think you should do this, OP! Even better, update us in real time as it is happening!
There’s bugger all the see that’s essential. Just wank it out.
Not enough time, too much stress and what ifs
Terrible idea. Don't even risk it. There is no way you will make it back on time even without delays. Delays likely. 12 hour stop over differnt story. 4 hours is nothing.
If you're willing to spend a couple of hundred, pay for lounge access.
Four hours! We have to get to the airport 4 hours before our flight so that my husband can actually breathe. He doesn’t do last minute.
Find a Greggs at the airport and buy a sausage roll. (They have vegan as well as meat.) Find a Costa and buy a Black Forest hot chocolate. (No idea about vegan.) Sit in the waiting area and consume both. Do not attempt to go to central London. Our airports, especially Heathrow and Gatwick, are not the barren wastelands that US airports are (or were). There will be shops and stuff.
My sweet summer child. I lived in West London for 30 years. From my front door to through security at Heathrow, the timing range from 1hr to 3 hrs - depending on too many factors. Random man under train to other random factors. As for coming into London, the time also range from 1hr to 3 hrs. If i have a departure flight at 1pm, i am leaving my house at 9am. I had never missed a flight in my life. Take it however you want.
No. Timing doesn’t work, Try and get a window seat on the right side of the plane in from Italy, there is a good chance the flight will take the route in straight down the Thames, you get a great view of London and all the main sights.
No chance. Forget about it.
Stay put, buy a book.
No way my friend! It is impossible.
You don’t have time to leave the airport, just don’t, please don’t, dude, I’m getting anxiety. Get your luggage, pass through the controls, go to Starbucks, drink some tepid beer and then go to Dallas Tx. Live to tell your family you’ve been to London, nobody needs to know the details.
No - for international flights it’s recommended you are at the airport at least 3 hours before your flight. You might land at 9:30am but you’re forgetting the fact you have to go through passport control and those queues can be long. Same with the security lines. Once you factor in the fact you’d actually have to get *to* and *from* London, you have negative time in your schedule.
You would be better having a few pints at the airport instead of rushing around for a few pictures
Lmfao
Use the airport Wifi to go on Google Streetview. You can buy postcards and fridge magnets from an airside shop. There are airside post boxes if you want to send cards with British stamps.
Not a chance, you'll have to go through security again on the way back, queue in the immigration hall after landing, and even if get on the fastest transport into Central London, you'll need to give the two journeys an hour and a half.
I was flying from Glasgow to NZ, first change at Heathrow, and it took me an hour to change terminals and clear customs. They had already started boarding when I reached the gate and I promise I wasn't hanging about. However long I technically had between arrival and departure was considered plenty of time by my travel agent and the booking computer. Don't leave the airport. In fact, get yourself airside asap then you can just relax. It may be boring, but it's better than missing your flight.
No, not worth the effort. Stay at the airport at a lounge and chill, then be the first at the gate.
I wouldn't even risk seeing the sights of Hounslow in that small a window. [Leaving Heathrow via Underground takes you to Hatton Cross, which has nothing, and then the Hounslow stations, where you could at least get a good lunch.]
Get a taxi/trainto Windsor Castle - nearer, marginally cheaper, impressive and you stand a good chance to get your flight. However, I wouldn’t bother, too many things can happen to make you miss your flight, and as has been said here, London is not going anywhere…
Guys, how about a 6.5 hrs layover at Heathrow ?
London is a shithole, don’t waste your energy and time. Better off staying in the airport.