Flying next weekend (UK Bank Holiday) what can I expect?

seamus

Right, the better half and myself are flying to the UK (London Heathrow) next weekend, and her parents have gotten her into a tizzy about it. We're flying over to collect her stuff from her house there, as she's coming back here permanently. So we're bring two empty suitcases over to fill up. We're flying out Friday night and coming back Monday night.

Specifically, they reckon it's going to be a nightmare because of the UK bank holiday - extra security + not enough staff = delays for all aircraft in and out.
They also say that "thousands" of suitcases have gone missing from people using Heathrow due to the extra security. This is something which I've heard zero about.

Can anyone give me any experiences of bank holiday weekends in Heathrow? I would expect that it's going to be a little busier, but because we're going the opposite way to British holidaymakers, it shouldn't be *that* bad, right? Certainly it shouldn't grind to a halt?

BuffyBot

Heathrow on BH weekends is always pretty bad. To be honest, with the way things are going, no one can really tell how next week will turn out - even two days down the line would be tough to predict.

Be there early, make sure you've checked the BAA website for updates and hope for the best

mikedragon32

Heathrow shouldn't be any busier on a bank holiday weekend than any other weekend as it's not an airport used by many holiday charters, so isn't prone to the massive fluctuations in passenger numbers.

That said, Heathrow is phenominally busy all the time with well over a million passengers a week passing through!

The security is stepping down a notch or two, but as always, one should employ a modicum of common sense when travelling. Make yourself aware of restrictions currently in force for travel to and from the UK (no liquids/lotions etc for example) and check in as early as you can to allow for possible delays.

As for missing suitcases, most airlines will claim (legitamately) that they're not lost. Quite simply they've not had the ability to get all bags onto all planes on time, so the bags have been left behind. They get to their owners eventually! A benefit of your bags not being loaded is that you don't have to lug them home. The airline will deliver them for you!

seamus

mikedragon32 wrote:

Heathrow shouldn't be any busier on a bank holiday weekend than any other weekend as it's not an airport used by many holiday charters, so isn't prone to the massive fluctuations in passenger numbers.

Interesting to know. I've been through Heathrow 20 or 30 times in the last two years, and it's never been absolutely woeful, so I'm kind of skeptical about a BH's ability to bring the place to a halt.

As for missing suitcases, most airlines will claim (legitamately) that they're not lost. Quite simply they've not had the ability to get all bags onto all planes on time, so the bags have been left behind. They get to their owners eventually! A benefit of your bags not being loaded is that you don't have to lug them home. The airline will deliver them for you!

Would you know if this has been a particular problem in the last two weeks though? I'm not sure where they're getting it from because I've heard nothing about it.

mikedragon32

I'll try find a link but I read an article that said about 10,000,000 bags had missed flights to/from the UK in the days of the increased security.

Everything is getting back to normal though.

seamus

Cheers Mike.

deisemum

We went to Dublin to London City airport this weekend and thought it would be crazy going through both airports but it was the quickest we ever got through security in Dublin because they had all the security checks open and not just one or two as previously experienced. Allow plenty of time and you should be fine (hopefully)

therecklessone

deisemum wrote:

We went to Dublin to London City airport this weekend and thought it would be crazy going through both airports but it was the quickest we ever got through security in Dublin because they had all the security checks open and not just one or two as previously experienced. Allow plenty of time and you should be fine (hopefully)

Second that (for Dublin anyway), flew at 12 on Saturday to Blackpool, very quick through security on the way to the A gates. Maybe people are just arriving better prepared for the inevitable screening?

ShiverinEskimo

seamus wrote:

Would you know if this has been a particular problem in the last two weeks though? I'm not sure where they're getting it from because I've heard nothing about it.

The vast majority of missing bags occur between connecting flights when the luggage is checked straight through - especially if you fly in from say Ireland and fly out to Hong Kong where a change in terminal is required.

By rule of thumb - unless you have more than 1.5/2 hours in heathrow don't be too confident of seeing your bag at your eventual destination.

If you have the time always collect and re-check your bags in heathrow.

Of course if you're not connecting flights then you just have normal baggage issues to worry about and it will boil down to whether you're a lucky person or an unlucky person.

I'm also flying to Heathrow on Friday and connecting to the States.
I've only 2 hrs max between flights which could be tight given the circumstances at the moment.
I'm only bringing hand luggage though as I'll go on a clothes buying fest whilst over there.

As the connection is BA,I'll check in on line and print my own boarding pass so,it will be straight to security from the long walk from the EI gates to BA.
All in T1 luckilly but I'd wished I'd left myself more time between flights,I'd forgotten its a bank holiday.

Ok LHR doesnt have as many charters but it does have the travellers who book their own holidays on the web or the loads that go to European cities etc for the w/end.

As for the baggage,It was on the news that BA lost 10,000 bags during the first few days of the crisis-mainly because security was taking so long the planes just flew off with out the bags.

I'd be interested to hear any recent experience of connecting in Heathrow.

Darren

From what I have been reading on the corporate intranet, BA are expecting pandemonium over the BH weekend.

Oh lovely*

(thank the lord for zone r then and priority security queues and my silver card)

Darren

At the height of the problems last week - Zone R was being used for all long haul BA flights out of T1. It was crazy when the Tokyo flights were going out. If I remember correctly, one of the SFO flights leaves at the same time as one of the NRT flights and then bedlam ensued. Being able to walk out the back and past the wood panels thru prioirty screening is a big bonus though.