ETA (travel authorization) for Heathrow layover
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Anonymous
| We will have a 2.5 hour layover in Heathrow and it looks like we will need to go from Terminal 3 to 5 (or vice versa) for the connecting flight. I am getting mixed messages on whether we need an ETA. Within our airline’s site I’ve gotten both yes and no. We do not plan to leave the airport before continuing on to Europe but must change terminals. Has anyone btdt recently? If so was the electronic travel authorization required? |
Anonymous
|
No.
https://www.gov.uk/eta/when-not-need-eta You are transiting and therefore don't need it. You can change terminals using the connections bus. |
Anonymous
| But won’t you need to clear customs? And isn’t that where the new doc comes into play? |
Anonymous
No- you don't enter the UK. Your bags are checked through. It's in the link above. "When you do not need an ETA You do not need an ETA to travel to the UK if: ... you’re transiting through a UK airport and you will not pass through border control " |
Anonymous
|
Are your flights all on the same ticket? If they are on different tickets, then you would probably need to collect your bags and re-check them with the new airline. That would mean needing to go through immigration (& therefore ETA needed).
If they're on the same ticket, you will stay airside via the connections bus. And thus, would not need the ETA. |
Anonymous
| I don't know the answer but I did recently have to get the ETA. The process is pretty quick and painless but there is a fee so I can see why you would not want to get the ETA if you don't need it. |
Anonymous
| Just flew through there with a 4 hour layover. Nothing extra needed. |
Anonymous
Ok I guess. But when I’ve flown from the US to Canada or Portugal (as examples: to Toronto then onto Vancouver, and to Lisbon then onto Porto), I had to grab my luggage and clear customs. I would worry about some new deviation in their process impacting my trip. |
Anonymous
That is because you are moving from an international flight to a domestic flight so they get you when you enter the country. There isn't passport control for flights from Toronto to Vancouver, or Lisbon to Porto. Heathrow has a separate process for arrivals vs connecting flights. The only risk for OP is that there is a flight issue and she has to change airports. I did that last year - I had to go from Heathrow to Gatwick. So you would need an ETA to do that. But that's only happened to me once in many years of travel so is an unlikley scanerio. |
Anonymous
|
Thank you all - we will check bags through to final destination and it’s all on one ticket.
Got both you will need and you don’t need responses from British airways but based upon your feedback and the airside rules I think it will be ok without. |
Anonymous
Good. BTW, the Heathrow website is really good about giving specific details on what the steps are for connecting, with pictures, guides, etc. You can enter your flight info and it will tell you everything you need to know. https://www.heathrow.com/connecting-flights |
Anonymous
Oh this is great- thank you! |
Anonymous
| I just did this and got the ETA visa and tbh am not sure whether they looked it up or not? I was transferring from terminal 5 to 3 (or maybe the reverse) from a VA flight to a BA flight booked on different tickets. Didn't check bags. Did have to go through security again. It was not clear to me before leaving whether I needed the visa or not, and I have no idea whether the fact that I got us all the visas (4 travellers) was somehow apparent when they scanned our passports or not. Sorry this is totally unhelpful OP but figured it's sort of a data point. |
Anonymous
It is connected to your passport so they would know you have it. It isn't something you have to show. |
Anonymous
Same situation here- we were told we needed to have it just to transfer through, but who knows. It's confusing. |