10 Important Things to Know About London Heathrow Airport

If you're flying in or out of Heathrow these are some things to know so that you have a nice smooth visit. There are four terminals at Heathrow Airport, and they are number two through five. There is no terminal one anymore, and you need to know if you are departing from Heathrow which terminal you're going to be departing from because you're going to do everything from checking in to going through security to Boarding at your gate to get on your flight in this one terminal your airline should usually tell you which terminal you're flying out of. But if you can't figure it out Or if you're flying into Heathrow and want to know what terminal you're going to be in you can go on Heathrow's website and they have a which terminal tool that you can use figure it out as a rule of thumb plan to get to Heathrow at least three hours early for an intercontinental flight and at least two hours early for a European flight now I have to caveat and say that I don't always follow this Because the security at Heathrow is really really efficient.

I don't think I've ever waited more than like ten minutes to go through security however You need to make sure you leave yourself enough time to account for any traffic or train delays that you might encounter on the way To the airport or if the bag drop line where you have to check in and leave your bag that will go under the plane That line might be really long and will take you a while to get through so just to be safe give yourself loads of extra Time I will not be responsible for you missing your flight. There are lots of transportation options when it comes to getting between Central London and Heathrow Airport if you're on a budget there are cheap buses Or if you want to get to central London pretty quickly there's also the Heathrow Express which is more expensive For the sake of the length of this video, I'm not going to go through everything which of the options for getting to central London is best for you have a pen With you when you're landing into Heathrow if you are not from the EU or have an EU passport then you're gonna have to fill out what's called a Lending card. This is pretty much to give your basic information about you stuff about your passport where you're coming from what you're bringing into the country and that is what you're going to give to the immigration officer when you Are at border control now the line for border control can get really really long. So to make sure that you don't delay and getting on that line have a pen with you when you're on the plane So you can fill out your card on the plane and not have to wait at one of the desks by the line.

For one of the Pens to free up, and then you see 20 people get ahead of you.

Which could delay you for another 20 30 minutes on that subject Border control can take a while you might get to border control and see that there's nobody in the line It'll take you ten minutes, or you might see that There's a good 400 people ahead of you And you've got a good couple hours of waiting time before you get through to get your luggage as a rule of thumb you can Expect it to take probably around an hour, but again It could take shorter or it could take longer so keep that in mind when you're booking a transfer a train Letting anybody know that you're arriving into central London. It could take a while at Heathrow Airport You get 45 minutes of free Wi Fi or 90 minutes if you sign up to? The Heathrow rewards which is actually free to do so I recommend it so you can use that free Wi Fi when you land to Connect with your friends and family and let them know you've made it safely, or if you're going to be departing from Heathrow It's great for getting emails done Maybe a little bit of work done. Or just browsing the internet before you get on your flight in every terminal and Heathrow there are tons of great food Options and just about all of them are when you get past security So just get yourself through security and then worry about where you're gonna eat after that if you're on a budget you could go to pretty mangia or Costa or a couple other places that sell like sandwiches and soups But there's also mid range and also a couple of more high end restaurants So you can have a nice meal before you get on your flight a personal favorite of mine is giraffe It's reasonably priced and has pretty decent food as well as really yummy smoothies which are great to have before you hop on a flight of course because you're in an airport you should expect prices to be a Little bit higher than normal, but still the budget places are pretty reasonable There is so much shopping that could be done at Heathrow Airport most of it is mid range to luxury shopping however There are a few places where you can do a little bit more budget shopping plus there's of course duty free where you can get alcohol and food and treats and Places where you can get souvenirs also my favorite place to get Souvenirs at the airport is in terminal 2 at the John Lewis You can get really nice chocolates there. They have just like not the usual souvenir London II stuff but a little bit more high end and really nice to give as gifts it takes a long time to Get from the general food and drink area of the terminal to your actual gate So you need to take that into account when you're planning to Head to your gate because it could take a good 15 minutes or 20 Minutes to get there and you'll most likely need to take a shuttle.

So when you see your gate pop up on the board or when it's getting a little bit closer to your Departure time I would just make your way to the gate just to be safe, so you don't get stuck missing your flight Just because you didn't give yourself enough time to get to your gate Heathrow is family friendly every terminal has at least one or two Kids play areas to keep your little ones entertained So don't worry about that too much. Also most of the restaurants and food places and in all of the terminals will have a children's menu So you're good to go if you're visiting London for the first time again.