95 minutes between flights - is that enough?

[ClosedAuraOpenMind]

Forgive me, this feels like a stupid question, but I haven't flown for eons, especially not where we have connecting flights
going to NY in October and fly down from Scotland to Heathrow - there's 95 minutes between the two flights
all with same carrier, so we should be able to check bags through
and no need to change terminals - we come into terminal 5 and then depart from there
is this ok? should I be looking at getting an earlier flight down? or am I over stressing??

yeah it will be fine ive done edin - heathrow then nyc a few times in the past year and never had any problems
its all terminal 5 and your bags will be checked through, so you will get off the plane and go to your next gate

If the flights are on the same ticket then the airline is responsible for ensuring the minimum connecting time is used. If you miss the connection on a through ticket then the airline is responsible for arranging a new flight for you.

MCT at LHR - domestic to international - is
1 hour if connecting in same terminal. 1 HR 30 mins where change of terminal required. (Just checked - retired senior travel industry.)

HTH and have a great trip! 👍

thanks both....so looking forward to trip but having not traveled for ages seem to be stressing so much

You’ll be fine. Your bags will be checked straight through. T5 is large though and you might need to get the connecting train thingy if you arrive or depart from one of the satellite terminals there.

Just pack a spare set of clothes in your hand luggage if you’re feeling nervous and remind yourself you’re not going to the moon. You can get everything you need in NYC if something goes awry.

We had a two and a half hour connection in Paris on the way to the Caribbean many years ago. Still our bags didn’t make it (Air France and our connection was over lunchtime so say no more). Our travel insurance gave us £250 each immediately for essentials and a further £2,500 each after 48 hours without bags. Our bags arrived after 47.5 hours. I was getting quite excited after the initial rubbish reality of the situation!!!

@ClosedAuraOpenMind

One hour is the T5-T5 Minimum Connection Time (MCT) but FWIW there's quite a buffer in that.

I've done a few sub-one hour connections OK at LHR T5 in the past that have involved having to go out to landside and then come back airside (before anyone asks no that's not normal, it was due to the type of ticket being used). A 95 min transit staying airside should be fine even if it involves a switch between the main and/or sub-terminals.

As @JadeSeahorse has said if it's one ticket then it's down to the airline (presumably BA) to facilitate the transfer and to sort alternative arrangements out if things don't work out on the day. I might however also heed the comment by @BookwormButNoTime about having some spare items of clothing in hand baggage.

Have a good trip.

The biggest issue would be if your first flight is delayed. Heathrow T5 is easy to navigate. These days I allow 3 hours for any connection as it’s a different airport world now! I don’t like stress so I like plenty of time. We’ve had to run in airports before now due to late arrival of a flight and it is stressful so I’m now 3 hours! Grab a coffee and relax! 90 mins is the minimum really, especially for far flung gates at C zone.

You should be fine in principle OP, unless your first flight is seriously delayed. Even then, BA would be responsible for rebooking you on the next available flight to NYC, and both BA and AA (partner airline) fly there multiple times a day from LHR. You’ll be fine.

In contrast to the previous poster, I do <60 minute layovers regularly and it’s always been fine, even this year. The vast majority of flights are landing on time, despite what is shown in the news. I’d rather run to the gate than waste 3 hours waiting for a connection, personally.

@TizerorFizz

Grab a coffee and relax! 90 mins is the minimum really, especially for far flung gates at C zone.

I agree with @GrandSlamFinalee that's slightly pessimistic/worse worse case.

I've done C- landside-airside-C- in the past and it can be done in an hour, just.

My info may be slightly out of date but passengers arriving on a UK domestic used to usually arrive at 5A and had a fairly streamlined arrival process. For them the worse case for an international flight would be one shuttle train trip, or a walk if time allows, A->C .

I agree if you want to be really safe and cater for a big delay inbound you go for umpteen hours of buffer but any connection, regardless of any buffers can fall down....but if that happens that's the beauty of being on connected flights.

I wouldn’t risk it if you were going somewhere far flung with only 1 direct flight a day, bit for NY I’d be more than happy to book that! If BA didn’t think you had a decent chance of making it then they wouldn’t be letting you book it. Besides, if you do miss it then the responsibility is on them to rebook you and given there are loads of NY flights by BA and AA (codeshare partner) it should be easy to
sort. I’ve missed a connection once and got an upgrade out of it so I wasn’t unhappy at all.

I think people on a big expensive holiday are not the same as business travellers for whom time is money. Regular flyers stress less! To be more relaxed I would advocate way more time than the minimum. We took 1 hour for our pilot to find a gate inbound at T5 recently! Yes. 1 hour. You really don’t know what can go wrong. So many small delays can build up on the ground.

You've got a valid point to some extent..

FWIW gate delays inbound have been a problem for years at T5, especially for long haul arrivals, especially at certain times of day.

Late in the day short haul flights tend to pick up reactionary delays and can almost habitually run late. Morning flights, first sector of the day for crew/aircraft, hopefully more chance of being on time.

Days with a strong wind you'll find inbound holding delays build up.

All the above and more can happen but to some extent buffers to cater for some delay is built into the MCTs, so how much extra if anything does the OP add? A few hours? A day (FWIW I'd travel to LHR the day before if it was not a connected booking)?

Ultimately a lot will depend on how much hassle the OP is willing to put up with but they do at least have the benefit of a connected booking and the second sector being to a destination that is served by multiple flights a day out of LHR (by both BA and the Code share partners) so they have back ups.

I have just returned from holiday and would say allow extra time for peace of mind. Everything is taking a lot longer at the moment. Both my flights were delayed, 45 mins on the way out and 1 hour on the way in. The luggage took 2 hours to arrive on the belt.

They won’t need to wait for luggage but doing 3 hours between flights is better. Obviously I’m not saying all day!!! What you can book and what’s sensible to book are two different things!

Also, it’s all very well an individual saying there’s loads of flights, with a family of 4 or 5 it’s really is not that easy! No seats together. No availability of pre booked seats. Not even your class of seat available. It really is not worth the risk for the sake of 90 minutes of your life.

Also NY flights go to three different airports. That also becomes difficult to navigate when plans have been made for onward travel. It’s more hassle the business traveller on an expense account or car on arrival doesn’t worry about.

At Heathrow that's fine. However I wouldn't book so close together in case first flight is delayed or cancelled.

Also NY flights go to three different airports. That also becomes difficult to navigate when plans have been made for onward travel.

In the context of the thread BA do JFK and EWR only...

AFAIK La Guardia is domestic only...(possibly plus Canada, not sure).

...Pre-Covid a ex-T5 it was about one every two/three hours to JFK from Breakfast time to mid evening and if I recall correctly usually 2 daily to EWR.

So certainly if you just missed a JFK then unless you missed the late there would be another one along shortly.

May be different ATM.

It really is not worth the risk for the sake of 90 minutes of your life.

For some people it is. Even when travelling with others.

It’s more hassle the business traveller on an expense account or car on arrival doesn’t worry about.

People should also stop assuming that business travellers have all their expenses paid for them / transfers arranged. 90% of frequent travellers I know, myself included, are freelance or contracted. We pay for our own flights and accommodation. A friend who works for the UN pays for her own transport costs out of her own pocket, she's often in 2/3 different continents a month. So I'm not giving advice from a privileged or comfortable position of someone whose head office will just take care of things when they go south. It's always on me to sort delays or changes of plan out.

Like other posters have said, it all depends on the level of risk one is happy to take. The OP asks for advice, and people will give different opinions - not always influenced by whether they are seasoned travellers or not. I felt this way even before starting to fly for work regularly.

Holiday people are still not at work! It’s entirely different. You might be self employed but it’s still a business trip. I know as DH was self employed. It’s still stressful to go onto another flight and for a family to be separated on they flight. It really is not the same as one person who is self employed or being paid for.

Well exactly, holidaymakers are not risking a loss of income if they don’t make it to their destination on time. I often travel (yes, for work) in groups of anything between 4 and 80 people. We’re usually on scheduled flights. It’s just as stressful trying to make sure everyone gets to the destination with enough time to spare for a quick change of clothes and on to work (which involves intense physical activity and high level public exposure).

I wonder if we've scared the OP off by now????

Fundamentally 95 min, T5 > T5, connected booking is usually OK, lots of people travelling for whatever reason connect on those sorts of timings every day .

There is (or certainly was) a department at T5 which specifically looked at tight connections and flight progress. If a connection looked like it might fail they would either try to expedite getting passengers through the Terminal, or if a connection had failed they'd proactively rebook for later flights, even before the passenger had landed on the inbound flight. They'd sometimes even send messages to the crews of the inbound flights to pass on to passengers involved, to provide reassurance/info.

Despite the above if the OP is still considering travelling on an earlier domestic flight I reckon things still to consider:

Relative timings of both any available domestic (is there actually an earlier option?) and long haul sectors (is there a later flight same day)...

Is there any knock on to arriving in JFK or EWR late?

Is there any cost implication to changing the domestic sector?

Does the OP fancy x hours experiencing the joys of T5..🤐 or would they rather minimise the experience?

Whatever they decide, hope it works out OK for the OP.

I would take the joys of T5 (which are perfectly acceptable) over rushing to get a flight or being split up on a later flight. It is definitely less stressful. Obviously flight times can be adjusted but price might play a part of course.

Adults don’t presumably care about being split up although getting 40-80 on another flight would surely be a challenge!

ha, being split up on a flight would be my secret idea of heaven
but the more I think about it the more I'm hopeful it will be ok
there's always a bit of time built into domestic flights - we leave Edinburgh at 1125 and are scheduled to get to Heathrow at 1300, but in the flight only takes an hour so there's a bit of leeway there
and then flight to NY at 1435, so fingers crossed the worst that can happen is we have a bit of a mad dash across T5
but yes, will have overnight stuff in hand luggage - that was definitely the plan after seeing the chaos with baggage etc at heathrow
but fingers crossed (yes i am totally temping fate here) not seen so many issues with that recently

@ClosedAuraOpenMind
Depending on the age of your DC, your fellow travellers might not be happy to babysit your DC!!

we leave Edinburgh at 1125 and are scheduled to get to Heathrow at 1300, but in the flight only takes an hour

FYI yes EDI-LHR about a 1 hour flight time (takeoff to landing) but the times in the schedule are gate to gate, so there’s some extra added for taxiing at both ends.

Don’t be surprised/concerned if that part of your journey works out as advertised and you don’t end up massively early….you should still be fine.