Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

British Airways tries to fix its Heathrow problems by increasing Minimum Connection Times

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

From January, British Airways will increase its minimum connection times at Heathrow by 25%.

Minimum Connection Times (often referred to as MCTs) govern the shortest time available for bookable flight connections. These are set by airlines and airports to ensure you have the best chances of making it from one flight to the next and to prevent you from booking flights where you (and your baggage!) would not have enough time to transfer to the next flight.

Minimum connection times can vary by airport and airline, with ticketing websites taking into account any MCTs as part of your itinerary.

British Airways increasing Minimum Connecting Time at Heathrow

The MCT is calculated as the period between the scheduled arrival of your first flight and the scheduled departure of your second.

At most airports, it is between 30 and 90 minutes, depending on whether you are connecting to a domestic or international flight, as well as the size of the terminal. At Munich, for example, German effiiciency means that they can offer a Minimum Connection Time of 30 minutes.

British Airways increases Minimum Connection Time to 75 minutes

At present, British Airways operates an MCT of 60 minutes for connections at its hub in London Heathrow. This increases to 90 minutes if you need to change terminal.

This is changing in early January. British Airways has already started emailing passengers whose flights no longer meet the MCT guidelines:

“From 9th January 2024 we are changing our connection times at London Heathrow. Due to this change, your upcoming British Airways connection at London Heathrow will no longer be possible. We are in the process of reviewing your booking to ensure you can make your connection and if required we will look to rebook your connection/s free of charge on your behalf.”

The change is likely due to an increasing number of passengers failing to make their connections due to delays at security, immigration or simply delayed arriving aircraft

The change only applies to passengers connecting from:

  • a long haul flight to another long haul, short haul or domestic flight
  • a domestic flight to a short haul or long haul flight

Minimum Connection Times from one domestic flight to another remain unchanged at 60 minutes. Inter-terminal MCTs remain at 90 minutes.

British Airways Minimum Connection Time Heathrow

How this affects existing bookings

As noted in BA’s email, it is currently reviewing existing bookings to ensure that you have enough time to make it to your second flight.

British Airways has confirmed to us that anyone with a minimum connection of less than 75 minutes from the 9th January will be rebooked onto another flight. This will be free of charge.

BA was unable to tell us how many passengers would be affected, although it is likely to be a relatively small figure as most people prefer to book flights with slightly longer connection times when they can.

What about new bookings?

Any flights now bookable will take into account the new minimum connection times and you will only be offered flights at Heathrow with at least 75 minutes between arrival and departure.

You won’t be able to book a flight with an MCT of less than 75 minutes, even if there is an earlier flight departing.

In the medium term it is likely that timetable adjustments will be required to ensure that the most popular connecting routes are not forcing passengers into multi-hour waits – something that is likely to ensure they book elsewhere.

This won’t be straightforward, given that British Airways does not operate a ‘bank’ structure like Emirates or Qatar Airways with long haul arrivals landing (and later departing) back to back in short bursts.

Conclusion

British Airways clearly feels that more customers than it would like are missing their connections and – with the underlying problems seemingly unfixable – is increasing Minimum Connection Times in order to reduce misconnects.

It does mean that British Airways now has one of the longest minimum connection times at its hub at Heathrow versus its competitors. Paris Charles de Gaulle has a 60 minute connection time, whilst at Schiphol it is 50 minutes. Things are even better in Zurich (40 minutes) and Munich (30 minutes).

A 75-minute same-terminal minimum connection time suggests that Heathrow and British Airways are still struggling to ramp up services in the post-pandemic environment. At least passengers in the future should have a better chance of making their flight.

If your booking has been affected you may wish to join the discussion on our forums.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (October 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Avios. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Avios. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (154)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Track says:
    23 Jun23 June 05:48

    Heathrow is unique that you have to undergo the full security screening, and most likely need to visit connection desks. Connections set up is ad-hoc actually.

    These days, airlines simply not printing passes for LHR connection when you are starting ex-EU. Weird because you can usually get it via online checkin.

    • JDB says:
      23 Jun23 June 07:15

      The security re-screening is the law, not some burden imposed by Heathrow. Anyone departing on any flight from the UK must have been screened by UK security.

      • NorthernLass says:
        23 Jun23 June 08:45

        +1 – while a PITA, it’s to ensure that any security breaches occasioned in another country (where procedures may well not be as robust), are picked up before the connecting flight is boarded. While it certainly increases my travel time each time I have to return home via LHR, it’s in the interests of public safety.

        • Josh says:
          23 Jun23 June 08:58

          …so on UK domestic to international flights, why are travellers funnelled through the same route? in the last 2-3 years I’ve connected through Heathrow outbound several times and only once did I get routed to avoid T5 security.

        • Rhys says:
          23 Jun23 June 09:06

          Surely there are some countries where we can probably bypass these screenings, no?

          • Marcin says:
            23 Jun23 June 10:00

            Yeah, although I guess this creates extra sub-division which is hard to manage. EU airports have it easier, you can just have Schengen arriving flights (which anyway go different route) not screened again

        • GeoffreyB says:
          23 Jun23 June 09:14

          “ it’s in the interests of public safety.”

          Only if you think that it’s actually done properly.

          Didn’t stop the Russians visiting Salisbury and the Manchester bomber was waved through too.

          • Rhys says:
            23 Jun23 June 09:19

            I don’t think airport security scanners are set up to detect novichok 😉

        • TGLoyalty says:
          23 Jun23 June 09:41

          It’s a load of nonsense.

          It’s some naff law that’s stuck in the dark ages and as per the comment re domestics wtf is the point in that.

      • His Holyness says:
        23 Jun23 June 15:58

        Is there a law that mandates domestic transfer passengers to T3 need to be re-screened? NO. It’s because HAL don’t want to organise a a bus for those clean inbound pax.

      • Track says:
        23 Jun23 June 20:17

        The fact that it’s law makes Heathrow ad-hoc arrangements even more shameful. If it’s the law and pretty much consequence of 9/11 then why not plan the terminal for it?

  • SamG says:
    23 Jun23 June 06:28

    Domestic to short haul (BA300-999) remains at 60 minutes. But 75 in the other direction

    Presumably a combination of no security in that direction, probably easier recovery if you do misconnect and an attempt at remaining competitive on journey times

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      23 Jun23 June 06:59

      No immigration in the first one. The airline checks visa for destination.
      Short haul to domestic requires immigration for nonUK & nonEU.

      • John says:
        23 Jun23 June 07:43

        Surely everyone requires immigration when going international (except Ireland) to domestic

        • SamG says:
          23 Jun23 June 08:15

          Yes. In that direction all flights are 75mins MCT as you clear security and immigration (for domestic)

  • GeoffreyB says:
    23 Jun23 June 06:44

    Having worked for a German company and companies with German operations, German efficiency is a myth (my experience might be an exception though)

    I’d never book a connection with a 30/40 minute gap regardless of what the official time is. Even a slight delay means you’re screwed

    • His Holyness says:
      23 Jun23 June 06:51

      Yes exactly. Where is the “German efficiency” at FRA? 🤡

      • Mark says:
        23 Jun23 June 06:57

        Or on Deutsche Bahn!

        • GeoffreyB says:
          23 Jun23 June 07:03

          Agreed, but German trains (and trains in most other major countries) are still miles better than our third world, overpriced garbage.

          • Bagoly says:
            23 Jun23 June 07:56

            I think the reputation of German trains in the UK gets an unwarranted boost from the halo effect of Swiss trains, which really are good.

          • HAM76 says:
            23 Jun23 June 09:49

            In Germany we are trying hard to compete with UK in the race to the bottom. I believe we make quite a progress.

            30 minutes in MUC. With Lufthansa that would be challenging even on a Schengen to Schengen flight departing from the same terminal.

          • Rob says:
            23 Jun23 June 10:07

            I’ve done 30-40 minute connections in Switzerland and Germany on Lufty / SWISS redemptions multiple times and always made it, with bags and terminal changes.

          • Track says:
            23 Jun23 June 22:53

            @Rob, when you move around ZRH or MUC, there is a distinct feeling that an airport is organised for connections.

            at T5, connections are artificially jammed into ad-hoc flight transfers check in area with an awkward maze of temporary barriers (remember, outstations will not print you a boarding pass for the next flight). Then there is typically a queue across the ground and first floors. Then a narrow channel to joint security.

            At that is, if you beat the race together with the arrivals crowd to Immigration, which you as a connecting passenger do not need. Btw, never had an opportunity to connect directly at T5C or T5B, even if you arrive at C and depart from C, without a boarding pass you don’t know its going to be C gates! So you have to go T5 central with arrivals crowd.

            Come to think, the process above is madness.

    • Bagoly says:
      23 Jun23 June 08:02

      German efficiency is a complete myth.

      German effectiveness and reliability, which is what is relevant for things like MCT, is also way over-hyped.
      The classic case is BER: only on 8th May 2012 was the opening date of 3rd June cancelled – actual opening date was 30th October 2020!

    • Fiona Macadie says:
      23 Jun23 June 08:20

      A myth indeed! My granddaughter applied for a visa months and months ago as she is doing a university exchange course. She still hadn’t received it when she started her course at the end of March. It the university said it was ok to come on the 90 day rule and they would sort it out. Having had a winter holiday in the EU her 90 days were up at the beginning of July! Still no visa! Her course ends in early August!!

    • Rhys says:
      23 Jun23 June 09:07

      Real Germans know that the Swiss are the really efficient ones!

    • Harry T says:
      23 Jun23 June 09:09

      Anyone who thinks the Germans are efficient should try flying in or out of BER, an airport that took them a million years to build but doesn’t even have CT scanners.

  • AndreD says:
    23 Jun23 June 06:51

    German airports are not efficient at all. Security in BER, FRA and others is a nightmare. German efficiency is a bit of a myth in my opinion

    • Mikeact says:
      23 Jun23 June 07:53

      +1

    • Bagoly says:
      23 Jun23 June 08:03

      Agree, although BER not as bad as TXL often used to be (separate for each gate, so varied enormously).

    • CamFlyer says:
      23 Jun23 June 08:12

      FRA is ok when it works right, a disaster when it doesn’t. I recently had a Connection xxx-FRA-LCY. I knew it was risky when booking due to a 35 min connection, and sure enough the delay on my inbound meant I misconnected. Had I not had *G status to get lounge access, I was told I would have had to exit security (!) in order to check in for the flight on to which LH had automatically rebooked me (I was in cheap Y). I have never heard of such a thing, particularly on one of the world’s largest airlines at its main hub airport. Even the lounge guardian originally told me I would have to do that, until I waved my *G details.

      • Phillip says:
        23 Jun23 June 08:36

        A family member had this issue of being told they had to exit and come back through security at the lounge, which I never understood. If it’s waved for *G, does that mean it’s not a legal requirement but something that the airline imposes to maybe reduce the time people spend in the lounges?

        • anuj says:
          23 Jun23 June 10:05

          I just don’t understand why entering a lounge prevents the need to redo security (not that i understand why you would need to exit security either !)

          • CamFlyer says:
            23 Jun23 June 18:41

            I was told the only persons who could help me were outside security. I think it’s cost minimisation and centralisation of services, rather than class privilege. I gambled that once in a quiet place in the lounge I could figure it out online / corporate travel agent— and then the agent inside was happy to help.

    • SamG says:
      23 Jun23 June 08:18

      +1

      Frankfurt on certain itinerary is a disaster and must cause lots of misconnects. I did non Schengen to Schengen last summer, buses both flights and have enough experience of the process to know where to go and not waste time and I only just made my 90 min connection

      • Londonsteve says:
        23 Jun23 June 10:59

        I think they sell 30 minute MCT flights in full knowledge that many people won’t make it but it makes the routing a more appealing purchase for the typical passenger. Lufty at FRA has way more operational resilience and capacity to sort out misconnects than BA at LHR who is constrained by being unable to operate more than a handful (or even single) daily flight to a destination. Lufty and Austrian at VIE will generally get you on your way the same day and indeed they can route you on one another’s network. BA’s thinner schedules mean you’re far more likely to fly the following day and have to stay the night at BA’s expense. I would never, under any circumstances book a connecting flight via LHR at peak times unless the second leg was one I could easily solve on my own, e.g. Manchester, Paris and so on. Even those destinations might not be that easy to find empty seats a few days before Christmas.

        • FatherOfFour says:
          23 Jun23 June 12:04

          I’ve certainly fallen for some “cheap” Lufty fares with a connection at FRA. Thankfully, I’ve 95 mins to do non-Sheng to non-Sheng, with family in tow. If we miss it, we are in FRA overnight. I think after reading this, I’m slightly more nervous and more so about our bags!

  • X2000traveller says:
    23 Jun23 June 07:02

    Also, this change will presumably reduce the number of seats that are empty ex LHR due to missed connections, allowing average load factors to rise slightly. No small consideration given that so many BA long haul departures sell out as demand is so high…

    • Rhys says:
      23 Jun23 June 09:08

      …not sure. People will still be travelling if they misconnect, but they’ll just be on a later flight. So I don’t think it would affect load factors.

  • BJ says:
    23 Jun23 June 07:10

    Let’s face it, LHR is a basket case as far as major hubs go. Same goes for T5 itself. Boris had one sensible idea in his political lifetime but didn’t make it happen.

    • JDB says:
      23 Jun23 June 07:20

      What is wrong with T5 itself? Most of the issues generally complained of relate to its principal occupant and the services for which it is responsible.

      • Rob says:
        23 Jun23 June 07:34

        T5 is great. Go to Madrid T4S if you want to see what happens when you give an architect a green field site rather than a sewage treatment pond.

        • NFH says:
          23 Jun23 June 08:46

          I like Madrid T4S, but when connecting last week from T4S to T4, there were long queues for the shuttle train that resembled the Jubilee Line at Canary Wharf. We managed to get on the train, and when we arrived at the gate for our next flight, it was already boarding.

        • Londonsteve says:
          23 Jun23 June 11:07

          Good point, Rob. I departed MAD T4 last week and despite business check in and fast track security with the airport not being busy, it still took far too long to get from the entrance to the boarding gate. It feels built with a capacity that is unlikely to ever be needed at Madrid in my lifetime (or if it will, is better served by two smaller terminals) with excessively long walks. It feels like the transit train is actually going to drop you in Barcelona if it travelled any further! I pity anyone who by accident or design ends up arriving at check in with a mere 1 hour before departure.

        • Track says:
          23 Jun23 June 23:21

          In Madrid if you fly outside of Schengen zone, you know to go to T4S. Once you made the shuttle, straight to the lounge upstairs (not end of the terminal). Then, walk to a gate.

          At LHR, you don’t know which gates you are departing A, B or C, so you are bound to walk through shops and queue. You have to rush to C gates via shuttle — ether too early when Go To Gate sign is put 40 minutes before they even open the gate, or too late when flight is boarding and you not taken the shuttle yet.

          Yes both T4 and T4S of Madrid Barajas are gigantic but you can walk without bumping into tight shopping crowd and occasional stalls.

          • Londonsteve says:
            24 Jun24 June 19:37

            Also valid points. On balance I’d rather be using MAD T4 regularly than LHR T5 with its grotty and crowded lounges while playing satellite terminal lotto. Because of the latter if you want some decent lounge time you don’t know whether to arrive 1.5 hours or 2.5 hours before the flight!

      • BJ says:
        23 Jun23 June 07:36

        It has two satellites, a train, too many ups and downs, too many cordons, pax traffic does not flow smoothly, treatment of disabled pax is an embarrassment, lounges are overcrowded and rubbish, T5A is a huge block with shops in the middle getting in the way, it is very grey, long walks without travelators but I suppose that’s a plus when we should be cutting energy use, it has bus gates, uses buses to get to other terminals, waits to get a gate and/or get plane doors open is often far too long. While it is true other airport hubs have similar issues to varying degrees I cannot think of one in Europe that is worse than LHR. To be fair it can work, I did T5-T3 in under an hour earlier this month but my experience is generally not so good.

        • Rob says:
          23 Jun23 June 08:32

          Or …. taxi drops you outside First Wing, 15 second walk into First Wing, through security in 2-3 minutes, 15 second walk into lounge, modest walk to gate. London City is FAR harder work than this.

          • BJ says:
            23 Jun23 June 10:31

            BA serves only a handful of countries with F, and only a handful of pax fly F. For the majority it is not so great. It might be average at best as an origin or destination but as a transit airport/terminal it’s pretty awful. Ddecent modern terminalsvrequiee pax to move mainly forward from the entrance with no more than 2 right or left turns and no more than one change of level to reach the gate. Same in reverse for arrivals.

          • Rob says:
            23 Jun23 June 10:41

            First Wing is for Gold cards, primarily. What I wrote is my normal routing when doing any BA short haul trip.

          • Track says:
            23 Jun23 June 23:14

            First Wing security in 2-3 minutes?

            That is not realistic. They often operate 1 lane only and sometimes the queue extends into First check-in area..

        • Norsksaint says:
          23 Jun23 June 09:04

          FRA is far far worse, not enough gates means most short-haul to short haul are exceptionally long bus rides. No care for connections are you can regularly find yourself running through the tunnel to make connections when LH bus to one terminal and depart from another. FRA lounges in peak are as bad if not worse than BA at T5. Its easy to knock BA/T5/LHR but its certainly not greener elsewhere.

          • Track says:
            23 Jun23 June 23:11

            FRA is a basket case too but have you tried the food at BA lounges recently?

    • AJA says:
      23 Jun23 June 07:30

      Actually the Thames Estuary location wouldn’t have been any better for Londoners as planes would still have to fly over the city due to the prevailing east west winds.

      It would have made more sense to expand LGW and have a dedicated fast rail link except that would annoy rrsidents in West Sussex and the Surrey stockbroker belt.

      On the MCT issue I much prefer to book myself a longer connection time than officially allowed, especially on outbound trips, just to make sure my luggage makes it. I am not so bothered about it on inbound flights so am mors likely to risk it then.

      Fortunately living just west of London I don’t book any connecting flights through LHR so this change doesn’t affect me although it might if I was ever to attempt an ex-EU long haul flight.

      • BJ says:
        23 Jun23 June 07:41

        I was referring more generally to a new airport git gor purpose, not so much its location. Same in Scotland, we are stuck with EDI and GLA when a new airport might have worked a lot better.

        • JDB says:
          23 Jun23 June 08:20

          @BJ having worked on many new airport and airport re-development projects, it’s all very easy in countries where one person can make a decision, ignoring the views of the local population, politicians, environmentalists etc. In the real world for most of us, building new airports or making existing airports ‘fit for purpose’ to your design with limited level changes, minimal shopping etc. just isn’t realistic. LHR would work better if it had third runway, it would work better and connectivity between terminals would be better if it weren’t in such a complex constrained site. The regulator doesn’t help by requiring everyone to be done slowly and on the cheap; the fact T1 is still there is absurd and most definitely not what HAL wanted.

        • Andrew. says:
          23 Jun23 June 08:52

          Better to close Glasgow Airport and build “Luaths Aon” to link Waverley, Glasgow Central and Prestwick International.

          A 180 mph train should be able to do Glasgow to PIK in about 12 minutes.

    • Track says:
      23 Jun23 June 23:10

      Hear, hear! We are talking about it for the last 10 years or so and not much has been done to improve processes and experience at Heathrow. I remember challenges for Heathrow connections when security was downstairs. I remember T1 and its attempts to pool check in agents for several airlines.

      Basically, it was always a model to centralise functions and create a big, huge crowd in some central place, be it the bus station where local and intercity buses are mixed or connections at T5 main terminal.

      It’s well known that main terminals are designed to maximise traffic thru high-priced shops, rather than any passenger experience. Without BA Gold card and the First Wing you have to walk through most of the terminal to reach lounges in the corner. Then you have to walk back because trains to T5B/T5C are in the middle.

  • TeesTraveller says:
    23 Jun23 June 07:10

    Domestic > T5 connection should be at least 15 minutes less than anything else due to the lack of security re-screening and no passport check.

    Arriving at Heathrow on a domestic for a connection is super easy, it is literally a couple of minutes from walking off the plane to being inside the main terminal. Contrast that to the other way around where you generally have a long walk to arrivals, wait for the passport check, wait for the retina scan, up the escalators, then queue ages for the baggage scan (with no priority queue for status holders as this disappears at the top of the escalators).

    The need to rescreen baggage is a major problem at T5 as arrivals from trusted counties are mixed with those where airport security is not in line with UK/EU standards. If T5 was geared up to only serve domestic/EU/US/CH/IL etc (ie trusted counties) then there would be no need for scanning all the hand baggage. AMS do exactly this (if you arrive from a non-trusted country your bags are scanned at the arrival gate) and it works really well.

    • ABS says:
      23 Jun23 June 07:36

      UK law requires that ALL passengers arriving from outside of the UK be re-screened before departing on their next flight. There’s no concept of “trusted” countries when it comes to this.

      • Yorkieflyer says:
        23 Jun23 June 08:56

        Indeed all foreigners to be mistrusted conforms to the national paranoia of all things abroad

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      23 Jun23 June 08:50

      Absolutely not! A 45 mins MCT would cause more delayed passengers and bags.

      Given a 20 mins doors close deadline that would give you 25 mins to get from your arriving gate to the departing one. Not so much a problem for an A departure but it would for many people for a C one. And that still relies on no issues deboarding.

      There are some regulars on FT who regularly advocate 45 mins on the grounds they fly HBO and know what they are doing. But MCT is set for the vast majority of passengers not the relatively few knowledgeable ones.

      As for a “ clean” terminal (or part thereof) that’s an interesting idea but not so easy to implement.

      You’d need to design and install safe routes in the terminal that would properly separate clean and unclean passengers and bags and that would likely limit which gates could be used restricting operations.

    • Harry T says:
      23 Jun23 June 09:11

      The issue is that the domestics usually arrive late these days, cos BA can’t run a proper service.

  • John says:
    23 Jun23 June 07:39

    Anyone knows if the MCT for LCY -> LHR connection is affected. Have 3h15min between flights which seems kinda short.

    • SamG says:
      23 Jun23 June 08:26

      No change. But with the Elizabeth line running now this is really doable, DLR to Woolwich and take the Elizabeth line. To save a few minutes you can change at Liverpool Street and/or T23 if you don’t hit a T5 service (every 30 mins)

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
        23 Jun23 June 08:53

        Indeed Lizzie has been a game changer for airport transfers.

        From LCY take a bus to Custom House is also an option. The walk between the two stations in Woolwich is not the easiest if you have bags with a couple of roads to cross and some uneven pavements. And not so nice when it’s raining!

        • Richie says:
          23 Jun23 June 12:55

          Woolwich is not a good DLR – Lizzie line change, terrible if it’s raining.

      • Andrew. says:
        23 Jun23 June 08:57

        You can even walk briskly from LCY to Custom House (for the Elizebeth Line) in 20-25 minutes.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points (converts to 20,000 Avios) with 'first year free' American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!