Flight connections | Information | British Airways (2024)

FAQs

How do I know if my flight is connecting flight? ›

A connecting flight occurs when you fly two or more planes before reaching your final destination. A flight itinerary may have any number of connecting flights and a journey with no connections is known as a nonstop itinerary.

When checking in your luggage in most cases it will be checked through to your last stop. When arriving at the connecting airport all you have to do is to go to your next gate and wait for the next plane, your next flight. There might be a security check in the terminal at the connecting airport.

If you're a connecting passenger from overseas you'll have to pass through UK border controls to get to your hotel, so please ensure you have any required visa to enter the UK.

If you miss your connecting flight

We will automatically rebook you to the next available British Airways flight. The oneworld Global Support team will be able to help with your journey e.g. provide up-to-date travel information, new boarding passes and, if required, overnight accommodation.

In most cases, you'll receive your boarding pass for your connecting flight already when you check in for your first flight. This means you don't have to check in again for your next flight. If you haven't received it, you can go to the transfer desk or kiosk of the airline you're flying with to collect it.

You'll need to pick-up your luggage, then check it in again for the next flight. Top Tip: A wait at the airport between two connecting flights is called a layover. For more travel advice, check out our guide to dealing with a short layover.

Travel advisers say there's a lot to take into account when booking connecting flights, but a general rule of thumb is 60-90 minutes between domestic flights and at least two to three hours for international itineraries.

How do flight connections work? Generally, if you are on an internal flight, once you land for your stopover, you will pass through the transfer area that will take you to the gate for your next flight where check-in is not required. Your bags will be passed on to the next flight without you having to pick them.

We recommend that you allow at least 3 hours if you're connecting between these airports. Your baggage will not be automatically forwarded, so please collect all your bags before leaving Heathrow or Gatwick airport.

What terminal does British Airways use at Heathrow? ›

Which London airport and terminal? British Airways operates from London Heathrow Terminal 3 and Terminal 5, as well as London City and London Gatwick airports. If you're not sure where your flight is departing from or arriving into, you can easily find out.

Most (but again, not all) airports connect international terminals airside. When you're connecting from an international flight to a domestic one, you'll always have to exit and reenter security as you'll need to go through customs and immigration (unless you have gone through preclearance aboard, which is rare).

British Airways has extended its minimum connection time between flights at Heathrow Airport. It has been increased from one hour to 75 minutes in an effort to reduce the number of passengers who miss onward flights.

If you have booked your trip all on one ticket you can follow the Flight Connections signs, which will lead you to a bus service from T5 to T3. You will stay airside and will not need to go through immigration. You will, however, need to pass through security on entering T3. 3 hours is plenty of time for this change.

All of the major U.S. airlines have policies prohibiting the practice of skiplagging—or what they refer to as hidden city ticketing—written into their contract of carriage statements.

It depends on how your ticket was booked. If your flights were booked under one ticket, your bags will be checked through to your final destination. If your flights were booked under separate tickets, you will need to collect your bags and recheck them before your connecting flight.

Contact the airline: You can reach out to the airline directly and provide them with the necessary information such as the person's name, flight details, and reservation number. They may be able to check the status of the ticket and inform you if the person boarded the flight or not [1].

Let's assume, you have two or more flights, one after the other, to your destination. If you booked flight separately, it's a self transfer. If you have more than one reservation number, it's a self transfer. This is one of the easiest way to distinguish the two.

"A scheduled flight means that tickets to flights are sold via various sales channels around the world. Scheduled flights may have connection flights.