British Airways increases minimum connection times at London Heathrow

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Stress ranges at Heathrow Terminal 5 are set to cut back… however some British Airways passengers will probably be ready considerably longer for connections.

The airline is to extend the minimum connection time (MCT) at Heathrow from an hour to 75 minutes, to cut back the chance – and business value – of missed onward flights.

By lengthening connections, the airline hopes fewer passengers will find yourself being stranded or rebooked.

However, it’s going to imply longer journey times for passengers connecting at the hub, placing the flag provider at a business drawback in comparison with European rivals. For instance, it’s now three times longer than the MCT at Vienna airport for passengers connecting between Star Alliance flights.

Passengers from Nice heading for Los Angeles can not arrive in California at lunchtime by transiting by way of London. Up to eight January, travellers on the primary flight from the south of France had 65 minutes to attach with the British Airways departure at 10.10am, giving an arrival time of 1.25pm. While a lunchtime arrival remains to be possible on KLM by way of Amsterdam, Lufthansa by way of Frankfurt or Air France by way of Paris, the primary “legal” connection on BA reaches Los Angeles at 4.10pm.

From Berlin, a passenger hoping to attach on the British Airways afternoon flight to Miami might want to depart the German capital 70 minutes sooner than beforehand.

A spokesperson for British Airways stated: “Following customer feedback, we’re increasing the minimum connection time for some of our flights through Heathrow T5.

“This will give customers more time to make their next flight and reduce the risk of missing their onward service, which we know is incredibly frustrating.”

Connections between Terminals 3 and 5 – which require a bus connection taking round 10 minutes – retain the present 90-minute minimum.

British Airways says passengers who made bookings earlier than the change and have connections shorter than 75 minutes have been contacted and supplied various connections.

Terminal 5 opened nearly 16 years in the past as the answer to British Airways’ huge structural drawback: most intercontinental flights used Terminal 4, whereas Terminal 1 served home and most European flights. Connections between the 2 have been fraught.

The £2.5bn new construction at the west of the airfield was the answer. After some industrial-scale teething issues, Terminal 5 is now working properly for British Airways and its sister airline, Iberia.

The change was first picked up by the frequent-flyer web site Head for Points – whose editor, Rob Burgess, stated: “British Airways has been very public about its desire to reduce aircraft delays at Heathrow, and ensuring transit passengers don’t get stuck in Flight Connections is a help.

“It would make more sense to tackle the root of the problem at Heathrow, however, rather than simply enforce longer connecting times. When Zurich can guarantee a connection in 40 minutes and Frankfurt in 45 minutes, BA is simply making itself less attractive to transit passengers.”

The minimum connecting times for international-to-international flights at European rivals for British Airways – and Heathrow – are actually considerably shorter:

British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and different carriers with connecting site visitors at Heathrow face one other menace to their transit enterprise: the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

The new allow is required by each non-British or Irish passenger flying to the UK, even when they merely want to spend two hours between flights.

At different main aviation hubs outdoors the US, passengers transferring from one worldwide flight to a different want solely documentation legitimate for his or her remaining vacation spot.