Continental Airline Tickets

Making my connection at LHR in 1hr 45 minutes; enough time?? advice please??

Hey guys, I have an eticket form ebookers with the following schedule: Flying British Airways from Manchester to LHR and then swapping to Continental Airlines for the trip to Newark. I've never flown a multiple airline trip before and I would like to know if I'll only have to check in once at Manchester and if BA will sort everything I need to continue my journey at LHR. (Like boarding passes and through checked baggage etc..) I bought it all as one package so I hope I want have to mess around too much at LHR? I'm just a little paranoid because I only have a 1hr 45 minute lay over to make the Continental Flight. Any tips....???

Public Comments

1. In theory, you should be ok. I've transferred flights before with only a similar window of time available. But I STRONGLY suggest you contact Customer Services for BA and see if they can help. You should also mention when boarding in Manchester that you have to transfer in London, so they could make special provisions if need be, ie. let you off the plane before other passengers, ring the Continental Airlines desk and ask them to delay the flight, etc. London Heathrow is arguably the busiest airport in the world, so there is a hell of a lot of potential for problems such as your incoming flight arriving late or delays with luggage (not to mention the long queues at Security if you end up having to go out and back in again). Things to bear in mind for you. 1) Confirm whether you will need to visit the Continental desk to check in again or not. If possible check in online the night before and print off your boarding pass. 2) Confirm whether you will have to manually go and collect your luggage in London and pass it on to Continental, or if this will be taken care of. 3) Finally, confirm whether you will be flying out of the same terminal in London as you are arriving in, as this could potentially delay you a bit. If I remember right, you'll probably arrive in London in Terminal 1 and fly out from Terminal 3. It'll take you around 15-20 mins at least to move between the two. Hope that's been helpful. Good luck.
2. If you have any baggage your not going to make it. The time you get off the plane 10-20 minutes, go down to baggage and wait for bags 20-30 minutes and then recheck in at continental 10-30 min will not be enough. Gate usually close 1 hr before departure. Add this is your first flight gets in exactly on time! So see if they will check you through before you leave. I do not think they will do to international segment.
3. Ok, go to the BA web site and with the "locator" ebookers gave you (the airline's one not ebooker's reference number) try to find you reservation. If it shows all the way to EWR, all is well. But remember BA and CO are not on the same alliance or code-share. When you check-in BA will tell you if they are able to give you the boarding passes for the LHR>EWR leg. The luggage, almost sure will be directed "interline" as BA handles all luggage in the UK. And 1:45 should be Ok, altough for sure connect at different terminals. See: http://www.heathrowairport.com/