Flying to Canada

paddyk

Hiya Boardies. Myself and my wife are Flying to Canada for 2c weeks on this Saturday.

I booked the flights through Experia. We are flying Aer Lingus from Dublin to Heathrow, And the Air Canada from Heathrow to Calagary.

Couple of questions that maybe some one can help with.

Will Aer Lingus book our Luggage all the way to Calgary?

Is there a Security Check in Heathrow? As in, No liquids etc allowed. According to the Heathrow site there is . Will 2 hours from landing in Terminal 2 and making our way to Departures in Terminal 2, be enough time?

I thought it would be a simple matter of getting off the Aer Lingus Flight and making our way to Air Canada departure gate, But the Heathrow web site is making it sound complicated.

Any advice appreciated.

Faith

Heathrow is a nightmare, frankly. You will have to go through security, even if you stay in the same terminal. Two hours is very tight, especially with the high, high risk that the air lingus flight will be delayed. Both our flights between Dublin and Heathrow with aer lingus were delayed in August, and our friend just got delayed today to the point that he missed his connecting flight to Canada.

You would be rebooked on to another flight if you miss the connection due to delays, but you'll lose time and it's frustrating. Security is also very busy and very slow at Heathrow. We were rushed through in the priority queue last time and it was still time consuming.

If you booked both flights together, and they're all under the air canada umbrella, your bags will be booked all the way through. But if you book them as two separate, unconnected flights, they won't be checked through and you'll have to pay for bags with aer lingus, pick them up at Heathrow and check in again with air canada (afaik).

paddyk

Thanks for the reply Faith. We booked both as a package through Experia, So I;m hoping things go smooth. We will try and head straight through Security as soon as we land so we won't cause a delay. The rest is in the hands of TSA or whatever they are called.

mulbot

Yea pretty much as Faith wrote-When i flew over last year,the same thing happened with Aer Lingus,plane left Dublin late and the security in Heathrow was so bad,i was last person boarding to Canada,my bag actually didn 't get loaded on that flight,but i did get a B/C upgrade which was nice. came home here to Ireland for xmas,and same story,again,on returnng to Canada nearly missed the flight,with my partner,child and I being the last to board-no upgrade that time though.. That two hour window is a joke,I know people who have missed the flights,but hope it works out for ye.

JohnMearsheimer

I flew Dublin-Heathrow-Vancouver (Aer Lingus/Air Canada) last September and it was a bit stressful. The Dublin flight arrived into T2 at Heathrow. The Vancouver flight was leaving from T2 as well an hour after the Dublin flight got in. I thought it would be a case of stepping off one flight and on to another. Our bags went straight through but we had to go through security screening again and the gates were a good bit apart. We had to run to make the flight. Never again.

circular flexing

Worth noting that no matter where you transfer, you'll have to go through security again.

2 hours should be enough assuming no delays - I've done T1 to T5 in 90 minutes before with no hassle. Just no hanging around the duty free

kopite386

If you look on the Heathrow website they recommend 60 mins and you have 2 hours so you should be fine

paddyk

Just a thank you for the helpful comments. All worked out great. Back home safe and sound after a great time in Canada.