Few hours' stop-over at London Heathrow Airport

Here's one for Monday morning creativity. My girlfriend has a six hour stop over in London's wonderful Heathrow airport on her way down to India. She'll be on her own.

The question is: What can she do to pass the time?

Don't they have a bar there? That'd be an easy way to spend 6-hours at the airport.

Shop?

Or zoom into town on the tube and take in a museum?

Depends what she's in to really.

I always like browsing in Boots and the large Bookstore (think its a WH. Smith- but not sure). Lets face is 6 hours after clearing customs, security and changing terminals is down to what 4 hours.

You'll need six hours just to get through the transit security screening. Most likely they will have only two x-ray machines open and around 5000 passengers all with tight connections screaming at them. My advice is to take a wheelchair so as to beat the queue.

Good luck!

I hate Heathrow. Worst Airport in the world.

the choice comes down to:

1. stay in airport, passing the time in anyway possible to keep sanity.
2. attempt to use the essentially 3-4 hours of "free time" to go and do something in the city.

given that going to the city will be an expensive venture, and she will have to carry some of her luggage with her, and that there will be a risk of not getting back to the airport on time, she is best off staying at the airport - eventhough that is not a fun thing to do.

one idea: buy a book of Sudoku, go to one of the pubs in the airport.
another idea: visit each of the terminals and write a critique of each or a comparative essay.
most likely: sit in a chair, read, wait, be bored.

I guess she could get a cab to Southall or summat and have a curry.
Or go to one of the shops round Southall and get herself a Shalwar Kameez to change into on the plane *shrug*
But it'll be more expensive than India, I'd have thought.
Still, it might be interesting to dip your toe into the first generation/ex-pat community before you dive headfirst into the real thing (although Southall might be more Pakistani/Bangladeshi, come to think of it).

Urmmmm... Beer, lots of... Snoozing - beer-induced... That should pass the time. Oh yes, and some TV watching

I was just searching my joke archive for the one where people were giving notes to the girl operating the PA in arrivals with made up names on them. The names, when read, were something like 'my cousin just farted and left the room the bastard' - two people that one - and they recorded the announcement. Quite amusing, until they got chucked out.

I think Frankfurt pushes it pretty close though

I feel a "worst airport" thread coming on...

i take it neither of you have flown through Paris CDG? Not only is it the worst aiport I have flown through (except maybe the grass strip and hut for a terminal at Malindi in Kenya), it is also full of french people.

never had the pleasure

definately will need to allow a good 2 hours for the transfer and security checks. still leaves 4 hrs but best not to venture off the airport as to not risk getting through security in time when she gets back.

I have a 4 hr stopover at LHR on my way to Mexico on Monday to deal with. My only plan is to try to stay calm at the infuriating incompentance and slowness that is security at LHR and pray to complete the transfer and security checks in time to get a coffee and paper before my flight.

Heathrow has plenty to do to keep you busy, especially T1. Plenty of shops to buy gifts, books and electronic goodies. You can also get nicely drunk in the bars.

Paris CDG = worst airport I have ever had the (dis)pleasure to pass through

Heathrow = kind of janky, low ceilings and general ugliness, but usually ok and lots of shops

Munich T2/SFO International/Philadephia International = clean, modern, nice etc.

She could take in one of the Kensington museums quickly, like the Natural History, Victoria & Albert or the Science Museum. Kensington is in the SW of cental London; it's one of the first central-London stations that she'll get to when travelling into town on the Piccadilly Line. She'll only have an hour or so there to look around, but at least it will get her out of the airport. She's going to be bored enough on the flight to India without numbing herself at Heathrow for six hours first. And entrance to all those mueseums is free. All she needs is a Zone 1-6 Travelcard (about GBP6).

If she's very rich, she could take the Heathrow Express (the world's most expensive train ride, per mile), which is only 15 minutes each way. Problem is that this goes to Paddington, and there's not much to do in that area.


Natural History Museum - one of London's most beautiful buildings.

If she has a laptop she can pay for one day of wireless internet. I was stuck at sfo for 13 hours and that's what I did. For most of you wasting 6 hours a day on TT won't be all that different than a normal work day

I always wondered why people in wheelchairs got to jump the queue... If in T1 you can go through the BA priority check-in area and they have their own x-ray machines. The people on them don't even check your boarding pass so anyone can use it. In T4 you can try and use the fast track lane, they often don't care if you only have an economy ticket. Also in T4 they have those new fangled body scanner machines, they choose people at random to use them, and you get to jump the queue. It's amazing how often you can get chosen by staring at the guy and looking dodgy

Also, what really pisses me off is when people aren't prepared for the x-ray scanner and spend like 5 minutes taking off their coats and belts and taking stuff out of their pockets. Then they realise they have a laptop in their bag and have to get that out. I've been tempted to just push past them but I'd probably get shot.

me too. I just show up with my clothes, etc in a plastic bag so as not to slow things down once I get to the x-ray part.

I think LegoLand is near to the airport

Heathrow is not only big but also slow. Don't overestimate the free time she'll have.


There's that too. Shame to be so near and yet so far, but it is a risk.


My vote in Europe goes to CDG too.

Did that at Stanstead on the way back from Dublin after a stag weekend a bit pissed with the lads. Got told to get out of the wheelchair in no uncertain terms and hey presto, it was a miracle before their very eyes, me legs suddenly started working. They wern't impressed.

I had 2 hours at Heathrow yesterday and that's more than enough for anyone. Massive queue at passport control, and for a change, 3 x-ray machines working instead of the normal 2! Nice

I've noticed the same thing at Stansted - the Essex girls who work there seem to be the most humourless bunch of jobsworths you could imagine. They seem to love pissing travellers off just because they all sit under a sign that says 'If you display any form of wit and direct it at our single-cell pond-dwelling staff we'll show you who's boss and chuck you out'. Bastards, the lot of them.

Tough call. In an ideal world there's enough time to head into London for a bit.

BUT, the queues to go back through security at LHR can be a nightmare, I stood in line for an hour the other week... so plan that in.

@ Topsy, Southall has a large Indian community, more Indian than Bangladeshi and Pakistani.
<Shows off the bling of the West London Massiv innit>

Pubwise: The new pub on the left in T1 has some good beers, but Jesus the prices! I will NOT pay £3 for a standard pint. The old pub at the back is a scabby shitehole with dozy staff. Indifferent Boddingtons at £2.75.
Terminal 2 is much better.

My two hour layover has now extended to six and counting. I expect eight minimum. Had it been planned to be this long, I probably would have left the airport. As it is, the answer to the original question is "Read Toytown".

If it really looks bad, head for the Yotel. You can book for a few hours, have a proper shower and sleep, watch TV (including free Sky Sports), use their included WiFi and probably spend less money than if stuck in the hall. It's in Terminal 4 arrivals.
Otherwise, go to the M&S Simply Food in 3 and work out how to fit loaves of multigrain bread for your freezer into an already over-stuffed rucksack. Hours of entertainment (and broken fingernails) can be yours.

And hour on each end to get through passport control/security etc. leaves you 4 hours. The Paddington Express (29GBP round trip) gets you to central London in 15 minutes. If you miss a train on each end, that's still 3 solid hours of sightseeing to do downtown. That's not bad.

Are you allowed through passport control these days though?

When I was there last week I noticed a sign saying no re.entry on the exit. In the past I've gone out to meet friends for Lunch and then gone back through but I've assumed that it's no longer allowed?

Pas, I think you just have to go through security again. You can just not re-enter through the exit, but have to take the "proper" route through security.

She might have time to fit in a return flight to CDG and then she can see and compare two shite airports in one day...

The probability of an unexpected overnight stay at either is far too high to make that a practical suggestion.

Just put something dodgy in your bag or tell the passport/customs chap he/she is a twat, that'll take up a few hours

As I was going through security in Munich a few months ago a mother in front of me, in a moment of frustration, called her missbehaving child a little terrorist. I pointed out to her that it wasn't the best thing to call her child in security.

There is now a spa at Heathrow! I had a six hour layover there a year ago, and went for a facial and massage. It was fantastic! Then I got to shower! It was truly a dream. I had just flown over from the US, so it broke the trip up nicely! Check it out!