Connecting flights, customs/baggage help?
Connecting flights, customs help? Hi there. This summer I will be traveling to Santander, Spain from Washington, DC. My flights are as follows: Washington DC to London on British Airways London to Madrid on British Airways Madrid to Santander on Iberia I'm wondering, when I enter the UK and Spain, do I need to go through customs, and do I need to do anything with my bags? Or can I just sit in the airport and get on my next flight without doing anything special? And also, when I start my journey in the USA can I tell them my final destination and let them take care of it, or do I need to claim and recheck my bags in London and Madrid before I actually get to my final destination? Thanks.
Air Travel - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
You will have to reclaim your luggage mid trip. Then recheck them immediately. You should check your luggage through to your destination, but you will still have to recheck your luggage.
2 :
You will have to do immigration and customs at Heathrow because British Airways flights from Washington arrive in terminal 5 and British Airways flights to Madrid depart from terminal 3 so you have to change terminals. Just make sure your connection time is sufficient to do this, you need at least 2 hours for your Heathrow connection. See this link for transfer between terminals information: http://www.heathrowairport.com/portal/page/Heathrow%5EGeneral%5EAirport+information%5ETravel+between+terminals/aedd3db5569a9110VgnVCM10000036821c0a____/448c6a4c7f1b0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____/#C Since British Airways and Iberia are partners when you check in with British Airways at Washington/Dulles they will check your bags all the way through to Santander. However, you will have to collect them at Heathrow to take thru customs then turn them back over to British Airways to be rechecked, since they are already tagged thru its just a matter of dropping them off at a luggage recheck area when you come out of the customs hall. You won't have much if any customs in Madrid because your arriving flight is from the UK and its an internal EU flight.
3 :
I agree with Lisa and have made the transfer in Madrid,never touching my luggage once it cleared customs at Heathrow because both the UK and Spain are EU Member countries. There is a British Airways luggage belt and kiosk where you will drop your bags immediately after you clear customs. They will also give you very good directions on getting to your next gate if this is your first visit to Heathrow.
