British Airways will increase the minimum amount of time required to make a flight connection between two British Airways flights at London’s Heathrow Airport. The increase will take effect from January, and is designed to tackle problems due to delays at immigration, security, or even schedule slips.

Ensuring passengers can connect at Heathrow

British Airways, headquartered at London's Heathrow Airport, provides easy access to the UK from all over the world. However, it also facilitates many connecting flights, with passengers flying into Heathrow and the on to other destinations. As such, the airline states a minimum connection time to ensure passengers have enough time to get from their first flight to their second.

Currently, that time is 60 minutes, but from January 9, 2024, this will change to 75 minutes for anybody transferring from a long-haul flight or those transferring from a domestic United Kingdom flight to an international flight at Heathrow.

Flights that do not comply with this transfer time will be rebooked free of charge. Future bookings will have this safeguard programmed into British Airways’ software to prevent noncompliance with the minimum requirement.

Furthermore, Heathrow Airport has no less than 115 gates spread out over four terminal buildings. Although Heathrow's Terminal 5 is where most of British Airways operations have been consolidated, space constraints have led to some flights being flown out of Terminal 3.

British Airways does not profit from sales at Heathrow restaurants or stores by keeping its passengers at Heathrow longer. Nor does British Airways manage the same Heathrow security staff that recently collectively bargained for a pay rise after informational picketing and strikes. But again, this is about schedule reliability.

Official British Airways e-mail

Head For Points obtained the official British Airways e-mail to affected passengers;

“From 9th January 2024 we are changing our connection times at London Heathrow. Due to this change, your upcoming British Airways connection at London Heathrow will no longer be possible. We are in the process of reviewing your booking to ensure you can make your connection and if required we will look to rebook your connection/s free of charge on your behalf.”

How to save time connecting flights

If you've got a tight connection to deal with, the best advice is to download and be familiar with the connecting airport’s layout. Many airports do have apps available so one can have maps on hand. The airport apps come with flight tracking also, but only for the specific airport.

On the day of the flight, check what gate the first flight will arrive at and the subsequent flight will depart. This can be done either via the airport's website or the airport app.

Finally, having Airtags in your luggage can be helpful. But even better is if you can pack just enough to comply with carry-on requirements so your bags are always on-hand.