From the aircraft door to a moving train at Heathrow usually takes 45 minutes to an hour and a quarter with a bag in the hold, and 30 to 50 minutes without one. The order never changes: a long walk, the border, the baggage hall, customs, then one of three railways, and which railway you can reach depends on the terminal you landed at.
Our guide to Heathrow for arriving visitors covers the airport as a whole, and Heathrow to central London sets every way into town side by side on fare and time. This page follows one passenger through the building, stage by stage, with the decisions that come up on the way and the time each stage tends to take.
The sequence is the same as at any British airport, and our page on arriving at Gatwick walks the same route there. What makes Heathrow different is scale. There are four working terminals, three separate railways and a border hall that can process several wide-body aircraft at once, or fail to.
Landing at Heathrow at a glance
- Terminals in use
- 2, 3, 4 and 5. Terminal 1 is closed
- eGates
- Age 8 and over, at least 120 cm tall, chipped passport, eligible nationality; under-18s with an adult
- ETA
- Checked by the airline before you board, not at Heathrow; £20 (November 2026)
- Passport-free eGates
- Border Force is rolling out face-only "contactless" eGates and expects them at all UK airports by early 2027 (checked November 2026)
- Trains from T2&3 and T5
- Elizabeth line, Heathrow Express and Piccadilly line
- Trains from T4
- Elizabeth line and Piccadilly line only
- Luggage storage
- Excess Baggage Company, from £10 (November 2026)
The walk from the gate, and why it varies so much
Heathrow's piers are long, and an aircraft parked at the far end of one can leave you walking for ten to fifteen minutes before you see a passport sign. Terminal 5 adds a ride: aircraft at the satellite buildings, T5B and T5C, are linked to the main building by an underground transit train, and you take it before you reach the border. Our Terminal 5 guide explains the three buildings and the transit.
Remote stands are the other variable. If the aircraft is parked away from the terminal, a bus brings you in, and the time spent waiting for it to fill is time you lose before the queue even starts. Nothing can be done about either, but they explain why two people on flights that landed at the same minute reach the border a quarter of an hour apart.
Keep your passport, phone and any visa documents in your hand luggage, not in the case going into the hold. You will need them in the next room.
The border hall: eGates or an officer
Border Force sets the eGate rules, and its guidance was last revised on 3 November 2026. Every condition has to be met at once: a passport carrying the chip symbol on its cover, an age of 8 or more, a height of 120 cm or more, and the right status. British and Irish citizens qualify on citizenship alone. Everyone else also needs valid UK permission, such as an approved ETA, an eVisa or a digital record of exemption, and a passport from the EU, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland. Members of the Registered Traveller Service can use them as well.
Two details catch people. Children of 8 to 17 must go through with an adult, and Border Force asks a lone adult with children to go first, or a family with two adults to put the children between them. And an EU national identity card does not open the gates. In fact, most EU, EEA and Swiss citizens cannot enter the UK on an ID card at all any more; it works only for those with settled or pre-settled status and a few other groups, so bring the passport.
Everyone else queues for an officer. The queue length is the least predictable part of any arrival: a quiet mid-morning can take five minutes, while three long-haul aircraft landing together early in the morning can take far longer. The airport's own site shows the current queue at each terminal's border hall, and that figure, not the landing time, is the one to pass on to whoever is meeting you.
Used the eGate by mistake? Find an officer before you leave. Border Force says anyone who needs a passport stamp, such as a performer on a creative worker certificate, must see an officer instead of using the gate. If you went through the gate anyway, go back to a Border Force officer in the arrivals area before leaving the airport and ask for the stamp.
The baggage hall and customs channels
Belt numbers are shown against flight numbers on the screens as you enter reclaim, and the trolleys are free. If your passport queue was long, your bag may already be circling; if it was short, this is where the time goes. Our estimate for a hold bag at Heathrow is fifteen to thirty minutes after you reach the belt, and longer after the first wave of morning arrivals.
A bag that does not appear must be reported to the airline at its desk inside the baggage hall, before you walk through customs, because the exit is one-way. Our page on what to do if your bag does not arrive covers the report, the reference number and what the airline owes you while you wait.
Customs follows: the green channel if everything you carry is within your allowances, the red channel if not. The allowances, and the ban on bringing meat and dairy from the EU into Great Britain, are on our page about what you can bring into Britain. Walking through green is itself a declaration that you have nothing to declare.
Which trains you can reach from your terminal
Once you are through the arrivals doors, follow the purple signs for the Elizabeth line, the Heathrow Express signs, or the Underground roundel. The choice depends on your terminal, because not every railway stops at every one.
| Terminal | Elizabeth line | Heathrow Express | Piccadilly line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 and 3 (shared station) | Yes, every train | Yes, to Paddington in 15 minutes | Yes |
| 4 | Yes, but only some trains | No: take a free transfer to T2&3 first | Yes |
| 5 | Yes, every 30 minutes | Yes | Yes |
TfL's pattern for the Elizabeth line is six trains an hour from central London, all calling at Terminals 2 and 3, four running on to Terminal 4 and two to Terminal 5. That last figure matters: at Terminal 5 the Elizabeth line runs only half-hourly, so a passenger who has just missed one may reach Paddington sooner on the Heathrow Express or even by changing at Terminals 2 and 3. Our comparison of the Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line sets out when the dearer train is worth it.
The Piccadilly line serves all four terminals and runs to the West End, King's Cross and beyond without a change, at the cheapest fare but in about 50 minutes from Piccadilly Circus. If your hotel is on it, it is often the right answer; our Piccadilly line guide covers the trains, the luggage space and the stations with steps.
The ticket question at the barrier
You do not need to buy anything if you have a contactless bank card or a phone set up to pay. All three railways accept it at the yellow readers, and so does Oyster. The fares from Zone 1 in November 2026 were £15.50 on the Elizabeth line, £5.90 on the Piccadilly line and £26.00 single on the Heathrow Express, which is the only one of the three outside the daily cap. Peak fares apply to Heathrow at all hours on the Tube and the Elizabeth line.
The one rule worth repeating at the barrier: each traveller needs their own card or device, and the card you tap in with at Heathrow must be the one you tap out with in London. Our explanation of Oyster and contactless fares covers the cap, and the Heathrow Express lets children aged 15 and under travel free with a paying adult, which changes the arithmetic for families.
Moving between terminals costs nothing on the trains. The Elizabeth line, the Piccadilly line and the Heathrow Express all carry passengers between Heathrow's own stations free of charge: tap in and out with the same card and you are not billed, or take a free ticket from the machine. It is how a Terminal 4 arrival reaches the Heathrow Express at Terminals 2 and 3.
If someone is collecting you by car
Nobody can wait for you outside the terminal doors. Heathrow does not allow pick-ups on any terminal forecourt, and a driver who stops in a drop-off lane to collect you is breaking the rules and paying the drop-off charge as well. The driver has three choices.
- Terminal Parking, two minutes' walk from the doors at each terminal: £8.50 for up to 29 minutes, £12.50 up to 44 minutes and £16.00 up to 59 minutes, paid at the machine (November 2026).
- Park & Ride, the former Long Stay car parks: the first 29 minutes are free, with a shuttle bus every 15 minutes. Good for someone who is willing to wait until you message from the baggage hall.
- Terminal 4 Priority Pick-Up, opened in June 2026 while the T4 car park is rebuilt: £7 for up to 10 minutes, £14 for 11 to 29 minutes, £25 for up to an hour, with payment due online or by phone before the end of the next day (November 2026). Free pick-up at T4 is in Zone A of the Park & Ride.
Ride-hailing drivers meet you on foot in the Terminal Parking car park, not at the kerb. Our page on airport drop-off and pick-up charges compares Heathrow's rules with the other London airports, and explains the £80 parking charge that follows a missed payment.
Adding it up: door to platform
Here is the sum, and it is our estimate rather than an airport figure: ten to fifteen minutes on foot to the border, five to thirty in the passport hall, fifteen to thirty at the belt if you have a hold bag, two minutes through customs and five to ten to reach a platform. At Terminal 5 add the transit if you came in at a satellite, and at Terminal 4 add the transfer if you want the Heathrow Express.
That comes to roughly 30 to 50 minutes with hand luggage and 45 to 75 minutes with a checked bag, before the train journey itself. Book dinner or a check-in time on the slower figure, not the faster one. If you are landing late, check what still runs at night from the airports before you fly, because the Piccadilly line's all-night service on Friday and Saturday reaches Terminal 5 only. For the rest of that first day, see our arrival-day plan.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get out of Heathrow after landing?
Our estimate is 30 to 50 minutes between leaving the aircraft and reaching a platform with hand luggage only, and 45 to 75 minutes with a bag in the hold. The passport queue is the part that varies most; check the airport's current border queue figure before giving anyone a pick-up time.
Can children use the eGates at Heathrow?
Yes, from the age of 8, provided they are at least 120 cm tall, hold an eligible biometric passport and go through with an adult. Children under 8 must see a Border Force officer, which in practice sends the whole family to the staffed desks.
Do I need to show my ETA at Heathrow passport control?
The ETA is linked electronically to your passport and the airline checks it before you board. At the border it is part of the record the eGate or the officer sees. Make sure the passport you travel on is the one you used to apply.
Which terminal does the Heathrow Express not serve?
Terminal 4. The Heathrow Express calls at Terminals 2 and 3 and at Terminal 5. From Terminal 4, take the Elizabeth line or the Piccadilly line, or ride free to Terminals 2 and 3 and change there for the Heathrow Express to Paddington.
Where can my friend pick me up at Heathrow?
Never at the kerb outside arrivals. Use a Terminal Parking car park, a short walk from the doors, or a Park & Ride car park where the first 29 minutes are free. At Terminal 4 there is also a paid Priority Pick-Up area outside the terminal.
Sources
- GOV.UK - Border Force: guide to faster travel through the UK border (checked November 2026)
- GOV.UK - Border Force: contactless travel using eGates (checked November 2026)
- Heathrow - Immigration and passports (checked November 2026)
- Heathrow - Baggage reclaim (checked November 2026)
- Heathrow - Passenger pick-up (checked November 2026)
- Heathrow - Terminal 4 Priority Pick-Up (checked November 2026)
- Heathrow - Left luggage (checked November 2026)
- TfL - Getting to and from Heathrow on the Elizabeth line (checked November 2026)