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I am arriving London from Dublin with Aer Lingus and have bought a separate flight to Kuala Lumpur with MAS. Since they are not connecting flights and there is no way they can transfer my luggages to MAS since they're totally different airlines, does this mean I have to:

  1. Claim my luggages
  2. Go through customs
  3. Check in for my flight again?

How long do you think this will take?

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  • Any reason you didn't fly Etihad, it's a connecting flight in AUH and it's less grief than T2->T4 at Heathrow plus the worry of not making the second flight?
    – smci
    Commented Aug 24, 2016 at 9:21

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You will arrive at Terminal 2 at Heathrow. You will need to go over to Terminal 4 for your onward flight.

There is no passport or identity control on arrivals from Dublin (usually) but there is potentially a customs inspection. In reality it is unlikely you will be stopped by customs officers. After you collect your bag and exit, you will need to walk over to Heathrow Central, to catch a shuttle train over to Terminal 4. The shuttle is free. This takes about 15-20 minutes. Then you need to check in with Malaysian Airlines, drop your bag and clear security again.

If you are fast and everything works, 2 hours would be sufficient for this on most days. But you have no protection if anything goes wrong. You are responsible if your Aer Lingus delays your flight or takes time in delivering your bags. If you miss your Malaysian Airlines flight your ticket will be cancelled (including the return part), and you will probably have to buy a new ticket.

Therefore I strongly advise something more like 5 or 6 hours, or perhaps even an overnight stay.

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    I thought Aer Lingus used T2 at Heathrow these days? That's certainly where their lounge is...
    – Gagravarr
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:42
  • Also, isn't the Heathrow Connect shuttle from T2/T3 to T4 every 15 minutes? If so, given the couple of minutes journey time, wouldn't taking that always work out quicker than the local bus of doom round to T4?
    – Gagravarr
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:43
  • @Gagravarr You're quite right, bit of an embarrassing mistake since T3 cannot handle CTA traffic
    – Calchas
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 19:35
  • Surely flying Etihad and connecting via AUH is less stress?
    – smci
    Commented Aug 24, 2016 at 9:23
  • @smci Perhaps, but that wasn't the question.
    – Calchas
    Commented Aug 24, 2016 at 10:35
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Your AerLingus check in agent may be able and willing to check your bags through, notwithstanding that they have been written as separate tickets. Have your MAS confirmation with you. You can probably check in online for MAS even before you go to the airport in Dublin.

Otherwise, yes, you will have to do all those steps. I don't connect through London often, but 2.5 hours would be my first guess, since you will at least not need passport control in London.

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    EI does have a baggage interline agreement with MH, so the airline has the technical and legal capability to through-check baggage. But my suspicion is that they won't!
    – Calchas
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 18:04
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    Probably depends on intangibles like quality of last cup of coffee.
    – Andrew Lazarus
    Commented Dec 11, 2015 at 23:09

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