Prior to this month, I believe, there were no direct flights between LHR and IAH. This was because of the restrictions imposed by Bermuda II. In other words, you would have to fly to London Gatwick (LGW) instead. I believe that both Continental and British Airways operated these routes. For connections to MXP or LIN, you could have taken a budget flight on easyJet (no through ticket, so leave at least 3 hours to exit security, change terminal (North to South), check-in, and go back through security).

It is a bit of a mute point, because from the end of this month, Open Skies allows both airlines to fly to Heathrow directly from Houston. So, they are taking full advantage of it, and moving their flights from LGW to LHR.

So, for future reference to those of you who may want to do the same, you can do the following:

IAH —> LHR with Continental
LHR —> MXP or LIN with Alitalia
Continental and Alitalia are part of SkyTeam

or:

IAH —> LHR —> MXP with British Airways

Two points to note about transfer. Once terminal 5 is up and running, British Airways will start moving in. All of their flights will depart from there, meaning that transit should be much easier (and a more pleasant experience).

Also, once Terminal 5 is up and ready, airlines will be relocated to aid transfers. All SkyTeam airlines will be placed in Terminal 4.

So, should you wish to repeat the journey in a year’s time (that is just an estimate), the transit experience at LHR should be much improved!

AMS is a great connecting city, using Northwest/KLM.

FRA is good, using United/Lufthansa.

If you want to fly an economical business class over the pond, fly L’Avion out of EWR to ORY, then connect to LIN or MXP. (Linate in Milan is much closer than Malpensa).

I have actually found Orbitz to be pretty good at coming up with mixed-airline itineraries. Probably because they’re running ITA Software’s search engine for fares.

What would you advise when you are actually purchasing the tix and the only option is on different airlines? I guess you just have to find out the multi-airline premium over a single carrier and do the cost-benny analysis on the convenience…

My absolute fave place to eat is the fish/caviar place by the BA Upper lounge. The name escapes me. I like a couple of glasses of cold crisp white with the salmon sampler plate. Fifty quid and well worth it.

Then I go drain the JWB in the BA/upper.

Concur with you about needing a lot of time to connect, but I’m usually exhausted and half (or more) in the bag…..

-TF

Philly = air traffic delays; you’d wait in the air before landing and wait on the runway before departure (1-2 hours!)

Alright, I should have put in the US Airways/Philadelphia caveat, and your story sounds absolutely awful, but in general, I stick with the advice that it’s more convenient to connect domestic-to-international on the US side.

Your personal tale is actually fodder not just for the anti-US Airways case, but also for my argument that you should avoid making international-to-domestic connections in the United States. The absurd need to lug your suitcases to re-check your baggage, which you describe, is not limited to US Airways flights. (Philadelphia sounds like the last place I want to make international-to-domestic connections, but it’s no picnic changing terminals at JFK, Detroit, O’Hare, or LAX either, I can assure you.)

Joe Brancatelli’s article is a frightening tale indeed. Everyone should read it:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/brancatelli/2007-08-26-us-airways-europe_N.htm

From USA Today’s business traveler column:

Even your ever-skeptical columnist was shocked at what I found: a near-collapse of the day-to-day operations of US Airways’ Philadelphia-based trans-Atlantic service. Even by this summer’s reduced standards, the operation that US Airways runs between Philadelphia and Europe is shocking.

.

I can vouch personally for Mr. Brancatelli’s observations:

In thirty years of flying I have never seen anything like the chaos at the Philadelphia hub a week ago, returning from France. To get from the customs to check in for domestic flights, for example, passengers were herded through the parking garage, down three flights of stairs (the elevators were broken). Imagine your grandmother trying to get her two suitcases down a narrow, dark concrete stairwell.

Far from helping, the US Airways staff simply screamed at the passengers, providing contradictory instructions and abuse.

“Just drop your goddamn bags in this pile!”

“All bags must be re-checked! If you leave your bags in the pile they’ll be removed and destroyed!”

Nobody knows what to do or where to go, so the crowds get more massive, as the moving sidewalks push more people into the mass. People were jumping over the rail of the people mover to avoid being crushed.

Cattle? No, cattle are treated, generally, with far more respect and concern for physical safety than US Airways international passengers in Philadelphia.

Agree with you about connections in Germany. Frankfurt is so unbelievably boring, especially if you land at 5:15 am and await a flight at 8:00, as I seem to often get stuck doing. Munich is a little better.

Very true that airports with lots of frequencies are better during cancellations, since there are more options to fly out.

So where are the best places to eat at LHR?…