'>>2645865
>EU Bros
Not sure what they have to do with it… do you mean that you have an EU passport? If so, you don’t need a visa to enter the UK for up to six months, nor to transit through Heathrow. Same is true if you’re American, Canadian, or from a lot of other countries.

Otherwise, this two-question questionnaire (Where’s your passport from? What are you doing in UK (Transit)?) gives you a straight yes or no in 30 seconds: https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa';

'No, unless you need to pass through customs';

'>>2645865
things you need to know
- did you book the two flights together or as one booking?
if you booked as one booking, you (probably) won't need to collect your bags or go through passport control but you will need to go through a security check if the two flights are at different terminals. see https://www.heathrow.com/connecting-flights
- are you definitely arriving and departing at heathrow
if you booked as one booking that will (probably) be the case but if it is two bookings then double triple check that you aren't arriving/departing at gatwick airport instead
pay no attention to the whining of blubber-lipped thirdies online. heathrow airport is generally fine as long as you know all your itinerary. if not then check with your airline. also make sure you give yourself time to get from one place to another- heathrow is massive';

'>>2646143
>- did you book the two flights together or as one booking?
doh. obviously i meant
- did you book the two flights separately or as one booking?';

'>Holders of a flight ticket from the Schengen area, if you can prove that you entered the Schengen area in the previous 30 days on the basis of a valid Schengen ADS visa
I got a Schengen area european passport, would they bother to check if I was buggering around somewhere else in the world before passing through?';

'>>2646250
>I got a Schengen area european passport, would they bother to check if I was buggering around somewhere else in the world before passing through?

The only place they will know for sure you’ve been buggering around on your way to changing planes Heathrow is wherever your arriving flight is coming from. They can also flip through your passport for recent stamps or visas, if there are any, but that’s all the information they have ready access to. And they’re unlikely to even bother looking at your passport closely at all unless you happen to be flying in from a rogue state, or from a major exporter of drugs, or from somewhere with an active Ebola outbreak or something similar.

A lot of people have the dumb idea that chipped passports somehow record and display your travel record; they don’t (and can’t, as the chips are read-only). Immigration agents in the UK and almost everywhere have automatic access to very little such information.';

'>>2646133
>No, unless you need to pass through customs
Needing a visa and needing to pass through customs have nothing to do with one another—the customs thing is a question of itinerary, the visa thing is a question of the passport you hold.

People landing in the UK and flying right out of it on a single ticket can usually transfer airside, with their baggage checked through to their final destination (no collecting bags for potential customs inspectors and then re-checking them—customs clearance will happen at the final destination). If the connection out of LHR is on a separate ticket, with a different airline, bags get collected, potentially inspected, and then re-checked onto the connecting flight. Passengers doing this also typically have to go through passport control to get into the part of the airport where they can recheck their bags and get a boarding pass for their next flight, assuming they don’t already have it. This immigration checkpoint (not customs) would be where a transit visa would be required, and then only if the passenger needs a visa to enter the UK in the first place.';

'>>2646769
People of some nationalities require a transit visa even if they remain airside.
This is common for many countries but the UK is particularly egregious.';

'>>2646834
>People of some nationalities require a transit visa even if they remain airside.
This is common for many countries but the UK is particularly egregious.
I know! I never suggested otherwise. The US does the same IIRC. I was just pointing out that whether you need a visa or not has nothing to do with whether or not you go through customs.';

'>>2646834
>This is common for many countries but the UK is particularly egregious.
I get that this is implemented to preemptively filter undesirables, but what if you say have a dual passport? Like in one of those said nationalities, but also a Schengen tier passport?';

'>>2646850
> I get that this is implemented to preemptively filter undesirables, but what if you say have a dual passport? Like in one of those said nationalities, but also a Schengen tier passport?
If you’re traveling on an EU/EFTA/ETA passport, you don’t need a visa to transit through the UK, nor even to enter for up to six months. Period.';

'>>2646133
>If the connection out of LHR is on a separate ticket, with a different airline, bags get collected, potentially inspected, and then re-checked onto the connecting flight.
this is not a connecting flight. you might describe it as such, but it is 2 separate flights. a connecting flight does not require passing immigration and entering the country. re-checking in is not transiting.';

'>>2646870
That's not a correct generalisation.
You can have a connection on two tickets where you do not need to leave the sterile area because you can check in for your second flight at a transfer desk.
On the other hand you can have a single ticket where you have to enter the country, re-check any checked luggage and go through security again, e.g. any international connections in the US.';