How long to allow after landing at Heathrow

Ask how long it takes to get out of Heathrow and you will be told about queue times. That is the wrong question. What actually matters when you book a car is how much time you should allow — and the most useful evidence for that is what other travellers, most of whom have done the journey before, chose to allow for themselves.

We looked at 2,914 Heathrow arrival transfers booked between 1 February and 25 August 2026. In every case the traveller told us their flight and then chose how long after landing the driver should be ready. 2,628 of those journeys have already taken place.

The short version: 45 minutes

The median traveller allows 45 minutes. The average is 50. Three choices account for nearly three-quarters of all bookings:

A quarter of travellers allow 30 minutes or less. Three-quarters allow an hour or less. Only one in ten allows more than 75 minutes.

Where you flew in from matters more than anything else

This is the clearest pattern in the data, and the size of the gap surprised us. Travellers arriving from outside Europe allow 20 to 25 minutes more than those arriving from within it — a difference that maps closely onto who can use the e-gates.

If you are flying in from the United States, India or Southeast Asia, the travellers who have gone before you are telling you to allow an hour. From Rome or Madrid, forty minutes is the norm.

Luggage: the 15-minute penalty

Travelling with only hand luggage cuts about 15 minutes off what people allow. Note that the median is the same for one bag as for five — but the average climbs, because large parties with lots of luggage skew towards the longer waits.

Time of day: a 26-minute swing

Heathrow's long-haul arrivals bank in the early morning, and it shows. Travellers landing at 06:00 allow 61 minutes on average. Those landing at 22:00 allow 35.

If you land before 08:00, add fifteen minutes to whatever you were planning.

By terminal

Terminal 5 is the quickest in travellers' judgement and Terminal 3 the slowest — a nine-minute spread that reflects the mix of routes each terminal serves rather than the buildings themselves.

What we would suggest

If you book a transfer with us, none of this is a gamble: we track your flight, so the driver's arrival is set against when your aircraft actually lands rather than when it was scheduled to. If you clear faster than expected, call and the driver comes early.

Method, and what this does not measure

What this is: 2,914 Heathrow arrival transfers booked with BA Transfer between 1 February and 25 August 2026, for travel between February 2026 and June 2027. 2,628 have already been completed. In each case the traveller supplied their flight number and chose the interval after landing at which the driver should be ready. Figures are means and medians of those choices; groups with fewer than 10 travellers are excluded from the country and hourly tables.

What this is not: a measurement of how long it takes to clear Heathrow. We do not hold verified clearance times, and this study makes no claim about queue lengths at immigration or baggage reclaim. What it shows is revealed preference — the time experienced travellers judged they needed, which is a different and in some ways more practical question.

Published 25 August 2026 by BA Transfer. Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite these figures with attribution; if you would like the underlying breakdown in more detail, contact us.