I will be travelling from IAD (Washington DC) to VIE (Vienna) on two separate tickets, first one being on Virgin Atlantic (redeeming miles from IAD to LHR) and second one being on British Airways from LHR to VIE. I am planning to have a layover of about 5 hrs 20 min between both the flights (both arriving and departing from terminal 3 at LHR)
I have an Indian passport with a valid US visa. I have following questions:
Is there even a slight chance that my luggage will be checked through? Does anyone have any experience here? This will help me avoid the UK border and immigration check. I checked with Virgin Atlantic and they said baggage cannot be tagged through to VIE since I have separate tickets. Still I was hoping that things may change at the gate while boarding at IAD.
On checking https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa I see that I will not need a visa for passing UK Border and Immigration. However, the results on this website say "You might be eligible for ‘transit without visa’" if you are arriving from USA and have an onward flight leaving on same or next day. The words 'might be eligible' concern me. Again anyone with experience here?
There's an earlier BA flight available (leaving me with a layover of 2 hours between arriving and departing flights from the same terminal 3). Will this be sufficient? Or should I stick to the later flight giving me 5 hrs and 20 min in transit?
Many thanks for your replies.