London Heathrow Airport

Terminals

Customs notes

HM Revenue & Customs operates red / green / blue channel system across all terminals. Blue channel for arrivals from within the UK common travel area; green for nothing-to-declare from outside; red for any declaration. GB resident allowances (£390 total; 200 cigarettes; 1L spirits) and EU arrival allowances differ since 2021.

Transit

Most international-to-international transfers are airside (no customs clearance). Transfers between T3/T5 (British Airways connections) use the internal T5 transit. T2/T3 inter-terminal transfers use the central transit tunnel. Non-UK/EU arrivals needing a direct airside transit visa (DATV) must hold one even if not exiting.

Pre-arrival apps / forms

• HMRC Customs Declaration Service (CDS)
• GOV.UK Red Channel declaration

Known quirks

• T5 is BA/Iberia exclusive; Virgin Atlantic and partners use T3
• Long-haul-to-long-haul transfer at T5 requires the T5A-T5B/T5C transit train
• Border Force ePassport gates accept UK, EU, US, Canada, Japan, Australia, NZ, SG, KR passport holders (age 10+)

Sources

• heathrow.com
• gov.uk