Going to meet a friend or loved one at Heathrow Airport today? If so you’d better allow 29 minutes and 29 seconds from when the board announces Baggage in Hall before you see them.
This is because, according to a new survey, Heathrow does not deliver great results when it comes to reuniting passengers and luggage quickly post-flight.
A new poll by UK-based www.SendmyBag.com has uncovered the top five fastest and slowest airports in terms of carousel waiting times, based on the experiences of people that pass through the airports.
And it seems when it comes to West London's aviation hub, most of us have been left cooling our heels for a lot longer than we would have liked.
2,651 Britons aged 18 and over, all of whom stated they had been through the arrivals process in at least one UK airport within the past 12 months, were quizzed about their experiences.
All respondents taking part said that they had checked luggage and had gone straight to the baggage carousel after going through passport control, as opposed to stopping for a toilet break.
When all the results were collated, the average wait time from arriving at the baggage carousel to the bags coming through was revealed to be 21 minutes.
The average times stated were then used to determine at which airports travellers experienced longer or shorter than average waiting times at the baggage carousels.
The slowest five in order were London Gatwick Airport – 33 minutes 21 seconds; Edinburgh Airport (31 mins 47 secs); London Heathrow Airport (29 mins 29 secs); Liverpool John Lennon Airport (28 mins 51 secs); Bristol Airport (27 mins 02 secs).
Meanwhile the speediest five were Manchester Airport (16 mins 15 secs); Birmingham Airport (17 mins 49 secs); London City Airport (18 mins 13 secs); East Midlands Airport (18 mins 52 secs) and Aberdeen Airport (19 mins 33 secs).
Adam Ewart, Founder of SendmyBag.com, said: “Airports are constantly upping their targets to be the quickest and the best airports around, however it’s not always possible. “Something might happen that throws a spanner in the works and causes delays, such as if a bag gets stuck somewhere or temporarily lost.
“It’s important to bear in mind that our research is based on the memories of Britons who have used various airports around the UK, but hopefully these airports will take our results into consideration and up their game.
“However, being the fastest doesn’t always mean being the best – its important to get baggage off the flight to the carousels as quickly, but as safely, as possible.”
A Heathrow spokeswoman said: "Our data shows that typically the waiting time in baggage halls is much lower than respondents perceived it to be within this survey."
Getwestlondon has come up with some fun things a person waiting for a passenger could do to kill 29 mins 29 secs in the arrivals hall:
1 - Stand at the car park payment machine and see how many people complain about the cost of parking
2 - Go to the automatic passenger walkway and see how many times you can ride back and forth between terminals.
3 - Spend a small fortune trying to win a cuddly toy from one of the grabber machines in the arcade
4 - Recite an entire episode of a popular classic sitcom such as Friends, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers etc you could even do different voices or rope friends or equally bored bystanders in to help you.
5 - Get a personal best score on Angry Birds, Candy Crush, or Bejewelled.
6 - Go home and let the person you're waiting for get a cab or the tube instead!
