Immigration/Custom Heathrow and Southampton

[markm]

Wondering how long Immigration/Custom takes arriving at Heathrow and Southampton. Every country seems to be different, in the Philippines there is a quick immigration check but zero customs check. Returned to Gulfport once , something was up, unusually high number of CBP agents and supervisors, took us hours to disembarkation 

[Zacharius]

A couple of things - what is your citizenship, what terminal are you arriving in, when are you arriving, and do you have any priority? (For example, BA gives expedited immigration access to premium class passengers)

I'm going to make an assumption you're a US citizen, without priority, arriving in the morning (such as on an overnight flight from North America), with an unknown terminal. If you have a passport with a chip (likely if you're a US citizen), you can use the e-gates to enter the country, or you can go to the immigration officer. Either way, give yourself 30 minutes to be safe during the morning rush...I've seen it take 60 minutes, and I've seen it take 5 minutes, but 30 seems safe. Then you get your luggage, if checked, and then customs...which is an easy "Declare" channel and "Nothing to Declare" channel that you walk through. Likely, you'll have nothing to declare, so while there's a chance you may get stopped randomly, odds are you will just walk through it. You'll then be dumped in to the public area with ground transportation access.

All in all, from aircraft door to customs exit, give yourself 60 minutes including walking, immigration, luggage, and customs...though it make take 30 total, and it may take 90 total. Again, the terminal of arrival matters too, because for example T5 widebodies usually require a train or walk from T5C or T5B to T5A for immigration/customs, which adds some time.