Airport Lift — Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire's premier airport, seaport and resort transfer service.
Book Now
Blog

Heathrow Terminal Guide: which terminal is your flight?

Heathrow has five terminals across a huge site. Here's a plain-English guide to which airline uses which terminal, how they connect, and how to make sure your driver drops you in the right place.

2026-01-14 · 6 min read

Heathrow has four active passenger terminals — Terminal 2, 3, 4 and 5 — spread over more than 12 square kilometres. Get dropped at the wrong one and you're looking at a 10-minute train ride and a very stressful walk. Here's the quick reference we use every day.

Terminal 2 — "The Queen's Terminal"

Star Alliance home base. Lufthansa, United, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, ANA, Aer Lingus and Eurowings all fly from T2. Also home to a growing list of smaller carriers like Air China, LOT and Croatia Airlines. Modern, well-signed, easy to navigate.

Terminal 3

Oneworld and SkyTeam mixed use. American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Japan Airlines, Finnair, Virgin Atlantic (some routes), Delta and Emirates all use T3. Older than T2 but perfectly manageable.

Terminal 4

SkyTeam long-haul plus a few outliers. KLM, Air France, Etihad, Qatar, Malaysia, China Eastern, Kenya Airways, Vietnam Airlines. Slightly out of the way — physically detached from the main site.

Terminal 5

British Airways almost exclusively, plus Iberia and a handful of BA franchise partners. Also the most spacious terminal. If you're on a BA long-haul, you're 95% likely to be at T5.

Terminal 1

Closed since 2015 — don't be surprised to still see it on some sat-nav searches. Ignore it.

Between terminals

All four active terminals are connected by the free Heathrow Express shuttle and the Elizabeth line. Allow 20 minutes between T5 and T4 (they're on opposite ends of the site). If you connect through Heathrow with 90 minutes or less, that's tight.

What we do

When you book with us, we ask for your flight number. We pull the terminal automatically from the flight data, so even if you booked months ago and the airline moved terminals (it happens), you still get dropped at the right door.

Get a fixed-price Nottingham to Heathrow quote in 30 seconds — from £160.

Ready to book your transfer?

Get a fixed price in 30 seconds — no account required.

Get a quote

More from the blog

Why we need your full pick-up address (and what happens if we do not have it)

House number, street, postcode. Here is why a partial address is the single most common cause of a delayed airport pick-up, and how our system handles it.

Multi-stop airport transfers: adding vias without surprise charges

Collecting a friend on the way, dropping a case at home, a second address in another town — here is how vias are priced, ordered and reversed on returns.

Airport transfers for large groups: how we price two vehicles as one booking

Twelve passengers, ten suitcases, one flight. Here is how our booker builds the cheapest working vehicle combination and keeps it as a single booking.

How our return airport transfer discount actually works

Book both legs together and the return discount comes off automatically — in whole pounds, with a breakdown that adds up. Here is exactly how it is calculated.

Flying from Heathrow out of Nottingham? Get the terminal right

Heathrow's four terminals are miles apart and airlines move between them. Here is a Nottingham traveller's guide to landing at the right door first time.

Nottingham to Stansted Airport: A14 or M25? Here is the quick way

Stansted is around 2 hours 30 from Nottingham if you route it properly. Here is the road we use, the timing for early Ryanair banks and what the fare covers.