Heathrow: The order of events

This is the first time my son will go through Heathrow unescorted, so I thought I'd send him some instructions for coming through Customs & Immigration, but I've forgotten the order of things.

What's the proper order:

Immigration
Baggage
Customs

Do they have to fill in a landing card?  If so, do you remember what they asked on the card?

He'll be coming home on 21 Jan and I'm so pleased this saga is finally over.

They do have to fill in a landing card but it is very easy.  It only asks him to fill in his name, where he was born, and where he will be staying while he's in the UK (he'll need to have your address handy), the flight he's arriving on, and how long he's staying.

The order of things after landing is:
Immigration, where he will turn in his landing card

Then he'll see on a screen just beyond immigration what baggage claim to go to.  He'll pick up his baggage and then wander through customs.  (Green for nothing to declare, I would assume.)  

And then, just after he gets a giant whiff of perfume and chocolate at the "last chance duty free" is where you will meet him.  (Presuming you are meeting him there, that is.)

Pretty simple!  And if he's flying Delta, they show a great video with actual pictures from the airport you're landing in so you can see what you have to do.  Very cool.  

Hope you have a great visit with him!

Thanks, Wishstar.  This will make things much easier for him.

We've used the "Young Person Travelling Alone" scheme for the past six years now with my son. He's getting to the age (and having enough experience) he can do all this by himself, but, well, I'm a mother...I worry.

Delta may have such a thing in place, or work in conjunction with Aviance. Basically, your son would be met at the gate and walked through everything with an escort. Sometimes we've paid nothing and other times it's been a token amount. This is usually arranged when he is checking onto the flight in the US.

As I mentioned, my son should be able to do this all on his own now, so I bought him a mobile phone (a cheap pay-as-you-go option can do just nicely). He phones us the minute he lands and we coordinate our meet-up.

Joshua is flying BA.  I sent him over to the US in April when he was just turning 15 and I had to beg BA to escort him (basically they said he was too old).

I've just re-checked BA's site and now you must pay $50/£32 per segment fee for solo flyers.  I'll have a chat with him soon and see how he feels about doing this on his own.

I'm most concerned with him making it to the gate on time and UK Immigration.  He's coming in with an expired US passport containing his ILR, along with is new passport, and my biggest fear is an Immigration Officer with a bug up his or her respective a*se.

I just sent my son off on Friday and as I was walking away, I said to my husband that the solo flyer program that BA offers is invaluable to me.
The peace of mind is well worth the money I spend. I don’t have to worry about Jason dealing with immigration, finding baggage – or his dad on the other side!

They do have to fill in a landing card but it is very easy.  It only asks him to fill in his name, where he was born, and where he will be staying while he's in the UK (he'll need to have your address handy), the flight he's arriving on, and how long he's staying.

Make sure he remembers to carry a pen with him.  And tell him to always put his passport/ticket/landing card/pen in the same pocket together everytime so he can easily find them.  
I wonder if he can have you paged if he has any trouble with immigration.  They seem to have no problem doing that when I watch Airport.

One of the things I asked his step-mother to pack in his carry-on was pen.  That and the instructions.

When he goes through immigration, I've asked him to first open his old passport to the page with ILR, then open his second passport to the page with his picture, then present his landing card.  If they've asked him the purpose of his visit, he should say that he's returning to live with is mother.  Outside of that, I've asked him to remain calm and if he gets confused or the Officers become snippy, he is to tell them to get his mother because she has all the documentation needed prove his right to live in the UK.  So they can page me in the Arrivals Hall or Josh will have my mobile number.

I'm probably worrying over nothing and he will most likely sail through without a care in the world, then say, "Mum, you are such a worrywart!"

Missy, you mention that the service is invaluable to you...I heartily agree, and this is why I use Virgin Atlantic. Fortunately, he flies from Miami, which has direct service with Virgin. It's the most kid-friendly airline I've ever come across.

Yes, Caitlinn, everything *will* be fine, but if we didn't worry, we wouldn't think about important things like reminding people to pack pens and stuff like that.

They shouldn't give your son a hard time, and yes, you'll be the first person they try to get ahold of if there is a problem. They wouldn't just leave him to fend for himself. That's one thing about kids and airports.

You might be amazed at just how many kids fly alone. My son usually ends up sitting with or near another kid alone on every flight...and he averages two flights per year for the past six years. Last time he flew there were two others and the time before that there were about four. Anyway, that's one flight, so you can imagine others, compounded on a daily basis, multiplied by years...yet you don't read about incidents of kids in an airport.

Just looking up some links/statistics...

Tips for children flying alone...list assorted carriers that do/don't, and their policies (might be out of date)
http://www.4windstravel.com/ttips/childfly.html

Quote from a government report about flying safety:
"By some industry estimates, as many as one million kids may fly alone each year."
And that's just in the US. I found a site of an obscure Chinese airline that lists just one route as having as many as 40 kids a day fly alone between two provinces I can't even pronouce.