My wife will travel from Bangkok to New York with a plane change in London. She will be Thai Airways to London and then United London to NY. Both Star Alliance airlines.

She holds a 10 year US visa.

Will she need a visa for the UK in this situation?

If she is through ticketed and not planning on leaving the airport then she will not enter the UK so no need for a transit visa.

That's correct, Thai nationals can transit airside without a visa.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/transitthroughtheuk/visa-transit-airside/

That's correct, Thai nationals can transit airside without a visa.

http://www.ukba.home...ransit-airside/

Where does it say Thai nationals? Am I missing something? It says:

You can transit the UK airside without a visa if:

you are a national of a country that is not in the list below

What list below?

Thanks for that......she will not "enter" the UK I guess, actually she only will have about 2 hours between flights.

I just got hung up on the link that theoldgit posted as I don't see "the list below"

You can use the Star Alliance Timatic Tool.

Thai Airways subscribe to Timatic in fact all airlines use this system at check-in. It lookss like 24 hour entry is permitted when in transit, however she wont go to immigration she will arrive in terminal 3 and follow transit signs.

http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/travel-between-terminals

http://www.staralliance.com/en/services/visa-and-health/

You can use the Star Alliance Timatic Tool.

Thai Airways subscribe to Timatic in fact all airlines use this system at check-in. It lookss like 24 hour entry is permitted when in transit, however she wont go to immigration she will arrive in terminal 3 and follow transit signs.

http://www.heathrowa...tween-terminals

http://www.starallia...isa-and-health/

Those are good links William, thanks. Sure looks like she will not require a visa if transiting and has a valid US visa.

That's correct, Thai nationals can transit airside without a visa.

http://www.ukba.home...ransit-airside/

Where does it say Thai nationals? Am I missing something? It says:

You can transit the UK airside without a visa if:

you are a national of a country that is not in the list below

What list below?

Others have confirmed the information, but to give you peace of mind the list is at the bottom of the page I gave you the link for. It's the first link under More Information, "countries covered by the DVDT system.

You can use the Star Alliance Timatic Tool.

Thai Airways subscribe to Timatic in fact all airlines use this system at check-in. It lookss like 24 hour entry is permitted when in transit, however she wont go to immigration she will arrive in terminal 3 and follow transit signs.

http://www.heathrowa...tween-terminals

http://www.starallia...isa-and-health/

Those are good links William, thanks. Sure looks like she will not require a visa if transiting and has a valid US visa.

She will do what they call a "sterile" transit - a TWOV (transit without visa) is if she had a 16-24 layover. She does not require a visa as it is a sterile transit and she wont leave the airport. Just remember TRANSFER not Arrivals. In her case when she checks in TG staff will tag her bag all the way to the USA. When they scan her passport Timatic runs behind the scenes and they will proceed with bag tags and a boarding pass. If for some crazy reason the system is down just mention the word Timatic and they can call their help desk.

They (TG) should issue a boarding pass from London on United, if they don't you have two options try online UA check in online before you depart BKK and if you cannot do it when she follows the transit signs and boards the bus from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 there will be a United desk where they will issue a boarding card.

It is all fairly simple, but I would suggest if the connection is close follow the flow and move quickly to get airside in terminal 1- the buses tend to be full. It shouldn't be a problem at all as it is all on one ticket and they only sell connecting flights that have the MCT (minimum connection times) that are legal.

Thanks very much everyone for all your advise, she will be traveling alone and as she is not a frequent flyer I just don't want any glitches.

Cheers

Haven't read the posts carefully but assuming she will fly in and out of Heathrow, I could only see a visa problem if she had to transit to Gatwick or Stansted.