Do I have to pass customs/immigration in a connecting flight in Jordan?

Connecting flight from London to Amsterdam, in transit, for Contiki tour?

• I have am going on a Europe Contiki tour that starts in London and the 1st stop is Amsterdam. I am a United States permanent resident (I have a green card) but have a Vietnamese Passport. When I applied for a UK visa I was denied due to petty reasons, but I was able to get a Schengen Visa into Amsterdam/Europe. I was not able to cancel my nonrefundable Delta flight into London (Heathrow) so I bought a connecting flight from London to Amsterdam with British Airways. I know that I am allow to be in transit from London to Amsterdam if I have a connecting flight within 24 hrs. Will I be going through airport customs and collecting my luggage and be allow to leave the terminal? Or as a transit person will I be restricted to say inside a secured part of the airport until my connecting flight departs. If I can leave the airport, I would prefer to just board the Contiki bus in London and then depart on the bus to Amsterdam the next day. That way I can start the tour with everyone and also get to see London for a day. I believe that it would still fit into the 24 hour transit time allowed, except that I'll be leaving London by bus and not by plane into Amsterdam. Does anyone know if this will be possible or will I be confined within the airport until my connecting flight. I will lose the money spent on the connecting flight but would be able to start the Contiki tour as originally scheduled instead of trying to meet up with the tour in Amsterdam. Is there a possibility that I will be deported back to the United States by trying to leave the airport? I do have a Visa into Schengen and have no intentions of staying in the UK.

• Answer:

  Both Delta and BA are full service airlines so you should be able to check your luggage through to Amsterdam. (But check that with Delta). That means it will be trans-shipped from Delta to BA by the automated conveyor belt and will not need to be touched by human hands. You might have to change terminals. To do this go to the transit desk in arrivals and they will arrange your transfer. You will not be allowed to leave the airport but will be confined to the departure lounge of the terminal you are leaving from. It is a normal airport departure lounge totally unlike the transit detention cells in US airports.