Earliest possible flight to US from Heathrow, disembark Southampton

I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. I can book BA from Heathrow direct to DFW, the only catch being that it leaves at 1140AM. I've been surprised at how efficiently we have been able to disembark in Southampton, so I'm curious if it is possible to make this flight assuming we can be off the ship at 7AM and have car service waiting to go to Heathrow. It sounds tight, but do-able. Or am I just dreaming?

It depends on how early you need to check in for your Heathrow flight - there are lots more security hurdles to get through these days and you could spend a lot of time in queues at the airport.

The RAC routemap gives the time from southampton to heathrow as 1 hour 23 mins (assuming you don't hit any traffic problems - bear in mind that the route you would be taking M3, M25, M4 is always very busy, particularly the Heathrow interchange.

As you say, it is doabble but personally I'd like to give myself a bit more leeway.

I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. I can book BA from Heathrow direct to DFW, the only catch being that it leaves at 1140AM. I've been surprised at how efficiently we have been able to disembark in Southampton, so I'm curious if it is possible to make this flight assuming we can be off the ship at 7AM and have car service waiting to go to Heathrow. It sounds tight, but do-able. Or am I just dreaming?

Unless it's a weekend, what you're asking is "Please drive the M25 at rushhour". Not going to be quick. The M3 (or at least the 1st part out of Southampton) might be ok at 07:30, but as you near London it will all grind to a halt, especially on the M25. To give you an idea, Woking to Heathrow on the non-stop rail-air bus is scheduled at 30 minutes, and that's only 15 miles or so.

If you have an option for a flight later, take it. (Wow, looking at schedules, only one airline operates LHR-DFW -- amazing, we have 3 different options YVR-London)

If you are confident about the 07:00 disembarkation then at weekends its no problem, you should be checking in by 08:30 latest

On a working day its more of a lottery. The last third of the journey from Camberley to Heathrow is routinely solid traffic congestion and prone to crashes that block the motorway completely. A local driver who knows their way, has their radio on with local traffic reports and knows the alternatives to the M3 should have you at Heathrow by 09:30 the very latest, but its still a risk with unnecessary stress for the sake of a couple of hours wait in the terminal.

Thanks for the replies. My flight home would be on a Saturday. We have sailed roundtrip from Southampton twice in the last 3 years so we're familiar with the weekday traffic near London versus weekend.

I'm going to look for other options. It really is surprising that there is just the one direct flight from DFW. If this flight were even just an hour later, I would go for it.

My flight home would be on a Saturday. If this flight were even just an hour later, I would go for it.

If you are confident that you'll be off the ship by 07:00 then I cannot see any problem. On a Saturday morning all the traffic is going the other way towards the coast, so you should be at the check-in at around 08:30 at Heathrow.

I agree, if everything went like clockwork, it wouldn't be a problem. I've got time to think about it.

We could also plan to spend a night in London and come home the following day. There has to be SOMETHING to do on a Saturday night in London, right? :)

Hey Spongey... Obviously, the theatres in the West End will be happening on Saturday night. There is so much to do in London, that a night is good a few nights even better. I have yet to have a good flight on AA or BA from Dallas to London be on time in either direction, so you will probably have a bit of leeway. Crapola one time I think I spent most of a day at Gatwick waiting for the plane or sitting on the plane waiting for it to be operationally cleared. Good luck. :D Remember the trip to and from London to the airport is always a challenge. Although if you go to London you will open up a few other flight options to DFW.

jc

Are you confident that you can disembark promptly at 7 a.m.? I would check with the cruise line on this. Sometimes customs/immigration clearance is delayed, sometimes the procedures are just slow. Good that you're looking at other alternatives.

Thanks for the replies. My flight home would be on a Saturday. We have sailed roundtrip from Southampton twice in the last 3 years so we're familiar with the weekday traffic near London versus weekend.

 

I'm going to look for other options. It really is surprising that there is just the one direct flight from DFW. If this flight were even just an hour later, I would go for it.

AA has 2 daily flights from Heathrow to Dallas - the second one is at 1.15pm which would give you more time.

I have yet to have a good flight on AA or BA from Dallas to London be on time in either direction, so you will probably have a bit of leeway. Crapola one time I think I spent most of a day at Gatwick waiting for the plane or sitting on the plane waiting for it to be operationally cleared. Remember the trip to and from London to the airport is always a challenge. Although if you go to London you will open up a few other flight options to DFW.

 

jc

I'm leaning more towards the idea of spending the night in London. We had a later flight on our last trip and hired a car service to do some touring before we went to Heathrow. It made for a very pleasant Saturday plus one more chance for pint (or three) at a pub. Going home is much less stressful when you don't have to rush.

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AA has 2 daily flights from Heathrow to Dallas - the second one is at 1.15pm which would give you more time.

We want to try BA as an option since they offer a Premium Economy cabin for about half the price of business class.

If you do fly BA, you can minimise the risk on the day. Check-in online the day before you fly (up to 24 hours) and print your own boarding passes. That way, you only have to drop your bags when you reach Terminal 5 (which is probably the fastest terminal to reach from Southampton). The deadline for this will probably be something like 45 minutes before flight departure, possibly 60 minutes. You must then enter security clearance (ie present yourself at the conformance check) no later than 35 minutes before flight departure. But these timings would give you quite a lot of margin.

Thanks Globaliser. We've already decided, why rush? We can fly home on Sunday with BA and get home at a reasonable hour of the day. When we go home the day of disembarkation, we don't get back to our house until late at night and it makes for an extremely long day of travel.

Good thinking.

 

If you do fly BA, you can minimise the risk on the day. Check-in online the day before you fly (up to 24 hours) and print your own boarding passes. That way, you only have to drop your bags when you reach Terminal 5 (which is probably the fastest terminal to reach from Southampton). The deadline for this will probably be something like 45 minutes before flight departure, possibly 60 minutes. You must then enter security clearance (ie present yourself at the conformance check) no later than 35 minutes before flight departure. But these timings would give you quite a lot of margin.

globaliser, question for you.

Is it still the case that you can only have a single carry-on item going thru security in England. We were surprised in December 2006 when we arrived at Gatwick on a codeshare AA/BA flight when we had to go thru security and the ladies were only allowed a single item, ie purse or carry-on bag before we could get into the terminal to wait for our BA flight to Tenerife. So, I had to pull a jacket out of my back pack and wear it so that my wife and friend could stuff their small items in my pack.

jc

Is it still the case that you can only have a single carry-on item going thru security in England.

The current rules are as follows.

The airport will allow anything through that meets the government's restrictions. That means that no bag can be bigger than 56cm x 45cm x 25cm (about 22.0in x 17.7in x 9.8in). But as far as the airport/government are concerned, you can bring through as many of these as you wish. There is also the usual liquids restriction.

However, airlines may impose stricter restrictions than the airport's. So you must also check with the airline. BA will allow you one bag of that size, plus one further laptop-sized bag, handbag or briefcase. No bag can weigh more than 23kg (about 50lb), and the passenger must be able to lift the bag into the overhead lockers in the aircraft cabin unaided (because cabin crew are normally prohibited from lifting and carrying big bags).

As you will be flying from Terminal 5, it will be worth your watching the video screens showing how the X-ray system works there while you're waiting in the queue. It was designed by an industrial process designer who has no idea how befuddled passengers can be in real life; the results are hilarious to watch (unless you're short of time, in which case other people's confusion is very aggravating). Fundamentally, everything must go onto a tray, including bags. You can use as many trays per person as you like. The tray loading point is supposed to allow three people to load trays simultaneously, although you will often see people holding back in the queue because they don't want to look like they're queue jumping. Load the tray before you put it onto the rollers. After the X-ray machine, do not take the tray off the rollers, but take your things off the tray.

Easy, isn't it? :D

thanks, I don't have any immediate plans for a stopover flight through England any time soon, but I figured since you were active on the thread finding out if that odd rule was still in effect. We are coming over next November, but I figure we will take the train from London and go over to Brugges Belgium because my lovely wife wants to go there. :D

jc

We will be disembarking in Southampton and returning home on a Friday. Princess says not to book a flight prior to 2PM. We are hoping to fly using our Delta FF miles, and Delta's last flight of the day leaves at 1:50PM which I'm hoping should be OK.

I considered spending the night in London and returning on Saturday. It is possible to get early flights out, but excessively long layovers once back in the US make the travel duration very long: over 30 hours for most connections.

What is the latest time that you think we could disembark and make a 1:50PM flight?

I wouldn't try to delay disembarkation. In fact, what we did last time with flights just a little bit later than your own (2:30 PM) was disembark as early as possible, then use a car service for some touring and a final pub stop before going to Heathrow. We were able to visit Salisbury and Stonehenge, stop in Basingstoke for lunch, and still have plenty of time to check in.

This was on a Saturday, so traffic wasn't horrible. On a Friday, you might want to add some extra time just in case you run into a traffic snarl. I woldn't hesitate to book your flight...just be sure to give yourself plenty of time to get to Heathrow.

I was just about to post this question to the boards! Thanks for asking Rob. It has been a long time.....hope your holidays were good.

Linda