Southampton Airport?

Hi. I apologize in advance if this topic has been discussed to death already. We recently booked a Southampton round-trip cruise on Princess for next year. We live in the US, and most flights to London go to Heathrow and some to Gatwick. I also saw a few limited flights to Southampton (via Dublin, Munich, Amsterdam). Has anyone tried to fly in/out of Southampton airport for a cruise? Is it worth it to do this? Or it's not much of an advantage? We are currently thinking about doing an open jaw (flying into Heathrow/Gatwick, going home from Southampton, if we can find a good flight).

It depends on if you can get a non stop from LHR/LGW vs a connection out of Southampton & then there is a baggage allowances/fees on the shorter connecting flights to consider

Personal choice I guess

The advantage of SOU is that it is small and user friendly, unlike the big international ones like LHR and LGW. It is also a short taxi ride from the port at Southampton.The disadvantage is that you can't find a direct flight, and the local leg may have a smaller baggage allowance than you expect (though you can pay for more). Booking well in advance will get the price down.

Dublin is an easy airport to change at, so if that fits, go for it. Amsterdam is, of course, huge. Some people arrange a night or two in Dublin as it is a nice city to visit.

Thanks for your quick responses. I, however, am confused about the comments about different luggage allowances. My understanding is that, regardless of what the luggage allowance is for the shorter flights that end in/originates from Southampton, I will be able to abide by the luggage rules that apply to the transatlantic segment (which is most likely the "most significant carrier") on a multi-carrier itinerary. I guess it would make a difference if we are not making an extended layover in an intermediate stops.

I agree with your thoughts. I've booked before on thru-ticketed code share partners and the luggage allowance and cost of the "main" flight applied to the regional connection.

I've never connected in Dublin. I assume that you have to collect your bags and then recheck them at the flight connections desk for the final leg after clearing customs (hopefully someone can confirm this?). Dublin to Southampton is considered a domestic flight with no additional customs checks once you arrive in Southampton.

FlyBe (more than likely the airline that will fly you into Southampton) has a number of code share arrangements. However be aware the planes are quite small with very limited room for large carry ons.

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As I understand it & I could be wrong

If you are flying from the USA to Southampton the baggage allowance will be with the first carrier if on the same ticket

if you fly from SOU & connect to a flight to the USA the baggage allowance will be with the domestic flight from SOU to DUB, AMS or where ever you connect

I would confirm with the airline before you book so you can make an informed decision on your routing

Then take into account the time it will take you flying home plus how many connections you will have to do

I prefer non stops whenever possible but that is just me ;)

If you are flying from the USA to Southampton the baggage allowance will be with the first carrier if on the same ticket

if you fly from SOU & connect to a flight to the USA the baggage allowance will be with the domestic flight from SOU to DUB, AMS or where ever you connect

The first part isn't quite that simple, either. AIUI, if you start with a flight on most US airlines, then usually that airline's allowances will govern the entire ticket. But there are some airlines which specify, if they are the first airline on the ticket, that the normal rule (of Most Significant Marketing Carrier) should apply instead, and those allowances are then set for the entire ticket.

Of course, if your ticket neither starts nor ends in the US/Canada, then the normal rule will apply instead of these US rules.

Leaving aside that SOU-DUB or SOU-AMS aren't domestic flights, the second part of this isn't correct if it's a round-trip ticket. To put it shortly, the baggage allowances would be set at the beginning of the trip for the entire trip.

Thanks for the clarification

I do not know why I said Domestic flights when flying to DUB or AMS I guess it was a senior moment :)

We are flying post cruise to Amsterdam to fly home the next day. We used frequent flyer points for the flight on FlyBE. We paid for three reserve seats, one checked in piece of luggage for each of us and it cost us about $100. By flying to Amsterdam, our taxes back home will be $130 for all three of us. If we flew out of the UK, the taxes for the three of us would be a minimum of $500, possibly up to over $700....and that is with using frequent flyer miles/points for the actual flights.

Since this is my thread, please allow me to "re-focus" the topic to the original one: Is it worth it to fly in/out of Southampton instead of Heathrow or Gatwick?

Is it worth it to fly in/out of Southampton instead of Heathrow or Gatwick?

Where would you be flying from? Do you have non-stop options to the London airports? What are the routing options to Southampton? Are you intending to have a pre-cruise or post-cruise stay? What do you want to see/do during such a stay? How long would you make the stay?

We are coming from Indianapolis, so there's no non-stop option, even to LHR. We are most likely flying into LHR or LGW, since we are thinking about doing a few things in London before boarding the ship. However, we are wondering if we should fly home from SOU. We are planning to simply go home at the end of the cruise in Southampton, and was wondering if flying out of SOU would make it simpler/easier vs going back to LHR/LGW the day of dismbarkation.

We are coming from Indianapolis, so there's no non-stop option, even to LHR. We are most likely flying into LHR or LGW, since we are thinking about doing a few things in London before boarding the ship. However, we are wondering if we should fly home from SOU. We are planning to simply go home at the end of the cruise in Southampton, and was wondering if flying out of SOU would make it simpler/easier vs going back to LHR/LGW the day of dismbarkation.

To be frank, I don't think this is likely to be worth your while. As far as I can see, SOU-IND is a minimum 2-stop journey, but LHR-IND can be done with one-stop. Indianapolis is too far from Chicago for it to be sensible to use Chicago instead, and even then SOU-ORD would be 1-stop versus non-stop from LHR.

I think that overall there's likely to be less hassle involved in transferring to LHR to fly home than to try to do it from SOU. In effect, you're trading the extra flight sector involved in flying from SOU for the surface transfer from Southampton to LHR, and I think that the latter is probably simply going to be easier, given SOU's limitations and the limitation that picking it would place on your available flight options.

Thanks - that makes things much clearer.

 

To be frank, I don't think this is likely to be worth your while. As far as I can see, SOU-IND is a minimum 2-stop journey, but LHR-IND can be done with one-stop. Indianapolis is too far from Chicago for it to be sensible to use Chicago instead, and even then SOU-ORD would be 1-stop versus non-stop from LHR.

 

I think that overall there's likely to be less hassle involved in transferring to LHR to fly home than to try to do it from SOU. In effect, you're trading the extra flight sector involved in flying from SOU for the surface transfer from Southampton to LHR, and I think that the latter is probably simply going to be easier, given SOU's limitations and the limitation that picking it would place on your available flight options.

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. As you point out, most flights out of SOU takes much longer to get home to IND.

Check your options. Last fall I found flying into/out of Southhampton from Louisville was almost $500/pp cheaper and took about 90 minutes longer. We did make 1 additional connection (2stops vs 1 to LHR). But frankly it was SO much easier to make an extra connection in DUB and be able to avoid Heathrow and the hassle of getting to and from Southhampton that it was a no brainer for me. We have done it both ways and SOU was much simpler. But maybe we were just lucky with connection times and prices.

Check your options. Last fall I found flying into/out of Southhampton from Louisville was almost $500/pp cheaper and took about 90 minutes longer. We did make 1 additional connection (2stops vs 1 to LHR). But frankly it was SO much easier to make an extra connection in DUB and be able to avoid Heathrow and the hassle of getting to and from Southhampton that it was a no brainer for me. We have done it both ways and SOU was much simpler. But maybe we were just lucky with connection times and prices.

Thanks for this information. So far, looking at flights for May of this year (the cruise is May of next year, however), flights to/from Southampton is a little more expensive than that to Heathrow/Gatwick, but I know things can change. Also, there are more convenient flights going home to Indianapolis from Heathrow, and they tend to be shorter. And of course, there are a few non-stop flights from Chicago O'Hare, which we may or may not consider taking. But I am going to keep looking.