Gatwick to Heathrow

[knot knormal]

I've been quoted an excellent rate on flights from the US to Barcelona, however, they fly into Gatwick and out of Heathrow. Can this be done with a 4 hour window? And, if so, any recommendations on taxis/limo service to use between the two?

[HeinBloed]

I've been quoted an excellent rate on flights from the US to Barcelona, however, they fly into Gatwick and out of Heathrow. Can this be done with a 4 hour window? And, if so, any recommendations on taxis/limo service to use between the two?

 

Best look here: National Express.

 

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/airport/heathrow.aspx

 

I hope you have all the flights on one ticket...

 

4 hours:

 

1 hour (sometimes more depending to citizenship (different lines), booking class, number of incoming flights) for immigration and customs clearance.

 

1,5 hour (incl. a small waiting time before the bus leaves) bus to Heathrow

 

1,5 hour for re-check-in the bags and going through security and to your gate...

 

Hope your flight is not late and you have it on one ticket.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Cruisin D]

I've been quoted an excellent rate on flights from the US to Barcelona, however, they fly into Gatwick and out of Heathrow. Can this be done with a 4 hour window? And, if so, any recommendations on taxis/limo service to use between the two?

 

 

Hi there

 

We have flown into Gatwick twice now and I think that it is going to be very tight for you to do in a 4 hour window. The first time we had to get a taxi from Gatwick to Heathrow (most expensive taxi ride ever LOL:eek:)

We made our flight by about 1 minute, the people in front of us in the check in line let us in before them. The traffic on the motorway was insane and add to that a truch that lost its load was holding traffic up even more.

 

Last year we just caught a cab anyway to save the trouble of catching the bus that runs between the two airports. We had a much better run into Heathrow although the traffic was still crazy.

 

You need to leave at least 1 hour to get from Gatwick to Heathrow + waiting for a cab, I am not sure of the bus time table or how often it runs.

 

You will need to recheck your bags, and go through all the normal security stuff once at heathrow.

 

So like I said 4 hours may be a bit of a rush.

 

Cheers

D

[Keith1010]

I would not take the chance with a four hour window. It is risky.

 

Keith

[HeinBloed]

I would not take the chance with a four hour window. It is risky.

 

Keith

 

As long as it is on one ticket it's the obligation of the airline to make sure that he makes it. If not he must be rebooked to the next flight by the airline on their expense.

 

It's only a "risk" if the flights are on two separate tickets.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Keith1010]

As long as it is on one ticket it's the obligation of the airline to make sure that he makes it. If not he must be rebooked to the next flight by the airline on their expense.

 

It's only a "risk" if the flights are on two separate tickets.

 

Regards

HeinBloed

 

It's a risk if you are counting on the next flight and you miss the flight and the next set of flights are full. I would rather select flights and connections that I have confidence that I can make from the get go.

 

Keith

[HeinBloed]

It's a risk if you are counting on the next flight and you miss the flight and the next set of flights are full. I would rather select flights and connections that I have confidence that I can make from the get go.

 

Keith

 

I doubt that the airline would sell a ticket with a connection you cannot make it.

 

But nevertheless: no risk no fun - and the fun is obviously that the OP does not want to spend the money for a direct flight to Barcelona and accept something which I would never accept: transfer with all baggages between two airports.

 

4 hours is realistic but not very comfortable to feel safe.

 

With any transfer on the world the scenario you described can happen.

 

But anyway: even the next flight is full: the airline must take care of you and give you food, accomodation and the next available flight if it is on one ticket.

 

If it is on different tickets I would not do it. The risk that your ticket just expired and you have to book for full fare the next available flight makes no bargain worth to try this.

 

You cannot influence uncalculated risks like flight delays, road congestion etc. - for no money there will be a risk-free journey to the ship available. All you can do is to minimize by good calculation the risk and the willingness to pay a little more to minimize the individual risks.

 

As said before: it's not a "Mission Impossible" but highest concern would be if I do not have one ticket and need to pay a lot to get a full fare ticket for my connecting flight.

 

And I would definately not do it if I have to get on the same of arrival in London on the ship in Barcelona...

 

But with 1-2 pre-cruise days: why not???

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Keith1010]

I doubt that the airline would sell a ticket with a connection you cannot make it.

 

But nevertheless: no risk no fun - and the fun is obviously that the OP does not want to spend the money for a direct flight to Barcelona and accept something which I would never accept: transfer with all baggages between two airports.

 

4 hours is realistic but not very comfortable to feel safe.

 

With any transfer on the world the scenario you described can happen.

 

But anyway: even the next flight is full: the airline must take care of you and give you food, accomodation and the next available flight if it is on one ticket.

 

If it is on different tickets I would not do it. The risk that your ticket just expired and you have to book for full fare the next available flight makes no bargain worth to try this.

 

You cannot influence uncalculated risks like flight delays, road congestion etc. - for no money there will be a risk-free journey to the ship available. All you can do is to minimize by good calculation the risk and the willingness to pay a little more to minimize the individual risks.

 

As said before: it's not a "Mission Impossible" but highest concern would be if I do not have one ticket and need to pay a lot to get a full fare ticket for my connecting flight.

 

And I would definately not do it if I have to get on the same of arrival in London on the ship in Barcelona...

 

But with 1-2 pre-cruise days: why not???

 

Regards

HeinBloed

 

It happens often enought that I would never do this.

 

If your flight leaves an hour or so late you already have a problem. Add to this the variable of getting through customs, getting your luggage, getting your transportation, etc. and you can have a big problem.

 

I have traveled for too many years by airplane and I believe I have seen it all.

 

To many things can delay the first flight, from the weather to computer glitches to security breaches and I can add a dozen or more items to this list.

 

If this was me I would either allow for a longer layover, find other flights or actually stay over at a hotel near the other airport.

 

I have had to make these decisions often when flying from the USA to London and will never go with only a four hour layover between these two airports.

 

Keith

[Freecall]

The other piece of information needed is the time of day. Trying this starting at 3:00 pm and hitting the M25 at 4:00 pm I would say that there is little chance of making it but if you land at 7:00 pm and hit the road at 8:00 pm you should make it if nothing goes wrong.

[Globaliser]

I've been quoted an excellent rate on flights from the US to Barcelona, however, they fly into Gatwick and out of Heathrow. Can this be done with a 4 hour window?

Can you please post the airlines involved, and the flight times? And do you know whether this will be sold as one ticket or two? (You can be confident that it's the former if you are buying from an airline or most major online websites, but some consolidators have been known to offer cheap fares by selling two tickets, which makes life riskier.)

 

Four hours should be fine, at most times of the day. But knowing the details will help.

[Sauer-kraut]

Fly into Gatwick the day before spend the night in London and leave from Heathrow the next day. Problem solved.

 

Otherwise take all this information with a grain of salt. Once we flew from Chicago to Dublin on Aer Lingus, with a connection 4 hours after "landing" from Dublin to Southampton. Well Aer Lingus was late and we missed our connection and they stated that we fulfilled our contract with you in getting you to Dublin. PERIOD. So we spent a ton of money to get the next flight out going to a different airport and moving our rental car to the new airport.

There was nothing that Aer Lingus was going to give us to make up for the fact that we SOL on the connection.

[Globaliser]

Otherwise take all this information with a grain of salt. Once we flew from Chicago to Dublin on Aer Lingus, with a connection 4 hours after "landing" from Dublin to Southampton. Well Aer Lingus was late and we missed our connection and they stated that we fulfilled our contract with you in getting you to Dublin. PERIOD.

There's nothing wrong with the advice that has already been given.

 

I suspect that you were flying from Dublin to Southampton on a different ticket from the ticket for Chicago to Dublin. That is why Aer Lingus' contractual obligation was only to get you as far as Dublin.

 

If the OP is flying on one ticket covering both parts of the connection, the issuing airline's obligation does not end at the connection point, and the OP will be entitled to reaccommodation for the second sector.

 

And that is why it's important for the OP to find out if their flights will be ticketed as one ticket or two.