Getting from LGW airport to Southampton Central

Hi.

This will be our first cruise out of the UK. We have arranged a pre-cruise flat in Southampton and plan to fly into Gatwick Airport arriving around 9am on Thursday, November 1st. Train schedules don't seem to be available this early in the year, so I'm hoping someone can give me some advice.

We are a party if four adults with manageable luggage travelling from Toronto.

How long should we expect it to take to collect luggage, clear customs and navigate our way to the train after our flight lands at 9:15am...ie what is the earliest train we should expect to catch?

We want to take the lowest fare non stop train. Is it recommended to just arrive at the train station and purchase tickets or do we need to do an online advance purchase?

When doing a mock search from LGW to SOU on a Thursday morning I find many varying fares...some as low as £5 and some over £40. All very confusing to me (here we pay the same fare regardless of the time of travel). Do I need to be leery of the £5 tickets?

Basically we just want the best deal for seats on a direct train (no transfers) with the ability to keep our luggage in sight.

Any advice and tips are much appreciated :)

DL

There are essentially three types of train tickets - cost increases with flexibility as below.

Advance - offers the lowest single (one-way) fares, has to be booked in advance and only valid on the particular service booked. Miss that train and you have to buy another ticket. There are limited numbers of these tickets, which are not available on all services, and they will be offered at different price points as they sell out. oI suspect the £5 fare you have seen must be an Advance, so that may not be generally available when you want to travel. .

Off-Peak - only valid for travel on off-Peak services, generally after 10 am (but this varies). Can be bought in advance or on the day and will be the same price. Not tied to a particular train, even if you booked a seat, they are valid on any Off-Peak service that day

Anytime - valid on any service at any time, but again only valid for the day they are booked for or bought on (sometimes the next day too). The most expensive fare, think of them as the flexible option. Same price whether or not bought in advance or on the day.

You will be on an off-peak service to Southampton, so I would suggest buying Off-Peak tickets for £16 and get on the next train when you are through immigration and customs. I think there is only one an hour, so have an idea of the times, in case you need to hustle to get one, or can relax with a coffee. But as I say, with an Off-Peak ticket you can just get the next one.

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Thanks so much Cotswold Eagle!

This really helps.