Enough time to get to Heathrow?

[luv2cruz62]

:(Just completed the Cruise Personalizer, and they are stating that you should not have a flight any earlier than 7 hours after docking in Southhampton. We are sending my 21 yr old daughter home on her own (Mom and Dad get to stay longer!) and her flight leaves at 11:30 am.....Even if she is the first one off the ship. at 7 am...could she make it? Our TA never mentioned anything when we booked the flight.:(

[CI66774]

:(Just completed the Cruise Personalizer, and they are stating that you should not have a flight any earlier than 7 hours after docking in Southhampton. We are sending my 21 yr old daughter home on her own (Mom and Dad get to stay longer!) and her flight leaves at 11:30 am.....Even if she is the first one off the ship. at 7 am...could she make it? Our TA never mentioned anything when we booked the flight.:(

 

I wouldn't book any flight that left before 1pm - just to be on the safe side. It's possible she might make it but considering customs, traffic from Southampton to Heathrow, flight check-in times, security lines, etc., why chance it? If it were me, I'd book her on a later flight. Good luck!

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

It is possible, with international check in being two to three hours before take off,

 

with journey to airport anything from two and half to three half hours,

 

ship most likely will dock very early, but not allow passengers off until 7.00

 

a later flight would be less stressful,

 

yours Shogun

[cruisequeen4ever]

That sounds way too risky, especially for a girl traveling alone!! Heed Princess's guidelines; they know what they're doing. I'm sorry your TA didn't pay attention to them. [emoji45]

[ellie1145]

I am sorry to say that I think it would be very tight, but it would depend what method of transport she would be using. If its train then it can take over 2 hours to get there, and you would need a taxi to the station in Southampton. Even for someone who is very familiar with the route and the station and the airport it would be pretty difficult to make it in time, as any delay could mean she would miss her flight.

 

It would also depend what terminal she is flying from, too, as not all are linked to a train station, and that would add on more time.

 

If she was travelling by road the M3 and the M25 are notoriously busy, and could add to delays.

 

A transatlantic flight would also need her to check in probably 90 minutes before take off, so I think this would be difficult if she had any delays, including through security, which can be very busy.

 

Maybe she is travelling directly to the airport by some other method?

 

There is a very useful site called thetrainline.com. This will give you all the possible combinations of available trains, so would be worth looking at.

 

Hope you manage to sort it out and that your daughter catches her flight, but maybe you will be able to change the time to give her a less fraught journey?

 

Good luck, and hope you all have a great cruise!

Edited February 7, 2015 by ellie1145

[capriccio]

Heathrow's website gives the following check-in guidance:

 

How early to arrive

 

You are advised to check in as early as possible. As a general guide, you should aim to arrive:

 

• Long-haul and El Al:
  three hours before scheduled departure
  
  

That would mean arriving by 8:30. Just because the ship is due to arrive at 7 am it doesn't mean disembarkation will start then and it doesn't ensure that the ship won't be late for some reason.

 

 

When we hired a private car from Southampton to London the ride took almost 1 1/2 hours and that was after rush hour (we left around 9:30 am) on a weekday so even if she was able to disembark as early as 7:30 she wouldn't be at the airport before 9ish - assuming there are no traffic issues on the highway.

 

 

I'd be a wreck fretting about it the entire cruise and then the entire morning until she got on the plane. I wouldn't risk it; but if you do make sure you have a back up plan.

[luv2cruz62]

I was thinking we are going to put her on a Princess Transfer....just easiest....will take her directly there. I think I am going to phone our TA and see what can be done. Her flight at 11:30 is actually the latest for her to take, so if we change her flight, it would have to be the next day and she would have to overnight it in the airport (which she is fine with....have slept in many airports in my time....) she is flying direct to Calgary.

(I cannot find any hotel info right at the airport...just surrounding areas...) Now I'm getting worried!! lol:eek:

Edited February 7, 2015 by luv2cruz62

[cruiseryyc]

Quick check on Expedia showed that Air Canada has a nonstop at 4:15 pm; BA has one at 6:30 pm; no need to overnight at Heathrow (unless these are both full).

Edited February 7, 2015 by cruiseryyc

[Posaune]

A Princess transfer will usually not get her there in time. The busses do not pull out until they have a full load and most of the busses will be taking folks with a 2PM or after flight time as Princess suggests.

 

Our last time out of Heathrow we were scheduled to dock at 6, got off at 6:45 and took a National Express bus about 7:15 which arrived at Heathrow at about 9:30. (and this was on a Sunday) The lines for check in and then security were huge. We felt lucky to make a 12:30 flight.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

web site will assist

 

http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/heathrow-hotels

 

 

yours Shogun

[azbirdmom]

On our cruise last October, we got back to Southampton before the 7 AM posted time and had a flight at 1:30. We were on the first Princess bus to Heathrow. The bus sat until full as others have said and we didn't leave until 8:20 AM. It was a Saturday and traffic was good so we made it to Heathrow just before 10 AM. The bus made two stops at other terminals and got to our's last around 10:20. So we made it in plenty of time for our flight, but we heard later that others that left just 10 minutes after we did were delayed over an hour because of an accident on the motorway. I'll join others in saying that you really should change the flight to a later one. She might make it but there are just too many things that could go wrong.

[Corfe Mixture]

The OP does not say what day of the week they arrive in Southampton, but if it is anything other than a Saturday or Sunday, then it is very very tight.

 

Unless things have improved since I made the journey regularly some 15 years ago (unlikely to have improved despite the addition of an extra lane), on weekdays, even if she gets away from Southampton at 07.00, the car is going to get caught up with all the commuters on the M3.

 

At the best, the queue will start in between junction 4 (Frimley) and junction 3 (Bagshot) and the very earliest you would join the queue is 07.45/08.00

 

Thereafter it will be a crawl all the way for the roughly 6 miles from junction 3 to the M25, and that sector will take at least 30 minutes, perhaps longer if the queue starts at junction 4, so I would anticipate the best she could aim for is to arrive at the M3/M25 junction at around 08.30 and probably later.

 

There will also be queues on the M25 for the roughly 4 miles up to the Terminal 5 exit and then there is the need to get into the terminal and to the check-in desk.

 

Putting all this together, even if she got away from the port by 07.00, and is travelling on a weekday, she is extremely unlikely to get to Terminal 5 before 09.00 or to the check-in desk before 09.15, and if she is flying from any of the other terminals she will need to allow perhaps another 10 minutes.

 

And don't forget, if things go wrong on a motorway, everything stops, sometimes for a couple of hours.

 

The real problem is that once her car is in a commuter queue, she will lose time exponentially. The result is that you can plan to arrive at 08.30 or plan to arrive at 10.30, but it is very difficult to plan to arrive at any time in between, and a delay in departure time of 15mins can easily move the arrival time back by as much as an hour.

 

The bottom line is: Yes, if everything goes right it can be done, BUT if anything goes wrong......

 

Personally, I live around 30 minutes driving time to the west of Southampton, and would need to allow time to drop off my car at a long term car park. On this basis, if I was driving up on the day I would plan on leaving home before 06.00 in order to miss the worst of the traffic.

 

For what it is worth, our next flight is a 10.50 Monday morning BA flight to SFO, out of T5, and we are driving up the night before and staying at the Sofitel in T5.

Edited February 7, 2015 by Corfe Mixture

[Feebarn]

I don't think there is the slightest chance she'd make it sad to say. 11.30 flight - check in 2-3 hours before. I personally would want to be at the airport at 8.30 9am at the latest to give myself plenty time. With the best will in the world an hour and a half from Southampton - on a Sunday maybe? Saturday at a push, weekday not a chance. Thats hoping you get off direct at 7... and start travelling straight away.

 

Far too stressful, best bet change the flight. :cool:

[luv2cruz62]

Quick check on Expedia showed that Air Canada has a nonstop at 4:15 pm; BA has one at 6:30 pm; no need to overnight at Heathrow (unless these are both full).

 

The 4:15 flight .....where was it flying to? She does have the option of stopping where she needs to......

[beg3yrs]

There is a Hilton right on the airport itself. Well, at least there was a few years ago. Whatever, if it has changed hands, the property is probably still a hotel and is open.

[whatcruiseisnext]

I was thinking we are going to put her on a Princess Transfer....just easiest....will take her directly there. I think I am going to phone our TA and see what can be done. Her flight at 11:30 is actually the latest for her to take, so if we change her flight, it would have to be the next day and she would have to overnight it in the airport (which she is fine with....have slept in many airports in my time....) she is flying direct to Calgary.

(I cannot find any hotel info right at the airport...just surrounding areas...) Now I'm getting worried!! lol:eek:

 

I doubt you would be able to get her on a Princess transfer. They usually will not allow their transfers on those who book flights that are outside of their stated range. You would be responsible for making arrangements for her to get to the airport. This is exactly the reason why we opted for staying a day over at a hotel right by Heathrow on our upcoming British Isles cruise because Princess refused to allow us to book a transfer with a flight time earlier than 2pm. On the day of disembarkation we are using International Friends to transfer us to our airport hotel. On the way we will have an all day shore excursion with them going to Stonehenge, Salisbury and Windsor. According to our hotel , there is a cheap shuttle that will take us back to the airport the following day.

 

http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/southampton_from_london_shared_bus.html

 

Shame on your TA for booking her on such an early flight. She also should have know you might not be able to use Princess transfers.

Edited February 7, 2015 by whatcruiseisnext

[madscienceteacher]

I live near Southampton and travel on the motorway around the area every day and I am sorry to say that you cannot rely on being able to get to Heathrow in time for a 11.30 am flight. It does depend on the day of the week you are travelling but the traffic varies from day to day.

 

I wouldn't book an 11.30 flight.

[luv2cruz62]

thank you ALL soo much for your imput....I had a panic ridden few hours.:(

...called my TA and told her about the situation.......she didn't even realize how tight the time was. She called Air Canada and it would be a $300 charge to change flights....I mentioned to her that's why I went through a TA.....they are the professionals! So daughter is now booked on a 4:15 departure and the TA is eating the difference! She did apologize and stated that she should have known better.....

thanks again, and another testament to this great CC site!:D

[cruisequeen4ever]

I'm so glad it's been remedied and not at your cost! That's a hefty cost for the TA to eat, but as you said, that's what a TA is paid to know and prevent from happening. You're gonna have a great cruise now and no stress at the end!

[cruiseryyc]

The 4:15 flight .....where was it flying to? She does have the option of stopping where she needs to......

 

Both of the flights I mentioned were direct non-stop to Calgary - which is where your daughter needs to get to.

 

And the good news is that it appears you were able to get her on the later flight!!

Edited February 7, 2015 by cruiseryyc

[whatcruiseisnext]

Yay! So glad it worked out!

[Colo Cruiser]

I was thinking we are going to put her on a Princess Transfer....just easiest....will take her directly there. I think I am going to phone our TA and see what can be done. Her flight at 11:30 is actually the latest for her to take, so if we change her flight, it would have to be the next day and she would have to overnight it in the airport (which she is fine with....have slept in many airports in my time....) she is flying direct to Calgary.

(I cannot find any hotel info right at the airport...just surrounding areas...) Now I'm getting worried!! lol:eek:

 

 

You would probably be better having a car service, these guys are very good......

 

http://www.woodfordchauffeurcars.co.uk/index.php

[Corfe Mixture]

You would probably be better having a car service, these guys are very good......

 

http://www.woodfordchauffeurcars.co.uk/index.php

 

Now the OP has changed their daughter's flight to a later flight, there is no need to go to the expense of a private hire, Princess transfers will be fine.