Earliest flight out of Heathrow

[mfabz]

We will be departing Southampton on a Sunday morning in June, 2017 heading to Heathrow. If we carry off our own bags, what is the earliest flight we can take? We will be returning to New York so its an international flight. We would have pre-printed our boarding passes. We will use private transport from cruise port to airport. Thanks for your reply.

[Kamloops50]

We will be departing Southampton on a Sunday morning in June, 2017 heading to Heathrow. If we carry off our own bags, what is the earliest flight we can take? We will be returning to New York so its an international flight. We would have pre-printed our boarding passes. We will use private transport from cruise port to airport. Thanks for your reply.

 

noon

[eadien7]

If the ship docks on a Sunday at 5:30 and the passengers are in Business Class (priorty check in and security) on British Airways, we walk off the ship with our luggage and have a private car hired, is an 11:15 flight doable?

[John Bull]

So, it's a sunday.

For both of you :) :)

 

Ignore references to 5am, the ship has to be cleared to disembark & staff / facilities have to be in place.

Unassisted disembarkation is usually around 7am. At that time of day there'll be no lines for the terminal formalities, so arrange a private transfer car for 7.15 (it'll probably be there at 7).

 

Traffic will be very light so the drive to Heathrow will be about 1hr 20mins.

That doesn't include any unforeseen delays (eg motorway closed by an accident), but alternate routes won't be busy so any diversion is unlikely to cost more than 20 minutes.

So you should be at the airport before 9am.

Which means an 11.15am flight for edien7 shouldn't be problematic.

 

But no guarantees - although unlikely there are lots of things that can go wrong - ship's arrival delayed, car breakdown, enhanced airport security, etc - so a later flight would make more sense.

Do either of your airlines have later flights that day?

 

JB :)

[mfabz]

The flight we are looking at is 12:00 Noon. We will be flying economy -- so no priority check-in. Does Heathrow have curb side check in? With pre-printed boarding pass we could walk straight to security. What would the security lines be like in the morning?

 

The next flight is at 4:00 pm. Really don't want to hang out -- would much rather be on our way home.

[newport dave]

The flight we are looking at is 12:00 Noon. We will be flying economy -- so no priority check-in. Does Heathrow have curb side check in? With pre-printed boarding pass we could walk straight to security. What would the security lines be like in the morning?

 

The next flight is at 4:00 pm. Really don't want to hang out -- would much rather be on our way home.

 

No kerbside checkin at heathrow.

[John Bull]

The flight we are looking at is 12:00 Noon. We will be flying economy -- so no priority check-in. Does Heathrow have curb side check in? With pre-printed boarding pass we could walk straight to security. What would the security lines be like in the morning?

 

The next flight is at 4:00 pm. Really don't want to hang out -- would much rather be on our way home.

 

Being a sunday (can't stress that enough) a noon flight shouldn't be a problem.

Of course even a 4pm flight can be problematic given the wrong circumstances, but gives you that extra buffer.

If it were me I'd select the noon flight, my other half is more cautious & would select the 4pm.

For your flight, only you can choose. ;)

 

JB :)

[wowzz]

We will be departing Southampton on a Sunday morning in June, 2017 heading to Heathrow. If we carry off our own bags, what is the earliest flight we can take? We will be returning to New York so its an international flight. We would have pre-printed our boarding passes. We will use private transport from cruise port to airport. Thanks for your reply.

 

You do not say if you have hold-luggage to check-in. If you do, having pre-printed boarding passes do not help as you will obviously have to check-in your luggage.

Personally, I would opt for the 16:00 flight. This allows for a more relaxed dis-embarkation, and less stress all round. Depending on which terminal you are using, you might also get a decent Sunday lunch before boarding the plane.

[eadien7]

Thanks everyone. My sister will need to decide if she wants to risk it. My flight is at 1:10.

[Bob++]

Too many things to go wrong for a 12am flight in my opinion. I would stay on board and have a leisurely breakfast before they threw me out. Book a car for 10:30 or 11am and get to LHR at about 12:30.