Heathrow to Gatwick shuttle?

[junglejane]

DH and I are looking at booking airfare for our family of four for our Venice to Barcelona cruise that leaves on June 16, 2008. We are looking at flying on British Airways. There's a nonstop from Phoenix to London. Unfortunately, to fly on to Venice we'd have to change from Heathrow to Gatwick. [Not a problem on the return, because the Barcelona flight connects in Heathrow.]

 

Does anyone have experience with the Heathrow to Gatwick shuttle? We would have 5.5 hours between flights. Obviously I'd rather not have to change airports. But the price on BA seems pretty good compared to our options on Delta (connecting at JFK) or US Airways (connecting in Philadelphia).

 

BTW, we will be traveling with our two kids, who will be 7 and 11. One nice thing about BA is that they give a price break for kids.

 

Thanks for any feedback!

 

--Junglejane

[ab0si]

Tha's a killer connection.

 

The recommended minimum transit time is 3 hours from landing until check-in (note: check-in, not departure time). You have to reclaim your luggage, schlep it to the bus (the coach stops at Terminal 4 -- and I assuem the new, not yet opened terminal 5 -- and the Central Bus Terminal for the other three terminals. Then, when you get to Gatwick, you have to schlep and recheck your bags.

 

Paul

[quanmama]

DH and I are looking at booking airfare for our family of four for our Venice to Barcelona cruise that leaves on June 16, 2008. We are looking at flying on British Airways. There's a nonstop from Phoenix to London. Unfortunately, to fly on to Venice we'd have to change from Heathrow to Gatwick. [Not a problem on the return, because the Barcelona flight connects in Heathrow.]

 

Does anyone have experience with the Heathrow to Gatwick shuttle? We would have 5.5 hours between flights. Obviously I'd rather not have to change airports. But the price on BA seems pretty good compared to our options on Delta (connecting at JFK) or US Airways (connecting in Philadelphia).

 

BTW, we will be traveling with our two kids, who will be 7 and 11. One nice thing about BA is that they give a price break for kids.

 

Thanks for any feedback!

 

--Junglejane

 

Hi JungleJane,

 

Is quanmama here. We have the same dilemma. There is a direct flight from SFO to Heathrow. We flew that last year and absolutely liked it.....the need to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick for flying into Venice is giving me a headache already!

[ab0si]

Just a thought.

 

BMI flies non-stop from Heathrow to Venice. Website is http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/index.aspx

 

Prices can be very cheap if purchased well in advance (and greatly depending on which day you are flying). Lugage allowance is 20 kg (and excess is very expensive) but it might be worth looking into.

 

Paul

[junglejane]

Paul:

 

That's a great idea. However, the BA flight arrives at 13:10 and the only BMI flight I could find leaves at 10:55. Do you know of any other reputable carriers that fly from Heathrow to Venice?

 

Thanks, Junglejane

[ab0si]

I think BMI is the only carrier doing that route non-stop. Sorry the schedule does not work for you.

 

Paul

[Globaliser]

Does anyone have experience with the Heathrow to Gatwick shuttle? We would have 5.5 hours between flights. Obviously I'd rather not have to change airports. But the price on BA seems pretty good compared to our options on Delta (connecting at JFK) or US Airways (connecting in Philadelphia).

This should not a difficult connection to make. Your long-haul flights should be operating to/from Terminal 5, which will have been open for about 2½ months by then. Although some of the details of T5 are not yet confirmed, all you should need to do is to go to the bus stop at T5 to get on the coach. That should then deliver you to the North Terminal at Gatwick, from where the flight to Venice will depart. The coach should drop you off right outside the terminal building.

 

With 5½ hours between flights, you should have plenty of time as well.

 

On top of all of that, you get to fly a better airline as well.

The recommended minimum transit time is 3 hours from landing until check-in (note: check-in, not departure time).

This is not correct.

 

The minimum connection time is 3 hours. That means that a connection with 3 hours between scheduled arrival time at Heathrow and scheduled departure time from Gatwick is legal. The three hours includes the time for immigration clearance, baggage delivery, customs clearance, coach journey and check-in time at Gatwick.

 

Obviously, that is a minimum, and a 3-hour connection between Heathrow and Gatwick will not leave much margin. But a passenger who has 2½ hours extra should be pretty comfortable.

[ab0si]

Globaliser:

 

Actually, we are both correct.

 

Three hours is a "legal" connection. Three hours plus check-in time (i.e., three hours from when the plane lands in Heathrow until you reach the check-in counter at Gatwick) is the recommended time.

 

Paul

[Globaliser]

Three hours is a "legal" connection. Three hours plus check-in time (i.e., three hours from when the plane lands in Heathrow until you reach the check-in counter at Gatwick) is the recommended time.

Is this from an official source? Have you got a reference for it? It would be a useful aid for those who are trying to plan Heathrow-Gatwick connections.

[ab0si]

You are certainly correct that BA says that 3 hours is the minimum connection for Heathrow to Gatwick.

 

But, that is also saying that one doesn't need to to arrive at Gatwick more than an 1 hour (if you are lucky) before your flight.

 

The shuttle's scheduled time varies between 1h 5 m and 1h 20m depending on the time of day. You need to disembark, claim your luggage, walk to the bus facility, wait for the coach, have your luggage stowed and board the coach. Then, after you arrive, you have to get your luggage and take it to the check-in counter. You are supposed to be at check-in 2 hours prior to departure, I think. I know that BA says you need to be at the departure gate (after rechecking your baggage and going through security (which even BA says can be slow at busy times) 40 minutes prior to departure.

 

So, mininum fo 30 minutes to collect your bags.

15 m to get to and board the bus

60 m on the bus

15 m to collect your bags and get to check-in

30 m for security

10 m walk to your gate

 

That gets to the 3 hour minimum per BA. If anything goes wrong, you are late.

 

Paul

[Globaliser]

You are certainly correct that BA says that 3 hours is the minimum connection for Heathrow to Gatwick.

 

But, that is also saying that one doesn't need to to arrive at Gatwick more than an 1 hour (if you are lucky) before your flight.

...

That gets to the 3 hour minimum per BA. If anything goes wrong, you are late.

I agree that your numbers are a reasonable illustration. Three hours for this connection is tight. But it is feasible. And it should get you to check-in before check-in actually closes, which is something like -40 minutes (and is always much less than the time that the airline tells an originating passenger to get to the airport). Anyone who arrives at LGW to check-in at -60 minutes should be absolutely fine to fly.

 

And that's why the three hour period is shown as the minimum connection time under current circumstances. Yes, if anything goes wrong, you will misconnect. But if you book with a connection time of three hours or more, BA will accept responsibility for your misconnect and look after you. That, after all, is the importance of the MCT.

 

I was actually interested in your statement that three hours from scheduled arrival at Heathrow to check-in at Gatwick was "recommended". I have never seen this. By whom is it "recommended"? As I said, if you have a link to an official source for this, it would help a lot of people who are planning cross-airport connections.

[ab0si]

I've seen the 3 hour from landing to check-in recommendation somewhere. I'm sure it was not an offical airport or BA site, though.

 

I do appologize, my wording (recommended time) was wrong and misleading. I should have written something along the line of "I wouldn't try to make this connection with less that 5 hours from scheduled landing to scheduled departure."

 

Paul

[Globaliser]

I should have written something along the line of "I wouldn't try to make this connection with less that 5 hours from scheduled landing to scheduled departure."

I think we agree that this would certainly make for a much less stressful connection!

[junglejane]

I've seen the 3 hour from landing to check-in recommendation somewhere. I'm sure it was not an offical airport or BA site, though.

 

I saw that recommendation on the National Express website. Thank you both for your invaluable input!

 

--Junglejane

[Capsu78]

I just discovered I have the reverse problem. My open jaw return leaves from Venice, arriving Gatwick @ 12:40. I have 4:05 hrs till my AA to ORD departure @ 4:45. We are a party of 6.

 

Questions- Please confirm my main concerns...

(1) I am now stuck with the lower baggage wt. limit on the trip because this one leg in "domestic"... correct?

 

(2) If we are a party of 6, with full luggage, is it more affordable/ smarter to arrange transport or still take the bus?

 

(3) since we are "domestic" through Gatwick, do we at least stand a less time consuming "escape" from Gatwick? Is the "3 hour guideline" realistic in the "Gatwick to Heathrow" direction?

 

(any new wrinkles I need to prepare for? I am kind of suprised AA sells this connection as openly as they do. (I looked at so many different itin's that I missed this crucial detail.)

 

Thank you in advance, experts.

[Globaliser]

(1) If you have a through ticket from Venice to Chicago, then the higher trans-Atlantic baggage allowance should apply to both flights. This is not changed by the fact that you have a inter-airport connection.

 

(3) You're not a domestic arrival at Gatwick. You will have to clear immigration and collect your baggage, although you are entitled to use the blue Customs channel because your trip originated in another EU port. (Technically, the blue channel is not a Customs control, and you're entitled to use it because you are not crossing a Customs border between Venice and London.) However, the three hour guideline applies in both directions. You should be fine with an extra hour on top of that.

 

I don't see why there should be any surprise about an inter-airport connection being offered. There are plenty of them, and not just at London.

 

They are inevitable in many cases, because are many places that are only served from Heathrow, and many places that are only served from Gatwick.

 

Even where (like Venice) there are flights from both airports, there are often major benefits for passengers in offering an inter-airport connection. For example, you could connect through Heathrow by using the one daily Venice-Heathrow flight. But it would involve a compulsory overnight at Heathrow, and it may be prohibitively expensive for most leisure passengers because the airline that flies Venice-Heathrow is in a different alliance grouping from AA.

[Capsu78]

Thanks Globalizer for your always reliable assessment.

 

I don't see why there should be any surprise about an inter-airport connection being offered. There are plenty of them, and not just at London.

 

I guess my own jaded perspective is based on my home airports here in Chicago- ORD and Midway. They are possibly the same distances apart as Heathrow and Gatwick, as the drive times between the 2 are around an hour and can even be connected using public transportation, with connections. However, I would want more than a 3-4 hour window to use both airports just due to surface traffic and time of day issues... maybe transfer between these 2 is easier and more common than I realize.

 

Thanks again.

[fti]

Just a thought.

 

BMI flies non-stop from Heathrow to Venice. Website is http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/index.aspx

 

Prices can be very cheap if purchased well in advance (and greatly depending on which day you are flying). Lugage allowance is 20 kg (and excess is very expensive) but it might be worth looking into.

 

Paul

 

I would be VERY careful to book two separate tickets - one from the US to London and one from London to another city within Europe. First of all, your luggage allowance within Europe would then be 44 pounds total, with excess baggage charges almost certain for anything over that.

 

Secondly, if things go wrong on the connections and you miss your connecting flight, you can almost count on buying a new ticket at the walk-up price. In my opinion, unless you leave a full day between the incoming and departing flights in both directions, don't even think about it.

 

John

[Capsu78]

Thanks FTI

Yes I would agree that 2 different tickets on the same day is not ideal. I have already booked my air on AA (BA connections), and luckily noticed I was in and out of different airports....nominate me for bonehead of the week!

 

Anyway, it looks like the Gatwick to Heathrow transfer is not that difficult in my case. It is just that we are a party of 6, so it is an additional $200+ that certainly was not in the budget. Not a problem that cant be fixed by throwing more money at it!

 

Fortunately European travel is so inexpensive that I will probably plenty of money left over after 12 days in Italy with a family of 6 : )