Connecting Between Heathrow and Gatwick?

poteen

Has anyone had any experience on getting a connecting flight when arriving on long haul into Heathrow and then getting a connecting flight to Dublin?

I ask this because a friend has booked this flight through skyscanner but didnt realise that airport change in London until it was booked.
There is exactly 3 hours between the landing time in heathrow and departure from Gatwick.

Q1. Has anybody made this trip and was it difficult?
Q2. Whats the minimum time you need? Will 3 hrs be enough?
Q3. Do they need to collect luggage and re check it at Gatwick or will it be transferred over by the airline?
Q4. If they miss the connecting flight will they be placed on the next one or because its booked with skyscanner is here no comeback?

Any help appreciated. Its not an ideal flight to have booked but they are stuck with it now so need solutions.

who the fug

tell him/her to spend and extra £ 60 and try and get a flight out of Heathrow , as that will be the cost of the transfer.


Chances of making it are very slim

beer enigma

poteen wrote: »

Has anyone had any experience on getting a connecting flight when arriving on long haul into Heathrow and then getting a connecting flight to Dublin?

I ask this because a friend has booked this flight through skyscanner but didnt realise that airport change in London until it was booked.
There is exactly 3 hours between the landing time in heathrow and departure from Gatwick.

Q1. Has anybody made this trip and was it difficult?
Q2. Whats the minimum time you need? Will 3 hrs be enough?
Q3. Do they need to collect luggage and re check it at Gatwick or will it be transferred over by the airline?
Q4. If they miss the connecting flight will they be placed on the next one or because its booked with skyscanner is here no comeback?

Any help appreciated. Its not an ideal flight to have booked but they are stuck with it now so need solutions.

I've done it a few times and it's not the best of transfers. As far as I know, there's no arrangement to transfer luggage, so I'd say they will have to collect bags and then check them in again at the next airport.

As for getting from one to the other, two options really. Providing it's not rush hour, taxi is probably the quickest, roughly 50 minutes depending on traffic. It's roughly 40 miles between the two and expect to pay around £60stg from the rank, but I'd suggest booking a mini cab in advance (check online) as the driver will be waiting at arrivals and they will probably get a much better fare.

Other option is to take the heathrow express from T1,2,3 into Paddington (15 mins journey, trains every 15 mins). That's about £20 then tube, circle line to Victoria and then Gatwick express to Gatwick, another £20 (with bags it's hassle).

Personally I pre book a cab.

whitebriar

There is a frequent and reliable bus transfer,iirc it takes about 45 minutes.I have done that a few times.
Yes you will have to collect your luggage ( I've always been hand luggage doing this so no issues ) which is a pain.

Going Lhr-dub would have avoided the hassle obviously.

If it's all one booking,then missing the connection should mean rebooking onto the next one easy enough.
Tell them to take the bus,it's the easiest and quickest.

urajoke

I know people who have done it and missed their flight but it was the airline that booked it not an online travel website which will probably give you less protection.

3 hrs is tight considering delays etc. They should probably look at booking with aerlingus or BA out of Heathrow and saving the hassle.

whitebriar

If their inbound is delayed though,isn't sky scanner Iata/UK equivalent,therefore meaning they have to change you with delays.
I would take the bus link though rather than a convoluted route to Gatwick,so as to avoid being accused of missing the flight yourself.

This is a lesson in always looking at the flights,not just the cheaper flights when booking BEFORE clicking submit.

Try ringing the call centre to see if they will change,outlining the error.
Changing the Dub bound flight might cost more but subtract the cost of the bus transfer (probably 60 euros for two,can't remember) and factor in the lesser hassle.

bikeman1

If flying with Aer Lingus from Gatwick, I would ring them up, explain the situation and see if they can help you change your flight from Gatwick to Heathrow.

Otherwise for the peace of mind I would book a Heathrow Dublin flight.

LXFlyer

whitebriar wrote: »

There is a frequent and reliable bus transfer,iirc it takes about 45 minutes.I have done that a few times.

Yes you will have to collect your luggage ( I've always been hand luggage doing this so no issues ) which is a pain.



Going Lhr-dub would have avoided the hassle obviously.



If it's all one booking,then missing the connection should mean rebooking onto the next one easy enough.

Tell them to take the bus,it's the easiest and quickest.

How long the bus takes will depend upon which terminal the flight is arriving at.

The 747 bus is scheduled to take 90 minutes from Heathrow Central Bus Station to get to Gatwick South Terminal, 75 minutes from Terminal 4, and 60 minutes from Terminal 5.
http://www.nationalexpress.com/assets/uploads/pdf/timetables/747.pdf

With only 3 hours between flights that connection is way too tight and frankly way too much hassle.

Far easier to change the flight to one from Heathrow.

The coach costs £25 single.

billy few mates

http://www.gatwickexpress.com/en/airport-info/heathrow-transfers/

By coach
National Express operates non-stop services between Gatwick and Heathrow with an approximate journey time of 75 minutes.

I've done that journey loads of times and three hours is way too tight in my opinion.
There are too many external factors at play, what if your flight arrives late or you're left waiting for your bags? Also LGW is huge and you could have quite a long run through the airport. The bus journey time is also heavily dependent on traffic on the M25 plus you've then got to worry about check in or security delays when you get there.

Under normal circumstances three hours would be plenty to get from LHR-LGW or vice versa but it's too risky when you're not 100% sure what time your first flight is going to arrive....

andy_g

Moved to Travel.

poteen

andy_g wrote: »

Moved to Travel.

Not sure that this merited moving to travel forum which is under used. The guys using aviation forum generally know their stuff on issues like this.

schemingbohemia

By the way, you don't book through skyscanner itself, it's just a scraping service, you book through any number of operators that they have scraped.

poteen

schemingbohemia wrote: »

By the way, you don't book through skyscanner itself, it's just a scraping service, you book through any number of operators that they have scraped.

Yes, you are correct. Worldspan is the actual company which booked. The actual connection time is 2hrs 55 mins. BA (whom the flight is not booked with) say the minimum connection for them on this route is 3hrs. maybe the booking agent should not have allowed the booking and may alter it if contacted?

kerry4sam

andy_g wrote: »

Moved to Travel.

poteen wrote: »

Not sure that this merited moving to travel forum which is under used. The guys using aviation forum generally know their stuff on issues like this.

Hi there poteen,

If you have any issues with a mod decision, then you pm the mod in question. You don't interrupt a running thread to make your point.

Travel forum charter now applies.
Thanks,
kerry4sam

poteen

would hang luggage only make the connection far more likely from T4 hethrow to T2 Gatwick

Fratton Fred

poteen wrote: »

would hang luggage only make the connection far more likely from T4 hethrow to T2 Gatwick

It would mean no check in at Gatwick and no 20 minute wait at Heathrow, so it increases your chances of making it.

Its an equivalent journey of Balbriggen to Bray. At 3am you could do it in 45 minutes, at 5 pm on a Friday it could take 90 minutes. If there's a smash, that soon becomes two hours.

LXFlyer

OP - I would not even attempt it. The cost of changing it less the bus fare saved is surely not going to be that much.

It is far too tight to allow for the first flight being late, there being a crash on the M25 etc.

I would just get the connecting flight changed.

whitebriar

Yes,despite my earlier comments,I would just suck it up op and get it changed.
I am a hand luggage only person,so would risk it.

If your friends decide to change,get them to price up a separate stand alone flight home from Heathrow or any of the others and if it's cheaper then book and fly that.
Being a no show for the other flight won't matter as it's the end of the trip.

poteen

British Airways site says that the minimum connection time between the 2 airports is 3.5 hrs. The site my mate has booked is 2hrs 55 mins connection time. The flight arrives at midday on a Wednesday and so traffic (if it is ever going to be ok) shouldnt be too bad that time of day. Add that to the fact that he will have carry on luggage only then maybe there is a chance. Flights to dublin that afternoon are 150 euro so booking that is a huge extra expense.

Is there any comeback with the booking agency ? Is there a minimum time etc ? Can you point towards the BA minimum of 3.5hrs? What agency / authority could be complained to ?

LXFlyer

poteen wrote: »

British Airways site says that the minimum connection time between the 2 airports is 3.5 hrs. The site my mate has booked is 2hrs 55 mins connection time. The flight arrives at midday on a Wednesday and so traffic (if it is ever going to be ok) shouldnt be too bad that time of day. Add that to the fact that he will have carry on luggage only then maybe there is a chance. Flights to dublin that afternoon are 150 euro so booking that is a huge extra expense.

Is there any comeback with the booking agency ? Is there a minimum time etc ? Can you point towards the BA minimum of 3.5hrs? What agency / authority could be complained to ?

Surely it is just a case of paying a differential cost in terms of changing the flight and not the whole fare?

Have you contacted the agency that you booked this through?