Gatwick to Heathrow connection on BA

ay yi yi.

You don't mean all on the same day (night), surely? Is this the same trip with the 11 hour layover in Iceland?

You will travel some long distance, presumably, arrive exhausted at Gatwick half an hour after midnight - is this the Greece post cruise flight home?? Then figure 90 minutes or so at Gatwick, then you want to keep going so you can check in for your flight from Heathrow 2 to 3 hours ahead, at around 5:00 am. That gives you about three hours for a one hour drive at that time of the morning.

Your only alternatives are a cab off the rack, expensive, extra expensive at that time of night, or a pre booked minicab, also not cheap.

No way do you want to try to time the National Express coach at that time of night.

Just curious.... your other thread said you booked the long layover in Iceland intentionally. I presume this one is too. When do you sleep?

You're on a cruise with no checked luggage? I've never seen that before. Can you let us know afterwards how everything went? There is a section for Trip Reports

Coach leaves Gatwick South at 03:05 arriving at the Heathrow Central Bus Station at 04:35. Ample time to get through immigration for this. Better you than me …

(It has different times at the different terminals at each airport, but you haven't given those details, so these are the outer edges)

Yes, this is the post-cruise trip. We'll be bringing 1 week's worth of clothes. We'll wash our clothes at an Airbnb in Venice 2 days before embarkation, which will be day 6 from our arrival in Rome. We take check-in luggage for our Disney cruises (because of clothes for formal, pirate and a theme night like Halloween or Merrytime (Christmas), but not for other cruises. We only bring carry-ons. I found transfers offered by a company called Heathrow-Gatwick-Transfers.com. They charge 75 euros for 5 passengers. How long will it take us to go through passport control? We plan on leaving LGW at 2 am.
BTW, we will sleep when we get back in the US. Thank you Nigel & Marco for the comments.

Marco, we're flying out of Heathrow on BA from Terminal 5.

The journey to T5 would be slightly shorter. With such a size of party though, a private hire may well be cheaper than coach fares.

Someone commented on doing a cruise with only carry-on...it’s easy enough to do. I have done 5 cruises, all with carry-on only.....including 3 Cunard cruises which have at least 2 formal nights. I have one pair of dressy trousers that I can pair with various tops. Sequins are a girls best friend! For Christmas Day on the QM I took a lovely caftan with heavy gold embroidery, packs flat and takes little room. Rest of clothes are nice casuals, pants and tops and 2 swimsuits and a cover-up. Of course Cunard has guest laundrettes which I use and on other lines I have used ships laundry services - it’s still cheaper than airline baggage fees!

Marco, I'm getting ready to book the transfer from LGW South terminal to LHR Terminal 5. Since we're arriving at 12:30 am, should I put down 1:30 am as pick-up time? Is that enough time to get off the plane and go through passport control? We have carry-ons only. Thanks.

Booking with whom? A private hire company?

Personally I might leave a 1.5 hour minimum from scheduled arrival - really they should wait for you (or check up in times of delay), and in a way you are in no hurry. However, an hour is not ridiculous that time of day (or night).

Why would a company offering Heathrow-Gatwich transfers charge in Euros, that doesn't sound right.

Why would a company offering Heathrow-Gatwich transfers charge in Euros, that doesn't sound right.

They don't. I've just placed a dummy booking and all prices are in sterling. I hope the OP doesn't think that the UK uses the Euro!

Since we're arriving at 12:30 am, should I put down 1:30 am as pick-up time?

That seems a bit optimistic to me. By the end of the day, the snowball effect of any delays that plane had means you have a very real possibility of coming in late.

Staffing at that hour is likely to be minimal as having to process folks quickly to catch the next flight is probably not a pressing need, as there are very few departures at that time.

Or you could be the only one there and be done in 10 minutes.

That is my $0.02

Dale and JC, I meant pounds and not euros.

lanilubber, packing in a carry on is doable. People are by nature, overpackers. I remind myself of people I know whose check-in luggages were delayed, misrouted or worst, lost.