London to Inverness: Luton or Gatwick?

Not sure if you are aware but British Airways has flights from Heathrow to Inverness. They are slightly higher than Easyjet fights from Gatwick or Luton but you also have to consider the cost of getting from Heahtrow to those other airports. Plus less aggravation changing airports.

But if you insist on changing airports to save a few dollars then I would suggest Gatwick.

Thanks for your response. I do know that BA has flights out of Heathrow (we researched that first- the money saved is not consequential to us) but the next flight would entail a 6 hour layover at the airport, on top of a trip that will already be close to 15 hours long.

I do know that BA has flights out of Heathrow . . . . but the next flight would entail a 6 hour layover at the airport,

So instead of a 6 hour wait at Heathrow, you are considering changing to a different airport (Luton or Gatwick)?
Personally I would not do that. No way would I change airports on the same day.

• You don't say where you are flying from, and you haven't filled in your profile, so I will guess you are flying in from somewhere outside Europe. In which case you have to allow +/- 1 hour for your arrival time, depending on which way the wind is blowing.
• Disembarking, walking through corridors and chiefly Immigration: 30 to 60 minutes, longer on a really bad day.
• Getting bus station: 15 minutes.
• Bus ride: 60 minutes +TRAFFIC. Worst case 2 hours.
• Plus Easyjet has a hard cut-off, bag drop closes 40 minutes before departure time, you must be at the gate 30 minutes before departure time.

I don't think you can trim more than 1-2 hours off that 6 hours, even assuming the Easyjet departure is exactly when you want it.
For a lot less stress, and less risk, just to take the flight from Heathrow.

Are you trying to get to Luton or Gatwick to fly on the same day you arrive? What time do you arrive at Heathrow and what times are the flights out of the other airports?

I’ve been delayed at Heathrow too many times to risk a short connection on a separate ticket. I usually spend at least one night in London between flights if I am buying separate tickets. If you want to fly the same day, a 6 hour layover at Heathrow makes way more sense than going through the hassle of switching airports to save at most an hour or two.

15 hours sounds like a trip from US west coast with a stop somewhere. So two flights have to be on time to get to London 'on time'.

Spending a few hours at Heathrow sounds a lot better than worrying about 'will we be on time' for 15 hours on the journey.

And as Chris has pointed out, the saving in time will be negligible. And after paying for transport and LOTS of Tums, the cost savings will narrow.

I suppose I have earned a penalty flag for 'piling on' in joining the 'don't do it' brigade

My $0.02

You need an absolute minimum of 4 hours between arrival at Heathrow and a Gatwick departure (more for Luton) and ideally 5 hours, so waiting 6 hours for a BA flight from Heathrow is a no brainer.

OK, all- message received! We are now thinking of rearranging our entire itinerary to make it a less hectic travel schedule. Thanks for your comments.

Have you considered purchasing lounge access?

I don't know where you're flying in from but assuming the US and assuming a morning arrival you could have breakfast at the airport and while away the remaining time in the lounge. When you factor in landing, disembarking, immigration, baggage collection if required, terminal transfer if required and then needing to be at your departure gate with sufficient time prior to embarkation (some gates can be far away and may even require a shuttle) then 6 hours is actually very little time and will pass quite quickly.