Please advise. Mistake booked into Gatwick instead of Heathrow

I don't understand the problem. Are you worried about how to get to central London from Gatwick instead of Heathrow? I just took the train in from Gatwick. It probably costs a little more than the tube, but it was efficient and comfortable as I recall.

Or are you connecting in London and need to get between airports?

There is a train into Victoria Station from Gatwick. From there you could use Uber. We’ve used them twice here in London and it’s been fine. In fact, we will use them when we go to the airport on Friday - Gatwick.

the fare difference to change the ticket for two people is $1,424.00. Yikes!

Or, perhaps you could spent £20 and get a train from Gatwick to London instead of spending $1424 swapping to Heathrow, followed by spending £20 getting into London. I know which option I would choose.

There's just been a thread running yesterday about getting to London from Gatwick by train. Both to Victoria and to Thameslink destinations as far as St Pancras and on to Luton. National Express also run frequent service 24 hours a day.
If you were connecting at Heathrow to somewhere else National Express run a frequent service, which takes 1 hour, as do the Oxford Bus Company-hourly.

Both are turn up and go services- NatEx is £27 per person. OBC are a very similar price.

Where, in the States, are you flying from?

Hah, diveloonie, not a ding dong at all! Many people fly into Gatwick by choice to get to London. A train from Heathrow into Central London takes about 20 minutes, whereas a train from Gatwick might be 30 or 40. But just as easy.

The train from Gatwick arrives at Victoria Station. It may be a quite easy journey from Victoria, by tube, to a station near your hotel.

Thank you! Since public transportation is not so great in the US, I am so glad it is much better in Europe and this looks to be not as terrible a problem as I thought. We are staying near Victoria station so the train will work great!

diveloonie, if you let us know your hotel location, we can advise how to get from Victoria to a tube station near your hotel. Or Google Maps (transit option) will tell you.

Oops, I just read the rest of your post. You're staying near Victoria. Brilliant, like you planned it that way!!!

I actually prefer landing at Gatwick over Heathrow and you may find that you do as well!

You can book a train ticket on the Thames Link rail to London Bridge or St Pancras/Kings Cross in advance that will be good for the entire day so you don't have to worry about making a particular train. You go through Passport Control (very quick at the egates), pick up your luggage and follow the very clear signs to the Train Station in the South Terminal. Look at the boards showing departures. There will be one shortly. Scan your QR code, make your way down to the tracks and have a nice ride into Central London. Transfer to the tube once in Central London to get where you want to go.
https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/

You can also access different stations in London if you prefer.

National Express also offers options to go by bus, but I felt train was extremely easy to do which is nice after that overnight flight.
The one exception would be if you had a reason that you absolutely had to go to Heathrow. In that case, take the National Express bus that runs between the two airports.

If you're staying near Victoria then Gatwick is the significantly faster and easier airport than Heathrow anyway, for transit. Southern Rail or Gatwick Express both run to Victoria. GX is the more expensive, Southern the more frequent, literally every few minutes. Between them they are not far off tube frequency.

This isn’t a problem. Don’t change your flights. Gatwick IS a London airport.

Just take the train from Gatwick into London. About 30mins train ride. Gatwick is a great airport, smaller and easier to manage than Heathrow.

Barbara - I hope you are not using Uber to get you from Central London to Gatwick. The road journey is absolute purgatory, whereas rail journeys either on Southern from Victoria or Thameslink from a range of stations a bit further east are quick, efficient and relatively cheap.

If you are staying at Victoria you are a winner as it’s a little easier to reach from Gatwick than from Heathrow.

Having flown into both, I think it's a ding dong thing to purposely choose Heathrow if you have a choice. Gatwick is smaller and easy to navigate.

Gatwick is smaller than Heathrow but not particularly small. It had over 32m passengers in 2022 and will have quite a lot more this tear. This compares to 35m at Toronto and 19m at Vancouver, the two biggest Canadian airports.

Do I need to book the train in advance? Is there a cost savings in doing so or just land at airport and then buy ticket?

If I'm not mistaken it runs every 15 minutes so no need to book.

No panic Tammy, I’m in the camp that it’s a six and two threes between Gatwick and Heathrow and about as quick into central London by rail from Gatwick as taking the Tube from Heathrow, probably quicker, dependent on where you are heading for. (Heathrow Express is really rapid and quite expensive - not sure about the Queen Elizabeth line yet).

I always book my tickets in advance but then we are travelling to and from northern England so it makes sense to get an economic deal. More frequent users and local users will hopefully give you sound advice on getting a Gatwick to London ticket (and return) as regards whether advance booking is a ‘thing’ - my guess is that it probably isn’t but don’t take my word for it!

Don’t stress, think about the 1400 plus bucks you’ve saved!

Ian

I remember preferring Gatwick to Heathrow, which is a zoo full of mazes!!

We went through Gatwick last month. You don't need to buy/book a ticket for Thameslink. You can use your contactless credit card in and out.

You might just be the smartest "ding dong" out there! Given a choice, we would much prefer to fly into Gatwick. Much easier than Heathrow in many respects. And since you are staying near Victoria Station, that's just icing on the cake.

Turn up and go is £19.40 on Southern, £21.90 on GX.
An advance fare (only available on Southern) is £13.50.

Not a huge difference.

You don't need to buy/book a ticket for Thameslink.

You won’t be using Thameslink to go to Victoria, though. Southern, or GEX if you want to spend more.

The cheapest way into Victoria is to use Oyster or Contactless from Gatwick (Southern only, not GX). That costs just £9.50 off peak (any train starting it's journey from Gatwick after 0930, no afternoon peak in that direction).
That has the benefit of not needing advance purchase.
For me on my Senior Railcard registered Oyster Card that fare would be further reduced to £6.30. That reduction only works on Oyster, not contactless.

Hey Tammy

You're fine.

Gatwick actually has several advantages over Heathrow, especially if you are staying anywhere near Victoria (you are) or London Bridge or Blackfriars or the City, or Kings Cross St Pancras.

There are only two terminals, known imaginatively as the North Terminal and the South Terminal, and the two terminals are linked by a free guided shuttle train which is frequent and easy to use.

The terminals are pretty well laid out and when you are ready to take the train into London both terminals are well signed either direct (South Terminal) or to the shuttle and the the Trains (North Terminal). The ticket office is on the main floor and the platforms are downstairs (lift, escalator).

There are 3 train companies. Gatwick Express has dedicated trains, is slightly faster than Southern and a little faster than Thameslink. The dedicated trains have large luggage areas, staff that come through and check tickets, multilingual announcements and video screens with ads. They usually originate at Gatwick and are completely nonstop to Victoria Station, where they terminate at the far left of the station, looking from the train into the station (far right hand side looking from the concourse towards the tracks). They are the most expensive. At peak hours some trains start at Brighton and then call at Gatwick on the way to Victoria.

Southern, a stablemate of Gatwick Express use their normal commuter trains, most of which originate at Brighton or Three Bridges, and normally run to Victoria (platforms adjacent to those used by Gatwick Express) making only one intermediate station stop - at Clapham Junction or two intermediate stops at Clapham Junction and East Croydon. Those stops allow changes to the lines to and from Waterloo and those which have left Victoria heading south and southwest. They can also change to the London Overground. They are cheaper than Gatwick Express and about 5 minutes cheaper. The space for luggage is very limited and at times of peak travel can be very crowded in the direction of travel.

Thameslink runs at least twice an hour between Brighton and Bedford, calling at Gatwick and several London stations on the way including London Bridge (Borough Market, all sorts of things on the South Bank), Blackfriars, City Thameslink and Farringdon (the City and connection to the Elizabeth Line), and St Pancras (Eurostar and many other train routes) on its way into the northern London suburbs and beyond.

So that's quite a lot more than at Heathrow.

I hope you can see the good side....

If anyone asks, you did it on purpose! 🤣

before you go buying Southern tickets I want to see if there is a period return available from Gatwick to Victoria. Take any train and then - return within 30 days on any same brand train for very little more.

wait here ... I'll be back

By the way the fare you are charged on Oyster is determined by which gateline you use at Victoria. Gatwick Express trains normally use Platforms 13 and 14 and Southern use Platforms 15 to 19 (the far left ones looking into the station, the other way round from what Nigel says). However just sometimes (when services are disrupted) Southern arrive at 13 or 14. You can easily tell from the huge GX banners and signs on those platforms. When that happens you need to use the 15 to 19 barriers- just ask staff if in any doubt.
People are quite frequently caught out when that happens.
I go through Victoria quite frequently so know the layout of the station well.

Thank you Nigel and everyone else! It seems that it is a “ good mistake”! I am so relieved. When I was reviewing our flights this am, I about had a heart attack when I saw we were landing at Gatwick and not Heathrow. I thought Gatwick was much further than it is and thankfully since we are staying at the Lime tree hotel, its just a 10 minute walk from Victoria station. And my US brain always forgets about the wonderful trains in Europe.

I don't really understand the question - Gatwick is very well connected, arguably better in the initial stages of the journey, and it will be less than £20 more to be heading to and from Gatwick

I'm back. no, no off peak period returns, all "open tickets" as they are called are based on the most expensive Anytime fares. yekk.. use the advance or Oyster.

I think we should clarify left and right. Looking from the concourse towards the platforms, the far left is Southeastern land, then the vast bulk of Southern trains heading to various points in the middle, the at the far right are the Gatwick Express and Southern to Gatwick platforms, then the cheese shop.

So looking from the train into the station, the Gatwick platforms are to the far left, just before the cheese shop, then the rest of Southern, and then all the way around to the very far right is Southeastern land (and from whence the very occasional steam train to the Orient Express and similar originate).

I have been using Victoria since I was a munchkin.

So when coming off your train on Platforms 15 to 19 use the side exit from the station (don't go onto the main concourse)- the first turn left after the barriers, onto Buckingham Palace Road. Turn left following the crowds for Victoria Coach Station. On the way you cross over one side street. When you see Victoria Coach Station diagonally ahead on your right hand side, cross Buckingham Palace Road at a set of traffic lights and turn right down the side of the Coach Station. The Lime Tree is just on your right at the next road intersection. It's less than 10 minutes gentle walk from the train.

We went from Victoria Station to the Lime Tree and it is a very walkable. Go to Google Mapsand enter "Lime Tree Hotel London". Using the street view you can virtually walk the route before you ever leave home. Unless you've used it before, it might take a bit of playing with it, but it's a great way to "know before you go".

Tammy, I agree with TC about this being close to Lime Tree. When you come out of your platform, go left, then up the escalators, thru the little shopping area, back down the escalators and out the back doors. Then follow your citymapper app, lol. It’s 5 minutes. You can go out the front of the station for step free route BUT there is a lot more pedestrian traffic.

I just left there this morning!!

Do you have a sweet tooth? I can’t remember? I got a non-vegan caramel popcorn cupcake from Peggy Porschen cakes which is catty corner across the intersection from the Lime Tree. It was so good I would not let myself go back to get another one. Gelateria around the corner to toward the Coach station is good too.

Gatwick is smaller than Heathrow but not particularly small. It had
over 32m passengers in 2022 and will have quite a lot more this tear.
This compares to 35m at Toronto and 19m at Vancouver, the two biggest
Canadian airports.

By volume of passengers Gatwick may be large but it is so compact. In both Toronto and Vancouver it can be quite a hike to get to your gate or baggage claim.

Glad this is working out for you, Tammy!

Tammy, you have plenty of answers but just wanted to add that I have always flown into Gatwick and prefer it. I just take the Gatwick Express into the city and it's so easy.

Or Southern trains which is just as easy and much cheaper.

Lime Tree is delightful ! Lucky you ! I haven't been since they refurbished.

So glad for your "ding-dong mistake"!