time issue: for 2 US citizens to clear Immigration/get bags at LGW 8:35AM arrival Dec 20

There are far too many variables to be able to give you an approximate time so your best bet is to factor in an hour. It could well be less, unlikely to be longer.

A while back someone asked a similar question. Folks that had been through the airport reported a time range of 20 minutes to 2 hrs.

What might happen when you arrive........?

guess·ti·mate
an estimate based on a mixture of guesswork and calculation

You have to be brave to attempt this with anything other than a very wide connection time, or be willing to pay an expensive walk-up Eurostar ticket.

I am less optimistic than JC, especially the Thursday before Christmas. I don't mince my words so don't take offense when I say how brave you are.

Leading into one of the busiest times of the year for Eurostar and at Gatwick you need to be prepared for delays.

Nobody can predict until the day if your plane will be delayed or retimed or have weather problems at either end.

I'd plan 90 minutes after touchdown at Gatwick. So if you actually land at 8:35 I'd be hoping to get a train after 10:05, if you arrive in the South Terminal. Add 10 minutes if you arrive at North Terminal so you can take the free horizontal cable car linking the two. Do you need time to buy a ticket? Add 15 minutes. Toilets in the airport are much nicer than those either on the plane or the train.

So, a train after about 10:30.

There are Thameslink trains which link Gatwick station and they are more reliable now than a few months ago, but in the run-up to Christmas may be busy. This morning - purely by example - there are delays until mid morning around East Croydon.

There is a train at 10:36 (and every 10 or 15 minutes after that - be sure you go for the fast trains or you will find the trip takes over an hour) which normally takes 44 minutes and arrives at St Pancras International at 11:20, then you need a few minutes to get up the escalators or sequence of two lifts up to the main floor and then walk through the station to the Eurostar check in - or there is all sorts of food and restaurants in STP station.

So it is 11:30. I always suggest arriving an hour before the Eurostar is due to depart. Especially on a get-away day like the Thursday before Christmas I would add additional time. Once you have reached the front of the queue and checked in you and your luggage will go through security and then British exit Border Force and French immigration Border control before entering the departure lounge (coffee and snacks, and toilets, and charging stations with both UK and French plugs all available in the departure lounge). You need your passports out for both UK and French officers. Why French if you are going to Brussels? You enter the Schengen area at Calais (without stopping) and travel through France all the way to Lille before entering Belgium. So French passport control it is.

The 12:58 Eurostar might work for you - calls at Ebbsfleet International at 13:15, Calais (one of the very few to call at Calais) at 14:59, Lille at 15:30 and arrives at Brussel Zuid at 16:08.

The next one is 15:04 from London calling only at Lille (17:26) and arriving Brussels Midi at 18:05.

That will be some long day for you. Can you sleep on the plane?

Rhetorical question: is there some good reason not to just jump a connecting Easyjet from Gatwick to Brussels? Since you are at the airport anyway?

Based on my experience I would bet on 20 minutes to clear Immigration since this is in the morning. Getting the bags is another story. Your bags may be coming out at the beginning, what I call within the first 25% or the last 15%, plus there are two of you. The Thameslink train from Gatwick to St Pancras takes one hour.

There is no way you will be out of Gatwick in 20 minutes! It will take 10-20 minutes from landing to be at the gate before anybody gets off the plane. Unless you are right at the front, allow another 10 minutes to get off and a further 5-10 minutes to get to passport control. The queue here could be anything from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the numbers arriving and just before Christmas will be busy.

Picking up your bags won’t add any time after you have queued at passport control.

I have an EU electronic passport which is usually quicker and I am rarely through Gatwick from touchdown in less than 45 minutes and it’s usually an hour.

You need to allow a time cushion to get the train to London and you need at least an hour before your Eurostar train. Have you considered a flight to Brussels?

The actual "bullet train" is in Japan (The Shinkansen).

Passport control could take 20 minutes; it could take 2 hours. There is no way to predict. Your bags may be waiting for you on the carousel by the time you finish immigration lines. You may have to wait 30+ minutes. Who knows?

I was thinking the same thing as Jennifer above. Wouldn't it be easier, faster and less expensive to fly to BRU from LGW or even directly from your originating airport?

Keep in mind too that after the plane actually lands at Gatwick you may not be exiting until 20-30 mins...it all just depends, such as if the Immigration area has all counters occupied by staff or is it ,say 50% of them...several variables to consider that would impede finishing with everything.

I would give it two hours till you are actually out of the airport heading to St Pancras (which is another route that might have delays), and you still have to get the train!
London airports are very busy, and it's just before Christmas!
Plus: you will be in the "Alien" line to get through, and those are really busy, snaking back and forth.
Also: remember it's winter, and weather can back things up. A lot.
Why even put yourself through this just to save an hour here and there.
Leave at least three to four hours between expected landing time, and leaving St. Pancras on a train.
If you can, just fly into Brussels!

If you get majorly hung up by delays at Immigrstion, your checked bags may have been moved away ftom the carousel where you expect to find them. That's a good way to lose a bit more time.

Thanks for all the input...very helpful... Yes, I had looked at flying to Brussels: tried Kayak, skyscanner, EasyJet & goEuro. Seems all the direct flights are out of Heathrow. There is a BA flight from Gatwick w/a 4-5 hour layover in Geneva. Hence the train scenario.

In order to bypass the madness & the great unknowns we've decided to spend the night in London & leave the next day on the Eurostar at a rested leisurely pace. Happy holidays to all....

good choice

I'd fly from your home airport to Brussels on one ticket, even if it required a plane transfer somewhere. Then travel to the UK and subsequently return home from London or another British airport. If you use a multi-destination search function, the cost might be comparable and the stress level far lower.