Heathrow to Gatwick Bus, Need Quick Help!

I don't see how this could possibly work. They have 4 hours. It's 45 miles on the motorway from one to the other. NX say an hour, even a taxi or car will take at least 45 minutes unless they drive dangerously fast. An hour to an hour and a half from landing to getting out of the customs hall at Heathrow. 2 to 3 hours check in at Gatwick. -=-=- Lets see: 0.75 + 1 + 2 - 4 = 15 minutes to spare if everything lines up perfectly and they stretch check in to the bursting point. You will say they have ZERO check in bags, right? Do they really want subject themselves to this? -=-=- or worse - using normal times it would take 1 + .5 (average waiting time for bus and walking through terminals at a fast pace (no toilet breaks)) + 1.5 + 2.5 = 5.5 hours to fit into 4.... Sorry Kevin; what can they do to make it work on only a weeks notice? I don't know - prepare them to expect the worst. Then it can only get better, and they might be lucky. Or perhaps I am too pessimistic...

Yes, they will arrive at Terminal 5. National Express coaches use stops 13-16 right outside the terminal building at arrivals level. They'll also need to know whether to get off the coach at the North Terminal or the South Terminal at Gatwick (see www.gatwickairport.com/flights/terminals). They can pay by credit card, they do not need a reservation, and they can buy their tickets at Heathrow. Here is a quote from the site about prebooked tickets: "What do I do if my flight is delayed? For customers travelling from airports, we do try to help as much as we can. Under normal circumstances we will try to accommodate you on a later departure, subject to seats being available. But we are under no obligation to do this. Our advice when booking is always to book on a service which departs at least 1 hour 30 minutes after you are due to land. Then, if your plane arrives on time or early, and you are in time to catch an earlier coach, we will be happy for you to travel on an earlier departure, subject to seat availability. Please note that an amendment fee will be charged by the agent/office making the amendment." From my reading of the site, they are entitled to the £9.75 fare. Warning! If their flight is delayed or it takes extra long to get through immigration or there is heavy traffic on the M25, they need to know they may miss their flight to Albania.

Are you saying that they have 4 hours from the time the plane lands at Heathrow to the time the plane departs at Gatwick? If so, it's going to be a very tight fit. If their flight is late or there's traffic on the road between the airports, they may not make their flight out of Gatwick. You might want to get a quote from a car service like "Just Airports" and see what they would charge to take the three of them between the two airports. This is especially true if they have luggage.

Thanks guys for your quick replies. My first reaction when they told me the intinerary and asked me whay I thought about getting between the airports was, "You have got to be kidding, right?" The response was sort of a clueless, "Why?" I have now found that it is really 3 hours and 50 minutes from scheduled landing to scheduled take-off. I have told them that they probably will not make this connection, and that they better make alternate plans just in case. I also have told them to contact their travel agent to find out if they can get on an earlier flight out of SFO (the 1655 flight arrives at 1100, giving them 5:50 between landing and takeoff, as opposed to the 1855 which lands at 1300 giving them only 3:50 for this transfer). I can't believe a travel agent actually booked this mess, or that none of them checked this out before now, three days before departure. Thanks again. Kevin

You're welcome, Kevin. The truly "clueless" person here is the travel agent! I sure hope your mother and her friends can get the earlier flight out of SFO.

Kevin, keep us posted on this - especially if they manage to pull this off. I'm rooting for them...

Thanks for reporting back. BA actually books flights involving that transfer (such as flights to Venice) with a 3 hour 50 minute space between arriving at Heathrow and departing from Gatwick. (We've done it)). So I don't think the travel agent was that far off base. But if you're flying on 2 separate tickets rather than one through ticket, it would make one nervous!

And now for the results of this insanity. The flight from San Francisco arrived 45 minutes late into Heathrow, leaving just 3 hours and 5 minutes between flights. They made it through customs, bought a ticket for the bus, and boarded the bus within an hour and 15 minutes of landing. It then took just under an hour for the bus to make the trip to Gatwick. And thus, my mother proclaimed that they got to the airport early because there was still 45 minutes until their flight was scheduled to leave. I don't know about the rest of you, but I call that making just under the wire, by a nose, by the skin of the teeth, or what ever other metaphor one might choose for a close call, but I would have been a nervous wreck. They, however, now consider the three hours that their travel agent told them was the minimum legal connection time to be perfectly reasonable. They did get the senior fare with no questions asked, and no idea required. Perhaps it was the blissful dementia like aura surrounding them and their connection.

So glad to hear that they made their connection. Hope they had a great trip. I'm like you...I think I would be nervous about making the connection.

Gee, since they had so much extra time, seems a shame they didn't stop in London for a cup of tea.