StCirq

We are arriving at LHR at 11:05 am on July 31, hoping to catch a 3:20 pm RyanAir flight from Stansted to La Rochelle.

If you've flown into LHY recently and taken the bus to Stansted, can you comment on the logistics, how much time we can expect to spend getting out of LHR, how long the bus trip is, and whether Stansted is easy to navigate?

I was originally thinking of trying to catch a 1:30 pm flight from Stansted to Bergerac, but I'm guessing that would be impossible.

AAFrequentFlyer

It takes about 1:30 hours on the bus.

It's about 22BPs per person.

RyanAir has a very strict check in cutoff time. I believe you need to be checked in no later than 40 minutes before the flight.

International arrival at LHR can be as quick as 1/2 hour or possibly 2 hours. Nobody can predict how long immigration/customs will take.

The 3:20 flight is a much better option, but it's still possible you may miss it.


nationalexpress.co.uk

AAFrequentFlyer

www.nationalexpress.co.uk

alanRow

I always allow an hour getting out of LHR - on Saturday afternoon it took 10 minutes to get from gate to immigration, 10 seconds (yes 10 seconds) through immigration then it was nearly an hour before my bag arrived

With an 11:05 arrival - and assuming T123 as opposed to T4 or T5 - the latest coach you could get is the 13:00 which reaches STN at 14:25 giving you 15 minutes to get checked in with Ryanair.

The earliest coach you could get is the 12:25 but that's slower and only gives you an extra 15 minutes free time.

STN is a small airport and easy to negotiate

And don't forget that your lovely 2x23kg plus kitchen sink luggage allowance becomes 15kg when flying with Ryanair

BTilke

It sounds just too tight to me. If your flight arrives late, if there are traffic problems, you'll be biting your nails the whole time.
Could you possibly spend the night near LHR (at the Travelodge in Windsor, for example) and catch a morning flight the next day? Or perhaps spend the night in Cambridge and again, fly next morning.

We've driven from Maidenhead to STN (Maidenhead isn't far from LHR) and one trip took us over 2 hours due to traffic problems on access roads and the highway.

OTOH, spending an extra night in the UK could eat up the Ryanair savings, so perhaps you should check if you can take some kind of "regular" airline from LHR to France instead.

StCirq

Well, the more I look at it, the more iffy it seems, and I don't like iffy.

Yes, we can spend the night in London or environs. We have no set schedule, just want to be in St-Cirq by August 3 or 4. My son is not a London fan, but we got good open-jaw fares into London and out of Paris; hence the London arrival.

I guess I'll go back to www.whichbudget.com and see where else in France we might fly and check out the Eurostar. We'd rather spend the night in Paris and take a train the next morning, if that's possible.

TimS

Ryanair recommends that people check in two hours in advance. If you don't have your boarding pass in hand when Ryanair's 40 minute check-in deadline arrives, your ticket will be worthless and you'll have to buy a new one at full price for a later flight.

If you arrive late at LHR OR if you experience a delay getting through immigration/passport control OR if heavy traffic on the road between LHR and STN slows you down, you will certainly miss your connection. Because of those possibilities, I wouldn't want to allow less than six hours to make this connection.

StCirq

OK, let's forget that plan.

How about if we go from LHR to St. Pancras and take a Eurostar to Paris? We've never done that, so it would be an adventure.

How much time should I allow to get from LHR to the station?

What's the fastest way to get to St. Pancras without spending a fortune on a private driver?

Is the Eurostar website the best place to purchase tickets, or are there less expensive options (I'm seeing a one-way fare of $242.00 for two of us on the afternoon of July 31)?

PatrickLondon

Allow an hour to St Pancras from picking up your luggage at Heathrow. You might just as well take the Piccadilly Line all the way. It might well be a bit quicker if you take the Heathrow Express and then the Circle or the Hammersmith and City Line from Paddington - if either of those lines is not subject to delays - but there's the added faff of changing at Paddington.

As for Eurostar, buy a cheap return, and don't use the return ticket: but be aware that the cheapest rates are for non-refundable, non-exchangeable tickets, so build in some allowance for unexpected delays at/from Heathrow.

WillTravel

It's 55 minutes on the tube, if all goes smoothly, from Heathrow (for Terminals 1-3) to Kings Cross/St. Pancras, so I think saying one hour is cutting it too close. Once you get off the tube, you still have to get to the train station. Given recent renovations, I can't say how easy that is now, but it usually takes time to press through crowds in any event.

Given that my worst experience with Heathrow is when it took 2.5 hours from landing to exiting the airport, I don't feel comfortable with any sort of close scheduling.

BTilke

Another option is a car service from LHR to St. Pancras, costing between £30 and £40.
The Eurostar option sounds good to me, I'd take a train to Paris over a Ryanair flight anytime.

As advised above, a discount return ticket almost always costs less than a one way fare.

FYI, there's a Pain Quotidien, Paul's and a creperie along with coffee vendors just outside the Eurostar check-in area, so you can have a light bite if so inclined. If you purchase Leisure Select tix, you'll be served a meal and drinks (champagne, wine, beer, soda, water) at your seat.

Remember, you need to check in at Eurostar at least 30 minutes before departure; 45 minutes to an hour ahead is suggested if you have to pick up your tickets there.

alanRow

If you are at LHR and want to go to Paris then the simplest thing to do is FLY.

Cathinjoetown

You didn't mention where your final destination in France is. There aren't many flights to regional airports out of Heathrow--maybe Toulouse, but I think even that's out of Gatwick, also no fun to get to and the flight will most likely be fairly expensive. There are flights out of Southampton to Bergerac (Flybe)but again you would have to make the trek down there. Eurostar is great with many trains daily, as I'm sure you've discovered.

janisj

The Eurostar is great - always my number one, 1st choice for traveling between London and Paris. But you are not traveling from London - you are starting out from LHR.

The very easiest way to get to Paris from LHR is to fly. At very most you'd have to change terminals. No schlepping 20+ miles from LHR to St Pancras on the tube, no paying a car service, no praying the coach gets you to STN in time.

You probably know your options after you get to CDG - train. plane, whatever. But from LHR - the fastest, easiest way to get to Paris is to fly . . . . . .

StCirq

Thanks, all. I'm looking into buying return Eurostar tickets and leaving myself about 4-5 hours between my supposed landing at Heathrow and my departure from St.-Pancras. And will probably opt for the car service to the station - this journey already has more legs to it than I like.

My final destination in France is my house in St-Cirq in the Dordogne. I have looked extensively at all the flights from every airport in London and environs to the many options I have - Bordeaux, Toulouse, La Rochelle, Limoges, Périgueux, Paris - and there just aren't any that work with my schedule. But it doesn't matter, as I have no need to be in St-Cirq until August 4 (though I'd like to get there sooner), and I'm happy with spending a night or two in Paris before making the trip south.

StCirq

Hi, janis:

I should have thought of that, of course, but I got sidetracked looking at cheap flights on www.whichbudget.com.

Guess I'll go check the major airlines now.