Car to Heathrow: what time to order?

Old May 1st, 2016, 08:24 AM
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Car to Heathrow: what time to order?

Hi

Our rental is at Cadogan Place, Knightsbridge, and our flight leaves from T3 at Heathrow at 10:05. It's an international flight to Philadelphia and we will be checking luggage. We have no special status. It's a Friday morning.

I am confused about what time to ask the car service to pick us up, how long it generally takes to get to Heathrow, and what time we should be at T3.

I called American Airlines and they were no help.

We normally would take public transport but I'm not able to get my luggage to the tube and to transfer with my stuff.

Help please.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 08:38 AM
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Well your airline should certainly be able to tell you when to check in - for LHR flights to the US I would make that 3 hours before flight time. And the car service should be able to tell you how long the trip will take - but I would assume an hour anyway.

I can understand American not telling you what time to leave - since whoever you are talking to may know nothing about London.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 08:39 AM
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You want to be at LHR by 7:30-ish and that early in the AM the traffic won't be terrible. Call justairports and ask them what time they should pick you up -- they will know.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 11:50 AM
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janisj: I thought about that. I had called them once years ago for a client. I will do it again.

I'm thinking 6:30 ought to be good, but I will ask them.
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Old May 1st, 2016, 11:40 PM
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I'd probably leave at 6.00-6.15am as T3 has a lot of shops & restaurants. Otherwise 6.30-6.45am is fine, there is no reason to be at LHR 3 hours beforehand unless you want to shop or eat. Are you checking in online & just using bag drop?
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 12:51 PM
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Justairports was great for me last year. We arranged a 6 am pickup for a 9:55 am departure. There was no traffic and we got there so quickly we couldn't drop our bags immediately. On a weekday, I think 6:30 would be good.
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Old May 2nd, 2016, 01:07 PM
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I use the boarding time as my departure time. Boarding can typically be anywhere from 30-45 minutes prior to departure time.

Yesterday we boarded at 12 for a 12:45PM departure out of SFO.
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Old May 3rd, 2016, 07:19 AM
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I'll piggyback another question.

This is an international flight, LHR > PHL. Someone above asked if we would be checking in early and just dropping our bags.

Is this possible at LHR for international flights? It's not the norm for most Europe to US flights we take.
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Old May 3rd, 2016, 07:37 AM
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I asked if you are checking in online and just doing bag drop. It didn't used to be possible on AA for international flights but that might have changed since I last travelled on them. On airlines such as BA and VS, it has been possible for several years to do online check in for UK-US flights.
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Old May 3rd, 2016, 01:12 PM
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Odin, thanks.

I will have an iPad and may be able to check in, but I won't have a printer. I actually bothered to call AA and spoke to someone on the "international" line who couldn't answer any of these questions, so I came here, as usual.

I'll ask about this on our outbound leg, also on AA, landing at MAN.
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Old May 3rd, 2016, 01:58 PM
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No problem IME of driving umpteen times to Heathrow to pick up clients - I always had to on weekdays get on the road by 5 am to make sure I did not get caught in traffic snarls on the infamous South or North Circular Roads- but I was coming from east London - Crystal Palace and had to go thru a lot of city.

But from Knightsbridge you are well out of central London and soon have motorways to take you - of course the driving service should know but I'd error on the side of caution - even chauffered cards can have flat tires or mechanical problems or accidents.
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Old May 3rd, 2016, 02:12 PM
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You don't need a printer, you can choose the option to have your boarding pass emailed to you. The email will have a barcode which you can show to security.
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