3 hour GTW connection - try it or spend one night?
 

Briefly, we arrive GTW on Delta at 7 AM on a Saturday in September. Plan is to depart on a British Airways flight at 9:50 AM on a seperate itinerary. Carry on only.

The question is, would you do it? Or would you spend one night. It's a fairly quick trip, so I'm hesitant to detract a day from our planned destination (Croatia).

Thanks,
H

The airport code GTW is for Zlin, Czech Republic. I assume you are speaking of LGW (London Gatwick), so you are asking if you should spend one night in London.

If it's a very short trip why go to the trouble and expense of a night in London? There is so much to do in London and in one night you will barely scratch the surface. Save London for a time when you can really see it and don't take away from your time in Croatia.

Bon Voyage.

Hi ph,

I haven't heard of anyone missing a 3-hr connection at LGW.

Check with both carriers.

You might not have to go through Immigration or security if you are just "in transit".

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

We would have missed our flight at Gatwick if we had only 3 hours. We had to land at Halifax because of a death on the plane.

IF you decide to stay over - there is a wonderful b&b close to the airport that will pick you up and also take you back to the airport - free of charge.
It is the Lawn Guest House in Horley. They had the best breakfast I have had at any b&b.

phieaglefan, may we ask why you are booking this on a seperate inenerary? If you book it as one ticket then you will be rebooked at no charge if you miss the flight to Croatia.

I probably would do it, but you just need to realize what your options (and costs) are if you were to miss your BA flight to Croatia. When is the next flight and how much will it cost if you buy your ticket on the spot.

Another thing to consider, what time of year are you going and where are you leaving from?

Are you going to do this trip in winter time from Chicago or NE (good chance of snowstorms delaying flights); or in summer time from Dallas (good chance of afternoon thunderstorms)

The OP is traveling in September.

Thanks for pointing that out, P_M. Doh! #o

Quite all right yk. :-) You do make a good point about weather conditions. Sept is a good time to avoid connections in hurricane-prone areas such as Miami.

Phieaglefan.

When you arrive at LGW, follow the transfer signs, and you will be able to do a plane side transfer by bus. Be certain to have printed out your boarding passes for BA, available from 9:50 a.m. British Summer Time on Friday, handy with your passports. (If you cannot do that, the BA transfer desk is slightly to your right after you come up the escalator from the entrance.) There will be a document check you have to go through, a right hand U-turn after you get off the escalator.

After the document check, there is a hand luggage screening. At least one out of every three passengers was selected for a secondary screening last time I went through LGW. That usually takes less than a minute, and is not all that onerous.

You then go up escalators to the departure lounge/department store. Because the "lounge" is designed for retail sales rather than passenger convenience, there is no way to get to your next gate in a straight line. Nonetheless, when we arrived at LGW more than two hours late, we were able to make a connection to BOD in 37 minutes, including a stop at the lavatories.
You should have no trouble making your connection in two hours 50.

Most of the restaurants (prices are high, IMO) are on the upper level of the departure lounge. Less crowded washrooms and quieter and more comfortable waiting areas are also located there. Keep an eye on your flight listing. If your flight is posted at a gate number higher than 63, you will have a considerable trek to the gate. Allow yourself at least 20 minutes to get there and remember that the flight will close 10 minutes before your departure time, regardless of weather you are checked in or not.

If you cobble together your trip on your own, with two separate tickets on separate airlines, you're hosed if the first airline drops you into Gatwick late.

So book it on one ticket, with one airline or with partner airlines. If you're booked through on one ticket, you get put on the next available flight if you come in late, and all you have is an inconvenience rather than a ruinous trip incident.

Ditto the advice about getting all your air booked on one PNR. If your first flight is delayed a few hours because of weather delays or mechanical difficulties, etc., you'll end up paying through the nose.

If it's impossible to book on one PNR, then look into travel insurance with a trip delay/trip interruption feature.

BUM STEER ALERT!

I realized this morning that when last I was at Gatwick, Delta was in the North Terminal.

That means you will not have to take a bus. Just follow the transfer signs and you will find the security check to your right just before the exit into the arrivals area.

BTW, are you certain that you are going to LGW? I thought I read that Delta was moving its flights to Heathrow.

Yes LGW - thanks P_M (I knew that - duh!) I guess the holidays are taking their toll :) Sorry it took me so long to get back, we had unexpected company yesterday.

I would love to be on a single itinerary. But I booked it this way because I'm using miles. The Delta and partner flights that were available only go into Zagreb and arrive at 8PM. The BA flight arrives in Dubrovnik around 1PM.

We've been to Europe 4 times previously, and from my experience, Mr. Fan never makes it past about 6PM before he's done and sleeping for the night.

It's tempting, but now I'm second guessing it. If we missed it and had to wait a day, not only would we be out for the flight on the original day, but we'd have to book one at full cost the next day.

I guess I was only thinking about wasting the first flight, not the re-booking costs.

Thanks everyone for your input. Also, thanks bratsandbeer for the b&b suggestion. We might just end up spending the night.

Jeff, thanks for the detailed instructions and I hadn't thought about printing my boarding passes before we left, but we certainly would be able to do that.

BTW, we leave OKC around noon and have a 2 hour connection in ATL.

I haven't purchased the BA flight or made any reservations in Dubrovnik yet, so I'll take another look at this again, and post back.

Thanks again!
H

Jeff, I just saw your last message. Yes, it's a Delta flight. But another thought occurred to me - flight changes. This travel is 9 months away. What if one or both airlines move their flights by an hour or so? It's entirely possible.

I'm glad I had you knowledgeable people to talk this out with! Thanks!
H

I'm getting in a bit late on this convesation, but here's my input.

We will be traveling from DEN to LHR in late May,we'll spend the night in London and then take the Gatwick Express to LGW to catch the same BA flight(9:50 am) to Dubrovnik. FYI there is also a late afternoon flight on BA from LGW.

I think three hours is a reasonable amount of time for you especially since Delta and BA are both located in the North Terminal, but if something would seriously delay your flight into LGW, you might still be able to get on the late afternoon flight.

I don't know your specific dates, but I would check with BA asap as I know there are only a few seats left on our late May flight.

I think 2 hrs 50 mins is fine. The last 2 years I've had the hassle (en route to Italy) of flying Edinburgh to Gatwick, then getting sucked into a stream of people transferring from international flights - and so had to go through security, passport control etc again (I had already checked in online for the second flight, though). So I know how long it takes in June and would not allow less than 2 hours, as I told BA when they changed my flight to Gatwick for next June - leaving me a choice of a 5 hour wait or 1 hr 10 mins to make the connection (which they claimed would be OK). I got a refund for the whole journey and rebooked a direct flight for less money with Jet2 !