Heathrow to Gatwick
Jun 17th, 2015, 07:42 PM
#1
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Heathrow to Gatwick
Hello!
My flight at 6:35am on Wednesday from Chicago to Heathrow. I have to make my flight at Gatwick 9 hours laters. I was wondering how long it takes to get through customs so that I can catch the bus to Gatwick?
I need to book a ticket for the bus and was wondering how much time I should give myself to get out of the airport to the shuttle?
Thank you!
My flight at 6:35am on Wednesday from Chicago to Heathrow. I have to make my flight at Gatwick 9 hours laters. I was wondering how long it takes to get through customs so that I can catch the bus to Gatwick?
I need to book a ticket for the bus and was wondering how much time I should give myself to get out of the airport to the shuttle?
Thank you!
Jun 17th, 2015, 08:51 PM
#2
I've never bothered with buying a National Express bus ticket ahead of time. At 6:35 it may take a while to clear immigration (NOT customs, which is a walk through) but nine hours is loads of time - you could even consider going into London for lunch instead of straight to Gatwick.
Jun 17th, 2015, 09:12 PM
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You've no way of knowing what time your plane will land, how long it's going to take to deplane and how long immigration queues are going to be. And bus capacity between LHR and LGW is so great, and frequency so high, there's no real benefit in prebooking.
The likelihood is you'll be out, with bags in your hands, 60-120 minutes after your scheduled arrival time - though I've recently managed it BEFORE my scheduled arrival.
At around 0830, you might prefer to get the tube to Victoria or Kings Cross (arr c0930), leave your bags at the station, do stuff and eat, then get either the direct 30 min Southern train from Victoria or Thameslink from Kings Cross to Gatwick.
The likelihood is you'll be out, with bags in your hands, 60-120 minutes after your scheduled arrival time - though I've recently managed it BEFORE my scheduled arrival.
At around 0830, you might prefer to get the tube to Victoria or Kings Cross (arr c0930), leave your bags at the station, do stuff and eat, then get either the direct 30 min Southern train from Victoria or Thameslink from Kings Cross to Gatwick.
Jun 18th, 2015, 06:59 AM
#4
W/ 9 hours (and assuming your arrival isn't delayed 2 or 3+ hours -- I'd either: 1) take the tube from LHR to Victoria (easy transfer from the Piccadilly line to the District line at Hammersmith). Drop my bag at Left Luggage at Victoria and walk (or take the tube) to whatever site you wanted to see. You'd likely be out of Victoria Station by about 9AM give or take. Big Ben/Parliament/Buckingham Palace/the parks/Trafalgar Square/etc are all nearby. Or 2) tube to Kings Cross, drop your luggage and then take the tube to wherever you wanted to explore.
Collect you suitcase/carry on about 3 hours prior to your outbound flight and take the train to LGW
Otherwise it will just be the express coach between LHR and LGW and a LOT of cooling your heels at LGW.
Collect you suitcase/carry on about 3 hours prior to your outbound flight and take the train to LGW
Otherwise it will just be the express coach between LHR and LGW and a LOT of cooling your heels at LGW.
