i've read some postings and am now completely panicking about my flights. i'm arriving at heathrow (terminal 3) at 12:25 on a tuesday. will i have time to catch my flight at stansted at 17:10 (4 hours 50 minutes between flights)? if i miss my national express bus, any idea how much it would be to hire a taxi? or, should i try to get to the stansted express at liverpool street station? in desperate need of information.

Oh dear, you do sound panicky, but I don't blame you, I'm the same way before a trip.

Have you looked into booking a car service such as www.justairports.com? They will pick you up at Heathrow and drop you off at Stanstead. I don't know how it compares with the bus in terms of cost, but it might be worth any extra cost for peace of mind. Good luck.

Just to point out that you don't have 4h50m - you have the time between landing & checkin closing at Stansted which will be typically (but may be more) 40 minutes before departure. Assuming you are on a low costs airline you must be checked in before checkin closes or lose your flight.

So your 4h50m is really less than 4 hours & you need to be at Stansted by 16:00 to allow for queuing at checkin

Looking at the (weekday) schedule for NE the latest coach you can get is the 13:40 which I also suspect is the 1st coach you could catch given your arrival time.

If you miss that then you can get the HEX / Circle Line / SEX combination up till about 14:15

A taxi would cost in the region of £100

Personally I'd change your plans & fly later

You <i>might</i> make the 13:15 coach but more likely will be the next one at 13:40 w/ arrival at 15:05. So if things go like clockwork you would be at Stansted in plenty of time

BUT if you miss that coach the next one isn't until 14:40, arriving about 16:20. Still <i>might</i> be enough time - but most of the low cost carriers have really strict check in requirements. Just being in the queue isn't good enough - you need to be checked in by the cut off time.

So - if you can manage w/ just carry on luggege you will have a much better chance of making the earlier coach.

I was interrupted mid-post and didn't see alanRow's message -- I agree w/ him. If you can change your flight I would definitely do it.

I would HATE to try the HEX - tube - SEX (has a ring to it ) in a jet lagged fog. Just too many connections/hassle.

And just to add more misery, that's a pretty busy time at Heathrow and delays in landing and gate assignment are quite commonplace, so just because your schedule has you arriving at 12:25 is no indication that you actually <i>will</i> arrive then. In three passes through LHR in the past couple of weeks, we arrived at our gate on time exactly zero times, the longest hold being 150 feet from the gate for 25 minutes because BAA (the operator of both Heathrow and Stansted, and the main perp behind all the carryon goofiness) mistakenly sent us to two gates both of which had 747s parked at them at the time.

Bag reclaim also took forever, since the BAA-imposed carryon rules have resulted in many more checked bags, leading to labo(u)r slowdowns at the airport. Welcome to Britain.

I would reschedule something - either the STN flight or - better - fly into some other country.

thank you all very much. unfortunately, can't change my flights so keep your fingers crossed. thanks for the tip on justairports.com, i reserved a car and driver.