LGW to LHR 7am on Sat-3.5 hrs??
 

Ok folks - question for the experts. Have a transfer from LGW to LHR. Will be in business arriving on Delta and departing LHR on Kenya Airways. Will carry on a camera backpack and a slightly oversize (by UK standard) duffle. Hoping to be first off the plane from bus. class, breeze through passport control at 7am on a Saturday and head to a waiting car for transfer.

Issue-Will I have to check duffle at LHR for the onward flight? I was hoping to head through fast track at T4 with my slightly oversize duffle and just carry on. If I have to check I see no way to meet the 2 hr baggage check in window coming from LGW. Why is 3 hrs a legal connection if there is no way you can check your bags in if necessary and you cannot through check from LGW to LHR?

Any advice is appreciated. What are my chances of easing through fast track with my duffle and not having to check it?

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It's certainly possible, but can't be guaranteed. When my flight into LGW was delayed last year the AA gate agent told me 4 hours was the recommended minimum for this transfer. I've done it in much less, but I enter the country on a UK passport. The wild cards are passport control - you don't know what other planes may be landing at the same time - and traffic holdups (accident, not rush hour) on the M25. Even coming in on a UK passport it's taking longer than it used to.

Does Delta provide a fast-track certficate for passport control? I travel into Heathrow and my carrier provides a fast-track for those in business. Last time I estimated it saved me at least half an hour, judging from the queue in the normal track.

I heard that fast track for arrival flights at gatwick is gone. Anyone know if this is accurate?

The only fast processing mentioned on the BAA website for Gatwick is IRIS, described here: tinyurl.com/2kfgmf, but it doesn't look like it would apply to your trip.

Just few weeks ago we had to connect LHR-LGW. We came in on BA flight from Cairo at noon. Passport control took about 5-10 minutes. Baggage about 45 minutes, walked right through customs, walked outside, bought the tickets, waited about 10-15 minutes for the next bus. The trip took 50 minutes, so the entire transfer took ~2 hours and this was on Monday afternoon.

Can't tell you about passport fastrack at LGW but they do have security fastrack. I do realize that you are going in the reverse direction but if they do fastrack for security they may still have it for passport control.

At the end it really didn't matter as we had checked luggage so by the time the luggage hit the carousel ~30 minutes passed and most passengers from our flight were passed immigration. For the first time ever, my suitcase was the last one on the belt.

I couldn't see inbound Fast Track at Gatwick North last time I came through.

At 0730 on a Sunday morning, the European passport queue was shorter than the (almost non-existent) non-European one. There are very few arrivals there at that time from high-scrutiny countries. It took 50 mins to T4, and required a 15 min wait for the bus. BUT:

<b> Check on the timing for the day you're planning to travel </b>. As far as I can tell, once T5's open, there's no bus from Gatwick to T4. You go to LHR Central (75 mins on a weekend morning), then get a train. Are you travelling before March 27?

If your bag exceeds UK size limits (see the Heathrow site), or Kenya Airways' limits if they're tougher, you MUST check it in.

Where are you getting this 2 hour thing from? If that's what Kenya are saying, then three hours from LGW isn't a legal connection whatever some other airline might tell you. But BA, for example, requires bag drop only 45 mins before departure (even to the US) if you've checked in online beforehand.

There's no point asking us about these details. You need to check Kenya's requirements and the ground journey time for your flight on your day of travel.

I've landed around 7 am on Saturday at Gatwick (from a Delta flight) and had a 30 min wait at passport control. The line was very long but moved steadily. This was a year ago.