belga

Hi,

On feb 1st i am going on a trip from Stocholm, sweden to Rio de Janeiro, brazil and as a part of that there is a transfer in London between London city airport and Heathrow.

Now i have not been on an airplane in almost 20 years, so you can pretty much call me a first time flyer and i have never gone this far before. The thing that has me a bit worried is this transfer. The first flight lands at 09:00 and the connection leaves at 12:00. Thats a mere 3 hours that needs to contain me getting my luggage, getting to heathrow, checking in again and then get on the next flight. I've spoken to BA (both are British airways flights) and they say it's possible but it is the minimum recommended time.

I've checked the transfer guides and it says that using public transport and the heathrow express the trip should take about 1 hour and 20 minutes. But this means getting all the transfers between the underground, light trains and such, and i'm not so sure about getting that part right.

So my question is this: Does anyone know how long a cab all the way would take, and possibly a ballpark figure what the cost would be? Google maps says a little less than 1 hour, but having never been to London, i have no idea what traffic is like between 09:00 and 12:00 on a wednesday.

So if anyone has any tips or knowledge about this i would very much appreciate the help. And in casy anyone needs to know, the ticket is for stockholm - Rio, so it's not 2 seperate bookings, just a transfer.

Cheers!

janisj

That is an insane connection. These two airports are on the absolute opposite sides of London -- more than 30 miles apart.

The fastest journey by public transport take nearly 90 minutes and involves lots of walking and 4 different trains/tube/light rail. So in 'real life' it would likely take you longer since you are unlikely to make the 4 transfers like clockwork. From touchdown at LCY to LHR will probably take more than 2 hours. A Pre-booked car service wouldn't be much faster and cost a lot. A cab would take the same time as a car service and cost a <B>LOT</B> more.

For you to make this, everything must work just perfectly. I'm amazed BA calls it a legal connection.

janisj

Meant to add: From your title I thought you were asking about transferring from an apartment in the City to LHR. I opened your thread thinking I was going to tell you about the tube an car services . . . Then I saw you mean London City <i>Airport</i>!

flanneruk

It probably matters what day and what time of year you're travelling.

At weekends (and I have a horrible suspicion BA are offering lower prices to LCY than to LHR because you're travelling Sat or Sun: usually weekday fares to LCY are higher than to LHR), public transport is very prone to planned disruption. For the next few months road journeys will be very disrupted every day because a key road between the two airports has been closed for emergency repairs, and no-one (least of all BA) know when it's reopening. That road also gets disrupted throughout the Olympics, and during an undisclosed period before, because of our rulers' disgraceful decision to close major parts of our roads so parasitic Olympic officials and overindulged journalists can have them for themselves. It's quite possible your possible road journey will have an hour added to it until September.

On the other hand, BA call the connection legal presumably because few people have missed it. "Legal" is supposed to mean they put you on the next flight if you miss it: but BA has few flights to Rio, and your next opportunity will probably be 24 hours later, or involve even more changes in Madrid or Miami.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't use public transport (at least one option, using the Hammersmith & City line to Paddington, involves the civilised world's most horrible metro access. Even the Tashkent metro has nothing as dangerous with luggage) I'd suggest if you go ahead, you prebook a car (LCY has an excellent on-time arrival record, and is probably the fastest airport in Europe at getting your bags to you), from one of the companies regularly featured here like Justairports or Ray Skinner.

Even so, I suspect the added cost will be about as much as the extra for booking on the direct Arlanda-Heathrow flight.

Legal or not: the road journey's unreliable and the tube/train journey is hugely uncomfortable with bags. Getting the direct flight has to be worth a couple of hundred kronor extra, if only to reduce the likelihood of a heart attack

jamikins

That is a VERY tight connection. I live near LCY and it takes 2 hours to get to Heathrow on the tube network with two changes. That is assuming all lines are working. If its early in the morning/or late evening the traffic should be ok so a car service may work but is likely to cost +£42 http://www.justairports.com/index.htm It usually takes approx. 1 hour, I leave 1.5 - 2 hours leeway just in case when we take the car transfer.

Check www.tfl.gov.uk to see if there are any engineering works planned the time you are flying as the DLR line may be down on the weekends and you may be forced to pay for the car service.

If everything is working, and there are no delays, or lines at security, you may make it...?

alanbowen

If you booked this through a travel agent, they need shooting. BA fly direct to LHR from Stockholm and there is no reason for you to have been booked to London City Airport. It may be too late now to change the ticket but you need to find out the excuse for this insane decision. You do need to plan your route in advance, BA fly from Terminal 5 at LHR and you must check in on line in advance, even so you will have to queue to drop your bags off when you arrive at T5 and there is a strict 35 minute cut off point after which you will be refused entry to the terminal. That means you must be though security before 1125 or your journey to Rio will not happen.

According to Transport for London the minimum time for the journey is 1hr 11 minutes, http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/use...lateDistance=1

This is the route, it is doable but requires a number of changes, at London City and Canning Town there are elevators between levels which makes it relatively easy to change and at Baker Street the Jubilee and Bakerloo lines are on the same level without the need to move up or down but you will have to contend with escalators at Paddington from the subway to the main concourse where the Heathrow Express departs. If you can buy your Heathrow Express ticket on line in advance, it saves a lot of money, if you don't do that then buy at the self service machines besides the departure platforms at Paddington as they charge even more on board. Good luck!

belga

Thank you so much for the replies.

Truth be told i've kinda decided NOT to do the public transport-debacle since it is bound to go wrong somewhere.

There IS a static cab-ride from LCY to Paddington that is £40 and then i can take the Heathrow express all the way to terminal 5.

And as fare as expenses goes, as long as i can make the transfer uner £100 im happy, thats why i was wondering about the cab-fare to go all the way as paddington is about halfway and is £40. The questing is which would be faster. Cab to paddington and then the express, or cab all the way.

And just to clarify: I will be doing (or trying to do) this transfer between 09:00 and 12:00 on 2012-02-01, which is a wednesday.

belga

Small update:

I just had a quick email conversation with a man named Reji at Justairports. He tells me that LCY-LHR during the times i need should take about 1,5 hours using their service and cost $54. Is this reasonable?

It would actually be £3 cheaper than the Cab to paddington + Heathrow express alternative i mentioned earlier.

Do you think this would be a good choise? And like i said, the cost is not my greates concern.

Cheers!

jamikins

It seems reasonable to me (I assume you mean £ not $). And I usually trust their judgment. Worst case is that you get booked on the next flight right?

belga

I just sent Justairports a mail requesting a car from LCY to LHR. If it just takes an hour and a half that would be fine i think. I don't know how long it takes to get the bags at LCY but unless it's more than 30 minutes there should be just enough time to get to LHR in time.

Thank you so much for the information and the help!

jamikins

LCY is the fastest airport I have ever been in. Its very small and usually by the time I get through customs my bags are on the carousel to pick up...obviously things can happen, but its usually pretty quick.

Good luck!

belga

Hi!

Just wanted to let anyone that might be interested know that the connection worked like a charm using justairports car service. I got to the gate with 30 minutes to spare so it was tight, but smooth.

I would howeven not want to do it during traffic hours since i don't think it's possible to make it during that time.

Cheers!

avalon

We too have been more than pleased with justairport services. And it was so nice of you to come back to let us know how your travels went, You set a good example we should all follow!

Jill02

Slightly different question without starting a new thread... Our free frequent flyer ticket takes us home to San Francisco from Venice through London. We arrive at LCY at 2 pm and fly out of Heatherow then next day at 3 pm. so we dont have a connection issue.

Obviously, we will book a room. Any recommendations? My husband has never been to London so, if we are not exhausted, a little 2 hour tour might be nice in the morning before our flight... I have no idea how close Heatherow is to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, etc so I don't know if we want to stay close to the airport or near a major site...

We arrive on Sunday November 4 and fly back out on Monday.

PatrickLondon

Jill, if you look at the map, you will see that since your two airports are either side of the city and you will have a late afternoon, evening, overnight and part of the morning free, it would make most sense to look for somewhere in the centre with reasonable access to both airports. Absolutely no need to look for an airport hotel.

However, the best places would involved some changing on public transport. There are hotels near the Tower of London which you could reach directly from LCY by the Docklands Light Railway, but it's a rather dull area to stay in and rather out of the centre still.

You could change to the Jubilee Line from the DLR at Canning Town (lifts and escalators), which will take you to Waterloo, where there are posh and budget hotels in County Hall. From there you could stroll along the South Bank and/or walk or bus over to Trafalgar Square/Strand/Covent Garden: plenty of options for a relaxing afternoon and evening.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/15101.aspx
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaro...loodr-2289.pdf

Jill02

Thank you Patrick! We are quite comfortable figuring out public transportation even if we have to change lines (what do I care? My husband carries the luggage!)

I wonder if it is common for hotels to offer free transfers to/from the airport... I will look at properties in the centre.

PatrickLondon

>>what do I care? My husband carries the luggage!<<

You know your husband best, of course, but he might not thank you for planning a change from the DLR at Bank to the Central Line (two escalators up, long-ish corridors, a couple of dozen stairs up and down again), which is why I suggested getting on to the Jubilee Line at Canning Town.

alanRow

< I wonder if it is common for hotels to offer free transfers to/from the airport >

It's uncommon to the point that NO hotel offers free transfers - unless you count the transfer bus at Heathrow from T5 to T4 for people using the Hilton

jamikins

Nope, definitely not something that hotels here offer...

Jill02

Ok. Thanks for all of the input. I decided to avoid Heathrow completely. British Airlines charges crazy fuel taxes and it's not a simple airport.