elainesj

I have a 11:50am flight out of Heathrow (on Delta to Zurich) on Friday, March 14th. I am planning to stay the night before (1 night) at the Comfort Hotel Wembley. (for a variety of reasons primarily that I can get the hotel free on points and that it is convenient to the tube so I can get into Central London on the Thursday night to meet my brother for dinner).

I will have a rental car so should be able to shoot straight for the airport in the morning. Approximately how long should I allow to get to the airport?

We are experienced flyers and used to moving efficiently in airports (although this will be our first time in Heathrow). For domestic US flights, we usually arrive 1-1.5 hours before. We would like to be at the airport by 9:50am (2 hours before) and allow a half hour to drop off rental car and shuttle to airport - so be at rental car return by 9:20am.

Google maps shows a 30 minute drive. How much time should I allow (I'm sure there will be traffic). Leave hotel at 8:20am (60 min drive) or leave at 7:50am? (90 min drive)

michaelmorrison

The rush hour traffic starts around 6:30 but most of the congestion is on the M4, heading towards the center so the journey even with traffic shouldn't take more than 1 hour (usually it's about 45 minutes of driving).

Odin

Is the Comfort Hotel actually in Wembley? There is alot of congestion in the mornings on the local roads, it is not confined to the M4. There is a Comfort Hotel at LHR, presumably you cannot stay there.
Delta don't fly from LHR to ZRH, the operator is Swiss. DL is probably the codeshare airline but not the operating airline. Google maps suggests the A312 which is extremely congested in the mornings as it leads to the M4.

janisj

Weird - I am sure I responded to your thread back when you started it -- maybe that was one of the 'twitchy' days on Fodors.

Anyway . . . I would allow more than an hour at LHR to be sure. For intra-Europe flights I like 2 hours and for transatlantic most airlines suggest 3 hours. You might not need 2 hours - but sometimes security at LHR can be loooooong

Also - I would allow more than half an hour for returning the car and shuttling to the terminal. All of the rentals are off airport and in the morning a lot of other folks will likely be in the return queues. then you have to wait for the next shuttle and a 10 - 15 minute drive to the terminal (or sometime even longer). The locations are very near the airport, but the access roads get VERY congested in the AM.

thursdaysd

Why are you taking the car to Wembley if all you are then doing is taking the tube into London? Where are you coming from? Can't you drop the car off at LHR the day you stay in Wembley and then use the tube?

Grindeldoo

I spent 5 years "reverse commuting" from an inner London suburb to Bracknell, a town to the west of London. In my experience, leaving any time after 7.15 meant a slow journey out of London. You say you are staying in Wembley, but there doesn't appear to be a Comfort Hotel there, but a little further out, in Harrow. Perhaps you mean this one? Whichever it is, you must reckon on a fairly slow journey. If it were me driving and wanting to drop a car on the Friday morning I would personally leave the hotel at 8.00 at the very latest. I agree with thursdaysd - drop the car off the night before, go in to meet your brother for dinner then out to Wembley by Tube. The following morning you can use either public transport (use the TfL website to work out your journey alternatives - http://www.journeyplanner.org/user/X...T2?language=en
or get the hotel to organise a local minicab for you the night before, getting the cab company to confirm the price when you book. A minicab is much cheaper than a London black cab and should be around £25-35.

elainesj

I'm so sorry - I missed seeing everyone's replies. I had kept an eye on this thread for a few days but then stopped checking.

Some very helpful thoughts

Odin: It is a codeshare flight - will be operated by KLM.

I had originally planned on staying at the Heathrow/Windsor Marriot in Slough. However, my brother said I was nuts staying so far out and advised me to stay closer to central London. And I did mistype the hotel name - its the Quality Hotel Wembley (Same chain so I always mix them up!). I can get free nights at both places.

I can return the car the Thursday night but so far it had seemed to make financial sense to keep it. We are travelling as a family of 4 public transit prices add up.

As I can see it, my options are:

1. Stay at Quality Hotel Wembley
- Drive in all the way to Wembley (from Wales)and park (free at hotel). Will there be rush hour traffic heading into the city on Thursday about 4pm?
- Then tube into central London for dinner with my brother and tube back.
- Friday morning, leave at 8am. 1hr for drive, 1hr for car rental return, 1hr 50 min for check in.

2. Stay at Heathrow/Windsor Marriott.
- Drive in from Wales, drop off baggage in hotel on Thursday afternoon
- drop car off at car rental return
- tube to central London for dinner with my brother. Tube back to Heathrow, then Hoppa bus (every 30 mins; 9:15pm, 9:48pm,...) OR bus 77 (every hr; 9:05pm, 10:05pm) to hotel. 8 pounds/family.
- morning; leave at 9am. check in by 10am. bus 77 to Terminal 5, then free bus to Terminal 4. 5.80 pounds/family. Or Hoppa bus - 8 pounds/family.
This will cost me extra 20+ pounds in transportation costs (Hoppa + tube from zone 6 for 4 ppl) but save me an hour in the morning. Plus, no free breakfast. Might be worth it though.

3. Stay at Quality Hotel Wembley.
- drive in from Wales, drop car off at airport.
- tube, then bus, to hotel with luggage (1.5 hrs)
- tube to central London, meet my brother for dinner.
- tube back to hotel.
- Friday morning, leave at 8:30am. check in by 10am. bus, then tube to airport. (1.5hrs)
*Not crazy about this one - I would sooner drive even if I have to leave 30 mins earlier. The bus/tube combo sounds complicated, esp. with luggage.

janisj

IMO #3 is plain nutty

If it was me and your main objective is dinner in London . . . And you are coming from Wales . . . I'd not go anywhere near Wembley. I'd do #2 either turning in the car that day or the next morning before the flight.

thursdaysd

If you're not planning to visit Windsor, just dinner in London, why would you not stay at the Heathrow Marriott? It is closer to the airport, and has a shuttle, which would give you more options.

elainesj

janisj: I agree! I figured it out just to see how it would work and it sounded awful.

thursdaysd: I have a free night at the Heathrow/Windsor Marriott, but not at the closer one. The Heathrow/Windsor Marriott also has a Hoppa bus serving it as well as a local city bus. So not too bad - seems worth the small extra hassle to save the £60-100.

Option 1 saves me an extra £20-30 but might be worth spending it to save some hassle and stress on Friday morning.

eek...this whole thing was complicated. I think either Option 1 or 2 will work, pros and cons both ways (I'm trying hard to minimize costs wherever we can). I'm also not a fan of sitting around waiting for buses that only come every 30 mins (that I would have to do in Option 2). Prefer sitting in a car in a traffic jam.