Transferring from Heathrow to Gatwick
 

Thanks to American for no longer flying in and out of Gatwick for International flight starting April 13, my husband and I will now have to fly into Heathrow and transfer to Gatwick in order to make our connection on British Airways to Italy.

From doing some googling, I've found that there are some bus services that my husband and I can use to make the transfer. Does anyone have personal experience doing this? The airline said 3 1/2 hours is enough time from the time we touch down in Heathrow and take off at Gatwick, but that doesn't seem like much time to me. Also, anyone have any ideas on pricing? That was one thing that I didn't see.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

3.5 hours is not enough time unless everything goes textbook-smooth.

The bus service is National Express, and I think the cost is around 20 pounds per person one-way.

Thank you WillTravel. I thought 3.5 hours seemed too good to be true. Do you know if there is a stand at the airport to go to to arrange the shuttle? Or, is this something we should do in advance?

No, that is not enought time at all. Not only do you have to clear immigration, then get on the heathrow-gatwick shuttle, you also have to check in. If there is any kind of delay from the US or clearing immigration at LHR, it will be tough.

Not enough time unless everything works perfectly. My flight out of RDU had a scheduled delay of over three hours last time I flew to London, and the gate agent told me the minimum transfer time from Gatwick to Heathrow was four hours. I did it in two hours from landing to check-in, but I was entering the UK on my UK, not my US, passport, and it was after rush hour.

There's no need to arrange the National Express coach in advance, just show up and buy a ticket. See www.baa.com for info on both airports, how to transfer and maps of the terminals.

The reason to buy a National Express ticket in advance is that you will have preference for getting onto the coach, should there be too many people wanting to get on. I have seen this happen (going from Gatwick to Stansted).

However, it's impossible to know the best time to purchase the ticket for, so I probably would not. National Express suggests buying a ticket for later than you would expect, and then standing by for the earlier time. It's somewhat unclear, if I recall, about what happens if you need to board for an even later time.