London Gatwick and Heathrow

RightOn6975

RightOn6975

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Couple of questions as I suspect that a few of y’all are able to give me the information I require. I will be flying into London Gatwick from Barbados. I need to know how long does it take to get through customs there.

Second, my connecting flight will leave 4 hours later out of Heathrow. I suspect on a good day the travel time will be about 1 hour, I will need to know how much a taxi will be between the two airports? I have a basic idea of what’s going on, but not enough info to fill in the gaps so I can be prepared.
 
That is a very tight schedule - even assuming there are no hiccups on the way.

Navigating the M25 at peak times can add significant time to the journey. Also Heathrow is a massive airport so just getting to the gate can take a decent amount of time. And getting through security can be a pain too...
 
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I think it's tight, too.

You can have a good guess as to the journey time between the airports from the bus schedule. With a taxi, the travel time would probably be about 10 minutes less as it goes directly to the terminal of your destination.
https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/airports/heathrow/gatwick-to-heathrow

Official reports show that you are likely to get through the passport control within 45 minutes, but this is really difficult to predict. I once waited over 2 hours to pass Heathrow's passport control in the month the performance report says "90-something percent" of target achievement.
https://www.gatwickairport.com/business-community/about-gatwick/performance-reports/Border-Force/
 
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Getting g from Gatwick to Heathrow is going to be a complete disaster and I would be amazed if you make it in four hours - and presumably you will actually need to do it in two given check-in times etc. Your choices are either a car/bus in which case the M25 is likely to screw you; or a train in which case esxpect confusing and expensive ticketing options and lengthy delays (and filthy trains, overpriced food, and poor service).

I am having to do it in the summer and I just gave myself an extra day to be sure.
 
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Sudsy said:
(But at least it's better than De Gaulle....)
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Then again shooting yourself in the foot and then walking to your final destination is better the De Gaulle too. It takes as long but at least you'll have your luggage with you when you arrive.
 
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Fuck me. This is the cheapest round trip ticket I can get, and priceline is fucking me on the return trip, only giving me 4 hours to travel from Gatwick to Heathrow, not including passport control.
 
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Immigration at Gatwick absolutely appalling, full of long queues and you'll be lucky to be out if there within the hour.

A taxi would take 1-2 hours, depending on the M23 and the pride of London, the M25. There will likely be heavy traffic while you approach Heathrow.

Trains won't be any faster as you'll need to travel through Central London.

In conclusion, I think you've got a 10% chance of making your flight. Guess taxi would be between £60-£80
 
It will also depend on the time of day. Early-mid morning & mid-afternoon-early evening, the M25 is often a nightmare. Mid-day and late-evening, less so.

Assuming you're not travelling under a EU passport, you can also expect long queues at immigration (but again, this will vary with time of day).

Like other of the posters here - sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Hope you prove us all wrong.
 
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Shit man, good luck.
You cant rely on public transport to get you anywhere on time in the UK and the roads are also unreliable.
Security at both airports can take forever if they decide to understaff it as they do frequently, same immigration.
You need a lot of unreliable things / people to all decide to be very reliable on that day.
 
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MikeH said:
Then again shooting yourself in the foot and then walking to your final destination is better the De Gaulle too. It takes as long but at least you'll have your luggage with you when you arrive.
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Ok, but in defense of CDG we have Laduree macaroons shops. That must count for something :)
 
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Frenchy said:
Ok, but in defense of CDG we have Laduree macaroons shops. That must count for something :)
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I am pretty sure the whole airport is designed to discourage invasions. You guys went like "yeah, it is easy occupy us but after that just try to fly your top brass in and out of the country and see how that goes".
 
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MikeH said:
I am pretty sure the whole airport is designed to discourage invasions. You guys went like "yeah, it is easy occupy us but after that just try to fly your top brass in and out of the country and see how that goes".
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Sssshhhhh. Secret d’Etat :)
 
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I've gone through immigration at Gatwick twice and all I can say is thank God I didn't have a European passport. The line for those of us without one took about an hour each time with an 11:30am weekday arrival. But then my luggage still took another 45 minutes to an hour to arrive on the pickup. Basicly two hours till I could hit the train station.


But the line for European passport holders was at least 4 times as long. They may prices them through faster but not fast enough. I guess at least those people would at least get their luggage immediately after clearing passport control.
 
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wraithfive said:
I've gone through immigration at Gatwick twice and all I can say is thank God I didn't have a European passport. The line for those of us without one took about an hour each time with an 11:30am weekday arrival. But then my luggage still took another 45 minutes to an hour to arrive on the pickup. Basicly two hours till I could hit the train station.


But the line for European passport holders was at least 4 times as long. They may prices them through faster but not fast enough. I guess at least those people would at least get their luggage immediately after clearing passport control.
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And another good consequence of the UK leaving the EU: we will be treated no worse than Americans now! :D
 
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Frenchy said:
And another good consequence of the UK leaving the EU: we will be treated no worse than Americans now! :D
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True, and I think they put the snarkiest agents on those gates too. My favorite was my second visit to London. It was just barely 6 months past my first visit but I brought my sister with me this time. The agent asked me our plans, etc., the normal quick quiz to see if your really a tourist. Then he asks if I'm going to show my sister all the best places in London and I say, "Of course! I found some great little hidden spots last trip." He fires right back with "Yeah but I bet you can't take your sister to those!"
 
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RightOn6975 said:
Fuck me. This is the cheapest round trip ticket I can get, and priceline is fucking me on the return trip, only giving me 4 hours to travel from Gatwick to Heathrow, not including passport control.
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Maybe the cheapest option will work out more expensive in the long run with only 4 hours to make it between Gatwick and Heathrow.
 
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