Fly into 1 airport depart from different one. 3 hr connection time.

booklover

Hello

We booked a trip to LA with Expedia and our return journey is LA to Heathrow; our next leg we need to transfer to Gatwick, to fly Dublin. I presume we have to pay the cost of getting to Gatwick.

Any advice gratefully received. It's all on one Ticket. :A

StuieUK34

That is correct...

blindman

booklover wrote: »

Hello

We booked a trip to LA with Expedia and our return journey is LA to Heathrow; our next leg we need to transfer to Gatwick, to fly Dublin. I presume we have to pay the cost of getting to Gatwick.

Any advice gratefully received. It's all on one Ticket. :A

Yes you do.

Option to do so are listed at Toolkit for London

Heathrow to Gatwick National Express
Do you live in Ireland?

silvercar

3 hours to clear Heathrow, travel to Gatwick and check in. Assuming you have luggage that isn't that much spare time.

lovehackney

National Express claim they can get you between Heathrow and Gatwick in 1h 15mins. But that is the FASTEST time they can do. So any traffic and it will obviously take longer.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/airports/heathrow-to-gatwick-coach.aspx

I don't think you have anywhere near enough time to leave Heathrow (collect bags, go through passport control, get to the right bit for the coach transfers which might involve changing terminals), then getting to Gatwick, going through security etc.

Even assuming the coach is on time, and Heathrow is quick, say 45 mins from landing to getting on the coach (and of course the coach will be at scheduled times, not just leave when you get there), that's 2 hours.. only leaving you one hour before your flight to go through security etc.

malkie76

Is it genuinely all on one PNR ? Not just one itinerary from Expedia ?
Go back to them and have them increase the transfer time or fly you from Heathrow to Dublin.

SW17

Yes you do have to pay to get from LHR to LGW. Minimum Connection Time from LHR>LGW is 3 hours, so such a connection can be sold on one ticket. If it is on one ticket, the connection is protected in the event that you miss it, they will put you on a later flight, assuming one is available. If the inbound from LAX was so late that there was no chance of your making it, you would probably have to speak to the airline at LHR on arrival.

It could be a bit tight, though the National Express timetable does have a bit of slack in it, it doesn't take 1h15 to drive from LHR to LGW in normal conditions.

lovehackney wrote: »

I don't think you have anywhere near enough time to leave Heathrow (collect bags, go through passport control, get to the right bit for the coach transfers which might involve changing terminals), then getting to Gatwick, going through security etc.

You don't have to transfer terminals to get the coach, they go from LHR Central Bus Terminal (for T2/3), T4 and T5, though not all coaches stop at T4. The shortest journey is from LHR T5 to LGW North, because of the order of stops, longest is LHR central to LGW South. Frequencies are every 20 mins or so for most of the day.

littlereddevil

Get a cheap flight from LHR to Dublin

booklover

So sorry for the late reply everyone. Just to update you, we missed our connecting flight from Gatwick to Dublin, despite our best efforts to make it on time. It proved impossible. Luggage took long to get (approx 30 mins) from our LA flight, then the computer wouldn't work when buying our coach ticket to Gatwick.

No way were we going to pay £150 for a taxi, that's what we were quoted at Heathrow!!

It all worked better in the end. We arrived 10 mins after the gates closed at Gatwick, and we managed to get a standby flight in 1.5 hours to Belfast. So much better! I'd been sick on the coach too - exhausted and stressed . Never doing that connecting flight again. It had been a mistake on a my son's part. All's well that ends well. :-) Thanks again everyone. :-)

silvercar

Did you have to pay for the flight to Belfast?

duchy

I wouldn't say never again as your problem was simply the connection was too tight and you were probably stressing with the "what if's" and thinking would the airline really protect you on a later flight -which of course they did - and as you say it actually worked out better

Airfares from Dublin are so much cheaper than Belfast because of the taxes it'd be a shame to lose out as now you know how it works you'd book a longer connection, buy the coach ticket on-line in advance and you knw now the airlines will take care of you if you misconnect.

One thing to be aware of is that often expedia and the like only show the shortest connecton but if you cal them will come up with a longer connection as you can have up to 24 hours between flights.

One of the most relaxing trips I had to the US was a super cheap fare that left Dublin at 7pm -and the connecting Virgin flight left the next morning so I paid about £40 to stay at the Yotel which is inside the terminal and close enough to the check in desks that I strolled over and checked in then went back to my room/cabin with a Costa coffee -watched a bit of TV and caught up on email with their free wi-fi , had a shower and then went through security. Utterly stress free .