Is there enough time with 3.5 hours before next flight to get from London heathrow

[Milo13]

Hi Folks,
panic stations here! I booked Edinburgh to orlando and didnt notice the flight was to LHR then left LGW! Is there enough time in 3.5 hours to get to Gatwick? Bearing in mind we have our bikes to pick up from LHR as well? :-(

3.5 hours between scheduled flight arrival and flight departure?

Not a hope, I wouldn't think.

i wouldnt chance it, i'd call BA and see if you can change to glasgow to gatwick instead

No chance. Where did you book it? It should never have been sold as 1 flight.

That's cutting it really fine and a risk if the first leg is late :(. It's 1.5 hours on the train.

Any chance you can amend?

No
Even if your flight arrives on time, you'll be waiting for your luggage and then the traffic is usually terrible!
You'll want to be at LGW at least 2 hours before departure time that leaves 1 1/2 hours but it's about 1 hour 15 mins drive between the 2 airports

Is it all on one ticket because if it’s booked like that then the airline thinks it’s doable, and it’s on them to sort if you don’t make it. That said, if I could change it then I would because it’s not worth the stress and it is incredibly tight. Call them!

For flights to US, the recommendation is to be at the airport three hours ahead of take off

If they have sold you a through ticket, sooner you point this out the better.

I have flown with bikes fairly often, although not since Covid if that matters.

How are you flying the bikes? In bike bags? Stripped down as bikes? It can take ages to pick up outsize luggage sometimes. How does the next airline want them?

How long in advance do you need to be at Gatwick?

Maybe book a van/XL transfer to take the bikes in bags? Driving time is around an hour, but bikes in taxi transfer could be problematic if not in bags.

If not in bags, how are you going to get them across London? I have no idea if you can take bikes on the tube. Could you ride to Victoria to pick up the Gatwick Express?

I used to put my bike on the GE in the 1980s but that was the day of slam door trains and the guard's van!

Will the second plane want the bikes packed the same way as the first?

Would it be easier to hire bikes at your destination? This is what most of my roadie friends who go to Majorca do.

No chance at all!

Thanks for all responses, good and bad! 😔 The bikes are in bike bags and yes sold as one flight. I called travel up and the cost of amendment is £350 per person! That is not an option unfortunately. No idea what to do now, may have to take the risk! I was off the same mind, why would they sell flights on one ticket if it was difficult to actually access them

If they were sold together by a single agent, I absolutely wouldn't accept this. There is no way it is remotely feasible even with everything working perfectly, and we all know how rare that is. Escalate.

are you with the same airline on both flights? if you can book your luggage through and not have to pick it up at LHR, then get to LG and re-check in you might make it.
Otherwise can you re-book your flight from Edinburgh to London and just pay for those - but you have to just check that you don't get cancelled on your long flight to Orlando by not making the first flight, to be honest, 3.5 hours is cutting it very fine, I am not sure I would risk it.

If it's sold as one flight is there any chance there's a shuttle bus (or taxi) between the two airports included? Plus they might take responsibility for moving your luggage securely so it doesn't need to go through the full security process again and you don't need the 2/3 hour time to travel through LGW (although experience dictates that it could well be that you make the second flight, but your bikes and other hold luggage might get there on the next flight).

They think this is possible, they've sold you a ticket on this basis, so it's up to them to make this happen and for them to solve the problem if anything goes wrong.

Are you within 24 hours of booking? If yes can you not just cancel it free of charge and rebook something more suitable?

Failing that, are you travelling with kids and is your flight to Florida the last one of the day? You may just have to accept you’ll likely miss it but the airline will sort you out and get you on the next one. If you’re 2 adults that don’t need to sit together then don’t get me wrong it’s still annoying but it’s a far easier situation than if you’re a family of 5 with toddlers. Also, can’t guarantee this will work but I recently had a tight connection with American Airlines and I just looked up the previous flight time before mine for the first leg, got to the airport 1.5 hours before that, went to the desk and asked nicely if there was space on the earlier one and if I could swap and they did it for free.

BA says minimum connection 3 hours and you have to transfer yourself and luggage by coach, so in their mind, it's perfectly doable.

www.britishairways.com/content/information/airport-information/flight-connections

It is highly unlikely even though BA say it's possible. We done this route last year, on the way out we booked a layover so was stress free but on the way back we had to get from Gatwick to Heathrow in about 4.5 hours (I had left 6 hours between flights but BA changed one of our flights so that time was reduced. I phoned them to change flight and because it was longer than their minimum time frame they would not change it free of charge so I left it). Our flight from Orlando was late coming into Gatwick and by the time we got off the plane I had an email from BA that they had booked us onto the next flight to Edinburgh. We got an uber between airports for about £120 and took under 1 hour.

We are doing Orlando again next year and definitely booking Glasgow - Gatwick - Orlando (using companion vouchers! Otherwise I would not fly BA!)

Not a chance.

But BA are usually good at making changes. Give them a call.

id do this on the way home, when there will likely be another flight home to Edinburgh an hour or two later if you miss it

there won’t be many daily flights to Orlando so If you miss it you’ll be bumped to the following day at best. not that many options from LGW to rebook you onto. I wouldn’t be happy and would call BA back.

The problem is it's through a travel agent, called them and they said to amend the booking it would be £350 per person!

Without luggage it is doable but with bikes etc no. Can you amend the first flight earlier? Is it same airline ? Is it similar on return?

PS I don’t think BA actually flies from Edinburgh to LGW which is part of the problem.

however it should be possible to get an earlier flight to LHR from Edinburgh.

they also fly from LHR to Orlando which is another option.

better still, virgin go direct from Edinburgh to Orlando.

Nope

I've done LHR/LGW transfer more than once with that kind of time frame but importantly not with outsize luggage, usually going domestic to short haul or short haul to domestic, always on a through ticket and always with a pre-booked taxi transfer.

I'd want longer in your circumstances.

It might be ok but it would be pretty tight and stressful.

Are you within the 24 hour cancellation window? If so just cancel.

When you buy a through ticket with an airline, they will make sure you get to the destination if there are delays on one of the earlier legs - so if your Edinburgh to London flight is delayed, and you miss the London to Orlando, they’ll make sure you get the next available London to Orlando. But if you book the flights yourself then you’re not protected in the same way. How does it work with a travel agent? I would check this for sure. It should be in the Ts and Cs.

I’d also look at what times the London to Orlando flights are. Is there another one later that day? If so - and you are covered if you miss your booked flight - then this might take some of the pressure off. If the next flight isn’t til the next day then I’d be more worried about it tbh.

No. Not with bikes