Transferring Airports

ah i used to have problems to/from Manchester airport – we have 2 options from Bradford

1. Bradford-Manchester Victoria – swap – Victoria to Airport
2. Bradford doubling bak to Leeds – swap – then dct to Manchester

here i had to pay TWICE seperate – it was quite a farce as well with student cards if you went outside certain zones as well!

Preston,

I don’t think that by having to change trains 3 times you incur 3 separate fares. I travelled to my home town from Gatwick with two train companies and only paid one fare – I was not told that because I had to change trains, I would have to pay an extra couple of quid.

I’ve done the Gatwick Express trice before and it is quite frequent any very easy to use though Victoria is not exactley the most user friendly station in the world.

I’ve never actually done it, and surely you guys live in London and know much better than me. I’ve just had to make the journey from Central London to LHR. That sucks that certain Euro flights only operate from LGW, and if you’re flying BA from LAX into LHR, and you want to connect onto one of those flights, you’d have to make the journey.

u lot do make it hardwork!!

Coach – reasonable far – direct from Gatwick to LHR

Train – 3 seperate fares, 3 seperate changes and a transit via central London, with baggage…

yeah, but it’s a right pain in the arse, certainly Victoria dosen’t have lifts down to the tube station, so you have to balance your luggage down the Escaltors (if they’re working) or carry them down Stairs if they’re not…

Frankly, I’d think the best plan would be to stay away from Central London as possible. Which brings the added bonus of not having to deal with too many Cockneys.

Yes, the Circle Line does the journey with no changes.

I thought the Thiefrow, errrrrr, Heathrow express was very cheap, considering. Don’t recall the exact price, but it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the one time I took a cab from Victoria to Heathrow. That cost me like over 40 pounds. I agree with you Mongu, in that bags and the tube are not a good combo, but I’ve done it, and I had like 3 pieces, one of which was big. Mind you, it was a pain, but doable. Besides, isn’t Victoria and Paddington on the same line with one stop in between?

it’s something like 15 quid one way for teh Heathrow express… which takes about 15 minutes…

Well, the Gatty express is from memory a lot cheaper than the Thiefrow express, and it is something like twice the distance as well!

The Gatwick Express I’ve heard (although not really relevant to this conversation) is very very pricey for what it is. I would not even consider that as a last resort.

If our holiday is still going ahead(!!) we’re being taxiied to Heathrow and home again, it’s not often we go from the airport and paying in excess of £5 per day for parking for over 3 weeks is going to well over £100 whereas a taxi is only £30 each way! Bargain!

Nice idea in theory GD, but the Gatwick express goes to Victoria Station and the Heathrow Express leaves from Paddington. To travel between the 2 stations, you’d either have to take a taxi ride through central London or take the tube, which is a thing to avoid with bags.

Oh – I usually buy the coach tix from the counter at LGW, just by the exit (you can’t miss it) and there are some seats nearby.

How about the train from Gatwick to Victoria station, and then the Heathrow express? I took the Heathrow express from Paddington, I believe, and that thing flies! Took like 20 minutes, and you can check in your luggage at the station.

hiya – www.gobycoach.com has the online booking service where i got my details from – glad to be of help!:D

Thanks for the info. To be honest I don’t like travelling on trains plus with so much luggage it’s pretty hard to carry it all onto the train so I am not keen on that option.
I am travelling GCI-LGW on BA, however, the flight out of Heathrow is Turkish Kibris so I doubt I would be able to get a voucher off BA. The coach seems the easiest option although where would I be able to book tickets? I have taken now into account the traffic situation and will leave plenty of time as well.

Thanks for the help.

i’d go for the coach option- it “says” its an hour transfer, i’d still bank on it been more reliable than the trains, and its DIRECT no on and off like the train. It leaves from the North Terminal (where u sed in a previous post, or the south if you choose to), direct to Heathrow central coach station. At £10 per adult each way, £5 per kids each way i’d b worth it to save the hassle – T5 i reckon it may also be cheaper than the trains or marginally differant??

Just checked the train situation and turns out I am right with regards to where you get on, off and change!

Total journey time is 65 mintes from Feltham and you incur a 20 minute wait at Clapham Junction. Services are provided by Southwest Trains between Feltham and Clapham Junction and then South Central between there and the airport.

It will be a LOT cheaper than any other option, but it’s more a question of whether or not it is reliable. I use the the Reading – Waterloo service several times weekly (this is the line mentioned above, Feltham and Clapham) and very rarely do these trains run on time, even if it is only a 5 minute delay, it’s still late!

I’ve transferred LGW-LHR a lot and I would echo the comment about leaving plenty of time. It takes between 45 and 90 minutes on the coach, plus upto maybe 25 minutes to wait for a coach if you just missed the last one.

If you want to check in 2 hrs before departure at LHR, you’ll need to plan on leaving LGW 3 and a half to 4 hours befoe departure.

Unfortunately BA do not allow you to transfer bags, so you need to pick them up from the belt at LGW and lug them all the way to LHR. I know, its pathetic and silly, but there you go! If you have hand baggage only you can of course check in at LGW or even your airport before that, saving some time at LHR.

Journey summary
Outward travel details : (ref G5 – 562)
From : London, Gatwick Airport, North Terminal, West Sussex
To : HEATHROW AIRPORT, central bus station
On : Friday, 6 June 2003

Return travel details :
From : HEATHROW AIRPORT, central bus station
To : London, Gatwick Airport, North Terminal, West Sussex
On : Friday, 20 June 2003

Passengers : 3 Adults
1 Child

Fare (travel only) – Fare (with insurance) Select
Standard return

£70.00 £73.96

—————————————————————-
So for a family of 4 – 3 adults (incl yourself over 16) and a younger sibling for example it’d be around £70 return split over 2 random dates chose 6/6/03 and 20/6/03 from Gatwich North to LHR to Gatwick north for you return flight home – all from www.gobycoach.com

so approx £20 per adult return – £10 per kid

hope it helps

another option…

From oooop ere in’t norf we can get thou bus fromt’ interchange in Bradford which runs down to East Mids, then to LHR, then onto LGW. I think it’s called fightlink and run by National Express www.gobycoach.com – will check this tho. If so it’s sure to run the otherway back