Joy, all my flights for my sabbatical got cancelled. Luckily I’ve managed to get rebooked on a slightly different route, but it involves flying Manchester to Gatwick, then self shuttling to Heathrow. We land in Gatwick 4 hours before we take off from Heathrow.

The person sorting out the tickets couldn’t tell me if it’s considered a through flight, whether I’ll get boarding passes for the whole trip in Manchester, and when we have to be at Heathrow. I know I’m going to have to phone them again, get more info, and figure out whether to just get a train to London the night before and miss the Gatwick bit out, but has anyone here done this airport changing lark? Any useful insights?

You’ll need to leave airside, reclaim your luggage and exit the airport. It will be a separate transit. It’s not a huge challenge to transfer, but I think I’d be booking a private hire car to be sure (Windsor Cars will be about £60 and are recommended).

There are occasionally flights from Gatwick to Heathrow to move planes. It could be one of those I guess, but seems unlikely.

No luggage, possible if there are zero delays but very tight.
Luggage, No hope.

We land in Gatwick 4 hours before we take off from Heathrow.

google’s fastest public transport suggestion between the two seems to be 1hr 15, every 30 minutes. So potentially 1hr 45.

getting Hold luggage (bike?) off the gatwick plane and walking the admittedly short distance to the gatwick train station on top of that.

It’s about a 50 minute journey with no traffic.

I’d be more inclined to get the train and skip Gatwick, but make sure you sort it beforehand as if you no-show for the first leg they might cancel the whole thing…

National express bus is also good. 1:15, not too expensive with frequent busses, although a taxi would probably be less stress as it can be waiting for you to go direct to Heathrow.

I’d not even try it, flew into Gatwick a couple of weeks ago and it was four hours before I’d even left the airport. It’s chaos.

Passport controll has no queues, you just walk into a football field sized room and shuffle forwards avoiding eye contacts with the person next to you who’s trying to shuffle slightly quicker than you untill you reach the electronic gates.

Then even though we’d been on the ground 2 hours by that point it was still another 40min untill the baggage made it to the conveyor.

It’s a recipe for disaster – take alternative means of transport to get to Heathrow and leave a lot more time than you think.

Can you cut out the Gatwick bit? Seems a bit unnecessary. Take the train from Manchester to Heathrow in about 3 hours or a bit longer on the bus but without changes and cheaper.

Yeah, I have to say it sounds far simpler to go straight to Heathrow.

a decent local cab company is evo (roadrunners) – I would go for a gatwick-based company rather than a heathrow-based one (as they’ll have spare cars at source if you have some issues).

I would take national express ahead of the train, but its more liable to delays. what time/day is it?

better than all those options- train from manchester -> heathrow is under 3 hours (and presumably gives you an extra 2 hours at the start of your journey). much easier.

4hr – hand luggage ok, hold luggage would not risk it.

Could you fly Ringway to Heathrow with British airways?

Passport controll has no queues.

Domestic flight so shouldn’t be any queues. Luggage from the hold might not be so fast.

You will avoid passport queuing if it’s internal flight but Gatwick can be a mare for luggage and there’s delays disembarking on occasion atm. Cabs stay off airport until the last moment nowadays so you may lose time there if you’re using one to get to lhr. Traffic depends on M25 and Heathrow approach roads both of which have the potential to be very spiteful and then lhr could also be carnage.
I would come down night before and stay somewhere cheap at lhr tbh, 4 hours is very tight in the current climate.

Possibly if you’re flying from T5.

If you’re flying from T2 or T3 then not a chance. Departures and security queues are insane recently. If you’re going on a particularly busy day then you’ll struggle even getting through the tunnels to get to the terminals. T5 isn’t so bad at the minute, BA have cancelled a load of flights and are finally getting their sh*t together.
Heathrow are currently advising passengers to arrive 3h prior to departure for international flights, such is the mess there.

As someone who use to spend a lot of time at both Gatwick, Heathrow and lots of car/taxi journeys in-between and all around the South East – I’d just get the train to Heathrow.

I’ve done it. Glasgow – Gatwick – Heathrow. When booking for two of us it saved several hundred quid rather than just flying direct to Hathrow.

With hold luggage as well though this was pre Covid. Allowed plenty time. But happy to spend an extra couple of hours in Heathrow for the cash saved.

Current situation I would do it with hand luggage.

We booked a place on the express bus an hour after our landing time. Actually caught the previous bus which had space for us.

I wouldn’t risk that. Even if the airport thing run smoothly, M25 could seriously knobble you, even without an accident. I live in Oxford and used to go to Manchester for work occasionally. That’s sub 3 hours on the train. Airport coach from Oxford to T5 is under 1.5 hours ( perhaps a 5 minute walk from rail station to the coach station) so I’d look at that and other non air based options to get to Heathrow and drop the Gatwick leg. Might even be quicker!

Thanks all. We’re hand luggage only so maybe it could work out. Will investigate train options and see what it’ll cost vs risks. If it’s not a through ticket I don’t reckon I’ll risk it. It’s easy enough to stay in London on Friday with relatives, assuming there are trains. That’s my other worry: if there is a train strike. I can’t drive to Heathrow because we fly back to Manchester via Dublin. Argh!

Could you fly Ringway to Heathrow with British airways?

Well, you could if it was 1974. Someone’s showing their age 😉

Pretty much what has already been said. Manchester to Gatwick then Heathrow sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Four hours sounds like a lot of time but the fabled 50 minute journeys being talked about above can easily be two hours plus if you are anywhere near the London rush ‘hours’ or if there is an incident on the M25 or M4. Anyone more used to smaller airports also tend to misjudge quite how large and busy Heathrow & Gatwick really are – particularly with all the current travel issues.
Is there any way that you could get a lift to London / Heathrow maybe the day before. It would be by far the easiest way, especially if you have a lot of or large bags including a bike bag.

Any train strike would be announced 14 days before the event so solve that problem when you need to. No point worrying about it until it’s planned to happen.

Ooh, @Andy_B I like the cut of your jib! Worrying about things only when necessary is something I need to work on! And I didn’t know that the strikes would be announced that far in advance, so that helps a lot, thanks.

With no luggage just get train from Manchester to King’s Cross / Euston, 20 mins on underground to Paddington, then Heathrow express. Or if you are looking for a cheaper option, have plenty of time and fancy the scenic route take the picadilly line the whole way to Heathrow.

As a Londoner I’d say 4 hrs is leaving it a bit tight, even before stinky mess we’re currently in. I’d be going straight to Heathrow

Done this, was flying business both flights (so quicker deplane and reclaim, then bag drop and security) with hold luggage and a private hire between, had 5h gap and it was tight. I’d be nervous…

This wife booked the flights for our big family holiday to Vegas Easter 2020 with this transfer in the middle, for 5 of us with hold luggage without me realising. You couldn’t skip the Manchester to Heathrow bit and check in at Gatwick as it as in the conditions of travel. I was massively stressed about it, fortunately the world went to shit so the holiday never happened.

Well, you could if it was 1974. Someone’s showing their age 😉

If he was, he’d have known about this…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlink_(helicopter_shuttle_service)