Heathrow to Southampton

[Corfe Mixture]

Time and time again we have discussions on this forum on the subject of getting from Heathrow to Southampton which regularly include contributions suggesting that Heathrow is one of the worst airports in the world for arriving passengers and that the journey from Heathrow to Southampton Docks is long and arduous and full of risk of major delay.

 

Both of these assertions are IMHO, totally misleading to the extent that, although it is a journey I make regularly, I have never previously bothered to note the exact time it takes me to make the journey.

 

For sure, if there is an incident which causes a complete halt on the M3, this can cause a problem, but these events are rarer than you might imagine and you have to be really unlucky to get caught behind an incident and have to wait for the police to organise the backtrack to the previous exit.

 

Additionally there are major road works, with a 50mph average speed check, taking place on the M3 between junctions 2 and 4A, but remember that folks travelling to Southampton in the morning are going the opposite way to the main commuter flow.

 

So, with Princess’ European cruising season shortly to commence and given I have to drive past Southampton on my way home, I made a mental note to run a time check on a recent arrival at Heathrow.

 

OK, so here is what happened, on Thursday 5th January:

 

06.02 Aircraft touched down runway 27R

 

Not sure about time we arrived at the gate, but when we arrived at the baggage carousel, I noticed that, despite the fact that the assigned carousel had previously been used for a flight which landed 45 minutes before us, it was empty and stationary, suggesting that all passengers, of all nationalities had cleared immigration quite quickly, had collected their baggage and were long gone.

 

Unlike those of you who elect to be met by one of the south coast based airport car companies, I had to get to the Purple Parking off-Airport, Long Term car park (in Hayes about 5 miles from the airport) and then drive back past Heathrow before commencing my journey West.

 

Again, I am not sure of the time we exited the terminal, but by 07.00 we were in the bus on the way to pick up the car.

 

The car was covered in frost and so it took me a few minutes to prepare it for departure, but we were on our way by 07.30.

 

We passed Heathrow at around 07.45 and were on the M3 by 08.00 and maintained a constant 50mph throughout the whole of the average speed restriction area.

 

I did not actually go to Southampton Docks as my home is to the West of Southampton, but, I drove past the M27/M271 intersection (about 8-10mins at the very most from the port) at 08.37, suggesting that one could arrive at the port around 08.50.

 

So to summarize, even after travelling 5 miles towards London, to recover my car from the long term car park, and then driving back past Heathrow on my way home, it would have taken me:

 

2 hours 50 minutes from touch down to Southampton Docks.

and,

if I had been one of the visitors who were met by an airport car, probably less than 2 hours 15 minutes from touch down to Southampton Docks.

[kruisey]

Are I feel are ideal for those arriving from overseas to Heathrow.They guarantee the ship will not sail without you from Southampton.You are met by Princess Representative in Arrival Hall,guided to ship,luggage stowed ,baggage handlers in Southampton take luggage to ship,Princess crew members deliver that luggage to your cabin.That is the easiest ,no hassles or worries way to get to the ship.This is my personal opinion:).Then if you have booked overnite in London Princess gets you to your hotel then picks you up to take you to the ship.:)

[windsurferfirst]

Time and time again we have discussions on this forum on the subject of getting from Heathrow to Southampton which regularly include contributions suggesting that Heathrow is one of the worst airports in the world for arriving passengers and that the journey from Heathrow to Southampton Docks is long and arduous and full of risk of major delay.

 

Both of these assertions are IMHO, totally misleading to the extent that, although it is a journey I make regularly, I have never previously bothered to note the exact time it takes me to make the journey.

 

For sure, if there is an incident which causes a complete halt on the M3, this can cause a problem, but these events are rarer than you might imagine and you have to be really unlucky to get caught behind an incident and have to wait for the police to organise the backtrack to the previous exit.

 

Additionally there are major road works, with a 50mph average speed check, taking place on the M3 between junctions 2 and 4A, but remember that folks travelling to Southampton in the morning are going the opposite way to the main commuter flow.

 

So, with Princess’ European cruising season shortly to commence and given I have to drive past Southampton on my way home, I made a mental note to run a time check on a recent arrival at Heathrow.

 

OK, so here is what happened, on Thursday 5th January:

 

06.02 Aircraft touched down runway 27R

 

Not sure about time we arrived at the gate, but when we arrived at the baggage carousel, I noticed that, despite the fact that the assigned carousel had previously been used for a flight which landed 45 minutes before us, it was empty and stationary, suggesting that all passengers, of all nationalities had cleared immigration quite quickly, had collected their baggage and were long gone.

 

Unlike those of you who elect to be met by one of the south coast based airport car companies, I had to get to the Purple Parking off-Airport, Long Term car park (in Hayes about 5 miles from the airport) and then drive back past Heathrow before commencing my journey West.

 

Again, I am not sure of the time we exited the terminal, but by 07.00 we were in the bus on the way to pick up the car.

 

The car was covered in frost and so it took me a few minutes to prepare it for departure, but we were on our way by 07.30.

 

We passed Heathrow at around 07.45 and were on the M3 by 08.00 and maintained a constant 50mph throughout the whole of the average speed restriction area.

 

I did not actually go to Southampton Docks as my home is to the West of Southampton, but, I drove past the M27/M271 intersection (about 8-10mins at the very most from the port) at 08.37, suggesting that one could arrive at the port around 08.50.

 

So to summarize, even after travelling 5 miles towards London, to recover my car from the long term car park, and then driving back past Heathrow on my way home, it would have taken me:

 

2 hours 50 minutes from touch down to Southampton Docks.

and,

if I had been one of the visitors who were met by an airport car, probably less than 2 hours 15 minutes from touch down to Southampton Docks.

 

Great post put things into perspective for our transatlantic friends.

 

I travel from Toronto to Heathrow on a regular basis and will confirm that your timings are a good example. I time my self from getting off the plane and to the bus to take me to the car hire lot, it has never taken me longer that 40 minutes to walk to passport control, clear it, collect my luggage and be on the bus. Thats pretty good going I think.

[beg3yrs]

Good write-up, thanks for that.

 

I'd like to add just a wee bit more as the OP is part of the EU and gets quicker entry into the UK than those of us not part of the EU. That said, in my experience it is typically only another 15 minutes to get through the non-EU lines for immigration.

 

Yes yes, I know, after BREXIT things may not be so quick for EU folks either.

[pinknermal]

Thank you for this. Now how much time should we factor in for the delay of being an American who has never been there and has no clue what they are doing?! :)

[Corfe Mixture]

Thank you for this. Now how much time should we factor in for the delay of being an American who has never been there and has no clue what they are doing?! :)

 

Clearly as has been pointed out, I benefitted from the fact that I was returning to my home country, which is why I referred to the fact that the designated baggage carousel had previously been used by a flight which had landed 45mins before our flight and the carousel was empty and stationary when I arrived at the carousel.

 

That flight had arrived from the Far East and, although I was through immigration quite quickly, the belt was stationary and empty.

 

This, I would suggest, is evidential of the fact that, passengers of all nationalities arriving on the previous flight had cleared immigration, collected their bags and departed the terminal long before my arrival in the baggage reclaim area.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Corfe Mixture
Missing word

[jsmac3]

Thank you for this. Now how much time should we factor in for the delay of being an American who has never been there and has no clue what they are doing?! :)

 

We flew into Heathrow for the first time this past May . . . we found Terminal 4 (Delta Terminal) to be very easy to find our way about . . . we had heard all sorts of things about Heathrow . . . but we thought it was great . . . both directions.

 

Now, if you have to change terminals for a connection, that may be another matter, but if you're flying into London or departing from London - no problem.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Not every port is as convenient as it is here in San Diego (10 mins. from airport to port). To me, arriving at LHR and getting to Southampton is no problem at all. I think the shortest I've made it to the ship was 1 hr. 45 mins. from the time I got off the plane, through immigration, picked up my luggage and hopped on the cruiseline transfer bus (which left immediately & no traffic). Easy peasy.

 

And traffic?! Had to laugh at a transfer bus driver once as we headed up to LHR from Southampton. He was complaining about how bad it was. We were moving at about 40-45 mph. :D Yes, actually MOVING. Not like here where you sit for 10 mins. at a complete stop before creeping a few feet to sit some more. I'll take that "traffic" any day over ours here.

[Spurscorner]

Would Gatwick be a better alternative?

[TracieABD]

Whatever you do- do not use British Airport Transfers- and if you do- DO NOT prepay. They left us stranded.

[Colo Cruiser]

We use this company.

 

http://www.woodfordchauffeurcars.co.uk/

[Corfe Mixture]

Would Gatwick be a better alternative?

 

IMHO No.

 

I do use Gatwick from time to time, but Heathrow is my preference

 

When I do go to Gatwick, my routing decision is a toss up between going across the South coast or going up the M3 and round the M25, with the latter route passing within 10 minutes of Heathrow T5.