How early is too early for flight back to states on a Sunday

[go noles]

If we walked off and hired a car from Southampton would a 1220 flight to the states be safe?  It would be Sun 9/1.  Thanks

Edited May 19, 2019 by Host Bonjour
spelling in topic title

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, go noles said:

If we walked off and hired a car from Southampton would a 1220 flight to the states be safe?  It would be Sun 9/1.

 

I suspect that you probably mean the day on which it will be Sunday 1/9 here (seeing as the day on which it will be 9/1 here is not a Sunday).

 

It much depends on (a) what time your ship is due to dock; (b) what time you might be able to get off the ship; (c) whether you're prepared to gamble on the ship not being late. But if you want to gamble, a Sunday morning is a good time to do it.

[John Bull]

1st September, right?

Always best to write the month because as per G's post 9/1 means 9th Jan in the UK.

 

No worries on a sunday.

I've known of folk flying out an hour earlier than you. 

 

Most ships arrive in Southampton around 4.30 - 5.30am, with unassisted disembarkation (haul all your own bags from the cabin) from around 7am and the first tranche of regular disembarkation from 7.30am.

The drive is a comfortable 80-90 minutes, and even if there's a big problem (eg fatal saturday-night accident which closes the motorway for accident investigators), on a sunday morning there won't be much traffic joining your car on an alternate route.

 

You should aim to be at LHR at least 2 hours before your flight. Later is possible but risky.

 

So in theory you could  book a car for as late as 9am - but you should give yourselves as much leeway as possible by asking to be in the first  tranche of disembarkation, or by choosing unassisted.

 

First ship's buses usually leave the pier around 8am to 8.15, and each bus is almost-always allocated to a single LHR terminal - so no scenic tour of the terminals  to delay you.

So ship's transfer bus is an option, though for two people it probably saves little compared to a private transfer. 

 

JB 

 

[LHT28]

We arrived in Southampton on Good Friday  do not know whether it was because it was a holiday  or what

But the Officials  were very slow  in the F2F  with people  & so getting off was a long slow process

I would err on the side of caution & book a later flight or stay over & get  a flight the next day

sometimes things go according to plan & sometimes not

Thank goodness we had planned a few days in Southampton

[WESTEAST]

On 5/5/2019 at 10:15 AM, LHT28 said:

We arrived in Southampton on Good Friday  do not know whether it was because it was a holiday  or what

But the Officials  were very slow  in the F2F  with people  & so getting off was a long slow process

I would err on the side of caution & book a later flight or stay over & get  a flight the next day

sometimes things go according to plan & sometimes not

Thank goodness we had planned a few days in Southampton

 

Hello from BC,  We're sailing the British Isles onboard Marina and after Ireland, the first port in UK is Portland and then onto Southampton to disembark. I would assume one clears customs on your first port of entry back into UK but wanted to inquire if Southampton was your first port in UK? Air Canada changed our flight departure out of Heathrow from 4:15 to 1 PM - ship arrives at 8 AM and we are taking O transfer from ship to airport so it will be tight. If we can clear customs in Portland all the better.  Thanks for info. 

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, WESTEAST said:

 

Hello from BC,  We're sailing the British Isles onboard Marina and after Ireland, the first port in UK is Portland and then onto Southampton to disembark. I would assume one clears customs on your first port of entry back into UK but wanted to inquire if Southampton was your first port in UK? Air Canada changed our flight departure out of Heathrow from 4:15 to 1 PM - ship arrives at 8 AM and we are taking O transfer from ship to airport so it will be tight. If we can clear customs in Portland all the better.  Thanks for info. 

 

Customs is an irrelevance, I'm guessing your query is about immigration.

You can't clear customs at Portland cos your luggage will still be on the ship. So customs is at Southampton, but it's a walk-through that you probably won't even know that you've walked through unless one of Her Majesty's finest taps you on the shoulder.

I can't help re immigration cos I've never cruised back to a second port in the UK, but again it's a speedy operation at Southampton - nothing like at airports.

 

If this cruise is scheduled to disembark on 2nd June, Marina is showing on the Southampton port website as arriving at 6.30am, so 8am will presumably be when disembarkation starts. 

More importantly 2nd June is a sunday - no London commuters on a sunday, and not much other London-bound traffic in the morning either 

 

Is "O transfer" Oceania's ship's transfer coach?

Most cruise lines recommend that you don't book ship's transfer if your LHR flight is before 12.30. Most ships' disembarkation starts at 7.30am with the first buses away at about 8am, Yours will presumably be at least half-an-hour later. possibly later than that if there aren't several coaches for the same LHR terminal, bearing in mind that Marina is a tiddler. On the other hand this is a sunday, and the drive should be no more than 90 minutes.

You need to be at LHR about 2 hrs before your flight time, ie 11am, so you need to be away from the pier by 9.30am.

So you have about an hour's margin for delays.

That should be enough, but if you're not committed to Oceania's transfer do consider a private transfer instead, with a car booked for say 8.15am. That should cost about £80 to £90 - the same as two seats on O's coach?  It'd mean no waiting for a transfer bus to fill, marginally quicker transfer time, no risk of a scenic tour of several LHR terminals (again due to Marina's diminutive size) before reaching yours, and a more comfortable journey.

Check out www.smithsforairports.com and www.westquaycars.com and www.aquacars.co.uk and www.blackberrycars.com

The first three are based at the Southampton end,  Blackberry are one of the reliable operators based at LHR.

 

JB 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by John Bull

[WESTEAST]

14 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Customs is an irrelevance, I'm guessing your query is about immigration.

You can't clear customs at Portland cos your luggage will still be on the ship. So customs is at Southampton, but it's a walk-through that you probably won't even know that you've walked through unless one of Her Majesty's finest taps you on the shoulder.

I can't help re immigration cos I've never cruised back to a second port in the UK, but again it's a speedy operation at Southampton - nothing like at airports.

 

If this cruise is scheduled to disembark on 2nd June, Marina is showing on the Southampton port website as arriving at 6.30am, so 8am will presumably be when disembarkation starts. 

More importantly 2nd June is a sunday - no London commuters on a sunday, and not much other London-bound traffic in the morning either 

 

Is "O transfer" Oceania's ship's transfer coach?

Most cruise lines recommend that you don't book ship's transfer if your LHR flight is before 12.30. Most ships' disembarkation starts at 7.30am with the first buses away at about 8am, Yours will presumably be at least half-an-hour later. possibly later than that if there aren't several coaches for the same LHR terminal, bearing in mind that Marina is a tiddler. On the other hand this is a sunday, and the drive should be no more than 90 minutes.

You need to be at LHR about 2 hrs before your flight time, ie 11am, so you need to be away from the pier by 9.30am.

So you have about an hour's margin for delays.

That should be enough, but if you're not committed to Oceania's transfer do consider a private transfer instead, with a car booked for say 8.15am. That should cost about £80 to £90 - the same as two seats on O's coach?  It'd mean no waiting for a transfer bus to fill, marginally quicker transfer time, no risk of a scenic tour of several LHR terminals (again due to Marina's diminutive size) before reaching yours, and a more comfortable journey.

Check out www.smithsforairports.com and www.westquaycars.com and www.aquacars.co.uk and www.blackberrycars.com

The first three are based at the Southampton end,  Blackberry are one of the reliable operators based at LHR.

 

JB 

 

 

Thank you for this info - checked with smithsforairports.com and charge would be £110 + £3 for parking - they recommend we plan for 2 hour travelling time. Will definitely mull over this option as agree that O transfer bus will have to be full before departing and probably won't go direct to LHR T2. We arrive Aug 14 which is a Wednesday so traffic will be busier.

[John Bull]

35 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

We arrive Aug 14 which is a Wednesday so traffic will be busier.

 

 

Ahh, missed that cruise on the port schedule.

 

Yes, the traffic will be worse on a wednesday 

But the port schedule shows arrival time as 5.30am, same sort of time as most other cruise ships.

So you' might be able to self-disembark (haul your own luggage from the cabin) at about 7am - it's worth checking that on the Oceania forum. That'd put you ahead of the herd and ahead of any lines through the terminal. If so, book a car for 7.30 to give yourselves a really comfortable window. The 2 hours suggested by Smiths is about right mid-week London-bound but doesn't allow for any unusual hold-ups.

And altho' I'd be more confident with a big ship's transfer, yes I'm guessing that Oceania's transfer could be delayed waiting to fill and/or calling at T's 4 and 5 (on the opposite side of the airport) before T2.

Smiths price looks to have jumped this year, but they were always cheaper than the opposition - I guess they've now realised that. But you could ask the others to quote.

 

JB