Gatwick to Venice advice

[h-sar]

I’m hoping that those of you with first hand experience with Gatwick will be able to advise me. We are two Canadian adults who will be arriving into Gatwick at 10:30 AM on July 2 on WestJet from Canada. This ticket has already been purchased. I am now looking for a flight to Venice for the same day. My only options for a direct, nonstop flight to Venice appear to be Easyjet at either 12:30 PM or 6:10 PM. We will not have bags with us, just napsacks. No cruise until a few days later. I went through Gatwick to Rome last year, but had just over three hours between flights. For those of you who have a better memory of the immigration/customs/security protocols in Gatwick, can you please offer some insights? Thanks!

[wowzz]

You could post your question on the British Isles forum for more replies, but I will tell you that the majority of answers will  tell you that you have insufficient time.  You will in effect only have 90 minutes before boarding is closed, so any delay on your inbound flight could cause you to miss your flight.

To be safe, book the later flight. You could risk it and hope you make the earlier flight, but in the eventuality that you miss your 12:30 flight, you will have to buy two very expensive tickets for the later flight, IF (a big if in July) there is any availability. 

Only you can determine your level of risk.

If you take the later flight, go for a pub lunch. Ask for suggestions on the British Isles forum.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

13 hours ago, h-sar said:

I’m hoping that those of you with first hand experience with Gatwick will be able to advise me. We are two Canadian adults who will be arriving into Gatwick at 10:30 AM on July 2 on WestJet from Canada. This ticket has already been purchased. I am now looking for a flight to Venice for the same day. My only options for a direct, nonstop flight to Venice appear to be Easyjet at either 12:30 PM or 6:10 PM. We will not have bags with us, just napsacks. No cruise until a few days later. I went through Gatwick to Rome last year, but had just over three hours between flights. For those of you who have a better memory of the immigration/customs/security protocols in Gatwick, can you please offer some insights? Thanks!

I am looking at Yyz to FCO , using WestJet with 2 :50 mins until the BA flight to Rome 

we will check bags 

did you have enough time ? 

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, Airbalancer said:

I am looking at Yyz to FCO , using WestJet with 2 :50 mins until the BA flight to Rome 

we will check bags 

did you have enough time ? 

With checked bags, I think you are pushing your chances. If your incoming flight arrives on time, you may be OK, but you still have to clear Border Control, collect your bags,  take the shuttle to the South Terminal, check in again etc.

I'm not that much of a betting man, so I would book a later flight.

[Zach1213]

Immigration at LGW for non-EU citizens can be all over the place. Once it has taken me two minutes, another 40 minutes. The 12:30 flight is, without a doubt, not even close to being a good idea. 

 

Are you against spending a night in London? There's always a million things to see, do, eat, drink, and buy, whether you have never been there or been there a million times. Then, you can expand your search for all London airports for the flight to VCE. On July 3, there is a nonstop VCE flight on BA from London-City airport, which is super convenient if you're in the city. 

[Globaliser]

15 hours ago, h-sar said:

My only options for a direct, nonstop flight to Venice appear to be Easyjet at either 12:30 PM or 6:10 PM.

 

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

The 12:30 flight is, without a doubt, not even close to being a good idea.

 

Even if there is no need to clear immigration (ie if LGW North Terminal has a international-to-international direct airside transit route, and if easyJet will allow you to check-in and collect a boarding pass without having to go to the main landside check-in area - and I don't know the answer to either question), I think that choosing the 1230 flight would be a fairly heroic decision to make. If the inbound flight is only, say, 90 minutes late (which is relatively trivial), then you'd probably just be able to benefit from easyJet's rescue fee for those who've missed their flight by under 2 hours (£110). But if you miss it by more than two hours, then you'd have to buy a completely new ticket. Flights aren't that late that often, but often enough for me to say that I wouldn't do this.

 

15 hours ago, h-sar said:

We will not have bags with us, just napsacks. No cruise until a few days later.

 

As you seem to have chosen easyJet already over the other options, presumably you're aware of the airline's cabin bag limits? It's not impossible to manage with no checked bags if you're staying in Venice for a few days and then boarding a cruise, but I doubt that many people would manage it.

[h-sar]

8 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

Immigration at LGW for non-EU citizens can be all over the place. Once it has taken me two minutes, another 40 minutes. The 12:30 flight is, without a doubt, not even close to being a good idea. 

 

Are you against spending a night in London? There's always a million things to see, do, eat, drink, and buy, whether you have never been there or been there a million times. Then, you can expand your search for all London airports for the flight to VCE. On July 3, there is a nonstop VCE flight on BA from London-City airport, which is super convenient if you're in the city. 

We’re actually spending a week in London on the way back to Canada a few weeks later.

Edited January 24, 2020 by h-sar

[h-sar]

9 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

I am looking at Yyz to FCO , using WestJet with 2 :50 mins until the BA flight to Rome 

we will check bags 

did you have enough time ? 

our almost 3 1/2 hours was more than sufficient time, but we did not have checked bags at that time either.

[h-sar]

7 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

 

Even if there is no need to clear immigration (ie if LGW North Terminal has a international-to-international direct airside transit route, and if easyJet will allow you to check-in and collect a boarding pass without having to go to the main landside check-in area - and I don't know the answer to either question), I think that choosing the 1230 flight would be a fairly heroic decision to make. If the inbound flight is only, say, 90 minutes late (which is relatively trivial), then you'd probably just be able to benefit from easyJet's rescue fee for those who've missed their flight by under 2 hours (£110). But if you miss it by more than two hours, then you'd have to buy a completely new ticket. Flights aren't that late that often, but often enough for me to say that I wouldn't do this.

 

 

As you seem to have chosen easyJet already over the other options, presumably you're aware of the airline's cabin bag limits? It's not impossible to manage with no checked bags if you're staying in Venice for a few days and then boarding a cruise, but I doubt that many people would manage it.

Long story, but other family members on a different flight are taking the checked bags.

 

Looking at  Easyjet only because I don’t see non stop flights with other airlines. Please advise if I’m mistaken. Open to other airlines.

Edited January 24, 2020 by h-sar

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Long story, but other family members on a different flight are taking the checked bags.

 

Looking at  Easyjet only because I don’t see non stop flights with other airlines. Please advise if I’m mistaken. Open to other airlines.

Nothing wrong with Easyjet  - our airline of choice from Southern England. I don't think you'll have any other choice from LGW.  Just double check their luggage rules. 

[scottbee]

On 1/23/2020 at 3:49 PM, h-sar said:

I’m hoping that those of you with first hand experience with Gatwick will be able to advise me. We are two Canadian adults who will be arriving into Gatwick at 10:30 AM on July 2 on WestJet from Canada. This ticket has already been purchased. I am now looking for a flight to Venice for the same day. My only options for a direct, nonstop flight to Venice appear to be Easyjet at either 12:30 PM or 6:10 PM. We will not have bags with us, just napsacks. No cruise until a few days later. I went through Gatwick to Rome last year, but had just over three hours between flights. For those of you who have a better memory of the immigration/customs/security protocols in Gatwick, can you please offer some insights? Thanks!

 

Don't just limit yourself to VCE airport.  VRN/Verona  and BLQ/Bologna are 100ish km from Venice, and there's good rail service.  If a flight into one of these works better for time, you could easily stay there and take the train into Venice the day of your cruise

 

 

Edited January 25, 2020 by scottbee

[Globaliser]

11 hours ago, h-sar said:

Looking at  Easyjet only because I don’t see non stop flights with other airlines. Please advise if I’m mistaken. Open to other airlines.

 

Having checked your specific date and time, you're right that easyJet is the only viable option from Gatwick if you want to fly onwards that day. The British Airways flights are too early for you that day, and other options require a change of airports (which also incurs time problems).