Southampton-London Transfers - Airport (LHR/LGW) - NEW THREAD!

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, IrieBajan54 said:

Arriving LHR at 7:20 a.m. on a Wednesday in November at Terminal 3. Have a choice of 10:00 or 11:50 a.m. for transfer to Southampton on National Express. Thinking of buying 10:00 a.m.  no changes-ticket as it seems two hours should be enough to get through immigration/customs. Is this doable and is it a short walk to the bus station? And if I get through even faster, where could I hangout (coffee) before going to bus station?

 

Immigration is the main pinch-point, not so bad if you have biometric passports

 https://photoaid.com/blog/biometric-passport/

Unless an officer feels your collar, customs is a wall-thru between the baggage hall & arrivals hall 

It's a ten-minute walk from T3 to LHR central bus station.

Your decision whether to buy changeable but yes, should be plenty of time if your flight is vaguely on-time and there's no massive hiccup.

 

Several outlets for coffee etc in T3 Arrivals Hall 

http://heathrow.airport-information.co.uk/restaurants/terminal-3.html

 

And one at central bus station.

 

Happy landings

 

JB 🙂

[IrieBajan54]

Thanks JB! I do have a biometric passport so hopefully it will be a walk thru. I read that most coffee shops in England don't usually sell drip/filtered coffee which is all I drink. Maybe, I'll get lucky.

[Cotswold Eagle]

6 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

I read that most coffee shops in England don't usually sell drip/filtered coffee which is all I drink. Maybe, I'll get lucky.

Yes, I’m afraid you’ll mostly find espresso-based drinks, either barista made or from a machine. I think filter coffee is still on the menu at Starbucks, but they may well have “run out”  (not bothered). There is not the demand or profit margin to keep a fresh pot running. 

 

The ubiquitous Pret A Manger, mostly known for its sandwiches and other food, does have filter coffee on their menu. But again most food stores will sell basically a long americano with or without milk as ‘white’ or ‘black’ coffee. 

[Ellis1138]

On recommendations from this forum, we chose Gunwharf limo to take us from Heathrow to our Southampton hotel.

 

The owner, Marc, drove us in a nice Chevy Suburban. He also replied to all my questions prior, through email and whatsApp.

 

The 190 GBP charge is more than others, but I feel it was worth it. 

[jas283a]

Just wanted to put out there that for those wanting a private transfer, we used  British Express Cars. Had looked at many options but found them the night before (which was good, because of an Airbnb situation gone south, we stayed somewhere different than anticipated). They weren’t the cheapest, but very reliable, even last minute, were there waiting 10 minutes early and handled everything very professionally. Couldn’t recommend them more highly!