Safe time to book airfare from Southhamton to London airport

[CTCcruiserr]

I am sailing with an approximate arrival time of 7AM in Southampton England.  Nor sure how long it will take to start disembarkation or how long the travel time is to the London Airport.  I hope to use private transportation - Any suggestions would be welcome o the company I could use.  My main concern is earliest I should consider booking flights from London to Austin Texas.  Possible flight times would mean the difference of getting a non-stop flight from London to Austin or one with intermediate stop.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Have departed from LHR several times now, after cruises.  I personally would not risk booking anything before noon...maybe even 1:00 pm. However, we will often just plan to stay an extra day (or 2) in London. Doing that completely removes the stress factor in case the ship is delayed docking for some reason. 

[david63]

Normally when ships dock at Southampton and they are on time then self disembarkation starts at around 07:00 with all other disembarkation complete for around 09:30.

 

On a good day (and there are not many of those) it will take about an hour and a half to get from Southampton to LHR.

 

As for private transport - West Quay cars have a good reputation https://westquaycars.com/southampton-to-heathrow/ but there are others if you do a Google search.

 

Personally I would not consider a flight before mid afternoon (many airlines are now asking for a four hour check-in for long haul at UK airports)

Edited November 19, 2023 by david63

[FlyerTalker]

Unless you are staying over in the UK, forget about the AUS non-stop.  It leaves before noon, which really isn't appropriate when coming from Southampton.  You don't mention what your ship's itinerary will be, which might mean significant immigration and customs procedures on arrival.  Which puts you even further behind the time curve.

 

I'd just take an afternoon flight and not be stressed with rushing to a morning departure.

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

The next thing to remember is there are two airports to be considering...Heathrow (LHR) and Gatwick (LGW)...both will have flights to the US. Just saying "London airport" also brings in London City airport (LCY), but highly unlikely you will be flying from there.

[david63]

You can also add London Luton, London Stanstead and London Southend to that list although I would not expect any of those would normally be operating to the US.

 

Gatwick is mainly charter flights.

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

Gatwick is mainly charter flights.

 

I think that would be rather shocking news to many Gatwick airlines - and indeed, to the airport itself.

[6rugrats]

53 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

I think that would be rather shocking news to many Gatwick airlines - and indeed, to the airport itself.

Yes, many major carriers have regularly scheduled flights to/from Gatwick.

Edited November 19, 2023 by 6rugrats

[Island2Dweller]

Gatwick is not a charter airline airport.  The biggest airline (by far) at Gatwick is easyjet.  They don't operate any charters.

For the original question.  Also worth looking at Air France / KLM, who operate from Southampton airport and may have a connecting option.  Yes, it involves a change but far simpler/quicker/cheaper to get to Southampton airport than any of the six London airports.

[Globaliser]

4 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

Gatwick is not a charter airline airport.

 

With a few minutes to have a dig into this, I was able to find about 290 departures from Gatwick today (20 November). Of these, perhaps 11 could be described as charters - although TUI, which accounted for 9 of those, might not entirely agree.

[Zach1213]

23 hours ago, david63 said:

You can also add London Luton, London Stanstead and London Southend to that list although I would not expect any of those would normally be operating to the US.

 

 

I love the thought of United operating a Southend to Newark flight with a 757 or something ridiculous like that. 

 

4 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

The biggest airline (by far) at Gatwick is easyjet.  They don't operate any charters.

 

Oooh actually I have been on an easyjet charter! But I think it was very unusual and unexpected. I was supposed to be on a staff shuttle operated by an unnamed aircraft manufacturer between Bremen and Toulouse several years ago and the aircraft went tech...and they were able to grab an easyjet plane last minute to fly us. 

[waterbug123]

It's been a few years, but we used TotallyDrivenUK for black car service from Southampton to London.  it was 125 pounds and the service was excellent.