Cutting it too close?

[janmitch]

First time Regent cruiser here.  Also, it’s the first time we’ve ever used any cruise line air.  We dock in Southampton and will fly home from LHR on a Saturday in September.  Is a 12:15 pm flight to US cutting it too close?  Should we go for the 3:15 instead?  Thanks for any help.

[pooleman]

I would do the 3:15 for peace of mind unless it creates other issues;  it's cheap "insurance ".

[Grandma Gilly]

Definitely 3.15.

You need to be at Heathrow 3 hours before your flight and the journey from Southampton takes just over an hour if there is no traffic and that’s highly unlikely!

[jjs217]

Yes, do the 3:15.  Go to the lounge and relax - knowing you are not rushed.

[Lonedaddy]

Not even a question in my mind.   If there is traffic (likely)  or long queues (Likely) at security or any mishap you will be stressed.   Which airline are you flying and do you have any status in their program ?  might help decided what lounge to use.  Also, lots of shopping at LHR as well.  There really is no downside to the later flight other than getting home 3 hrs later so why stress and rush enjoy the flight.

[Desperate to Sail]

I recognize they're a different cruise line but Silversea has us on an 11:35 am departure back to DFW via ATL in mid-May. For months I begged them to put us on one of the later direct flights on AA to DFW but SS refused because of the additional cost. My TA says we'll make the flight. Assuming a 7 am disembarkation from the ship at Southampton, we should be to LHR by 8:30 am. No margin for error and all we can do is try to make it happen. Good luck with your flight. 

Edited February 24 by Desperate to Sail

[janmitch]

Thanks, all, for your input!  I realized when I read back through that we are really traveling on a Friday, not Saturday!!  We’re on Regent, flying AA with FF numbers, but no real status.  We’re about at the time where we can ask for our air deviation and wanted to double check that I’d made the right first choice for flights.  Evidently, I didn’t.  🥺

[Dolebludger]

I don’t know about Silversea, but we were able to deviate with Regent to get a direct business class United flight from LHR to DIA. It cost a little, but we were able to avoid an additional connection in the US, and avoid a rather long domestic leg in basic economy.

[asnaleah]

We did the 12:15 pm on AA.  No problems. We had arranged for a private car (Trenchard), got lucky with very little traffic and arrived at LHR about 8:30 am. Plenty of time to enjoy the great shopping and the lounge.

[SWFLAOK]

6 hours ago, Desperate to Sail said:

I recognize they're a different cruise line but Silversea has us on an 11:35 am departure back to DFW via ATL in mid-May. For months I begged them to put us on one of the later direct flights on AA to DFW but SS refused because of the additional cost. My TA says we'll make the flight. Assuming a 7 am disembarkation from the ship at Southampton, we should be to LHR by 8:30 am. No margin for error and all we can do is try to make it happen. Good luck with your flight. 

Unless you don't mind missing your flight at LHR and making other arrangements to get home, I would tell Silversea that you can't make that flight. I would not count on being able to disembark at 7 AM unless you are taking private transportation, provided by Silversea, from Southampton to LHR. It's often a long slow ride from Southampton to LHR, and I would not trust any cruise line's bus to get you there in time. I would ask if Silversea can provide a later flight with an upcharge.

We begged Viking to put us on a flight from Miami to Amsterdam that had more than an hour between the Delta flight they booked us on with a connection through Atlanta. We complained 3 times, and they didn't budge, but we didn't say we would pay more since we had already paid a considerable amount for the upgrade to business class.

As expected, the Delta flight from Miami to Atlanta left nearly an hour late, and they told us to run as fast as we could to get to our flight to Amsterdam before it took off. We, and one other person on our flight did that, and Delta slammed the door to the flight when the the other person was standing in front of the door. We were slower (being older), but we were close enough to see that happen. We looked online, and they had already given our seats away, and we had to wait 3 hours for crappy seats on Delta in "premium economy" with all of the college students enjoying free drinks.

We lived through it, but we didn't sleep at all, and eventually, we had to work very hard to get our business class upgrade payment  back from the cruise line. And they only gave us half of it back since they  said the one hour flight on Delta from Miami to Atlanta was first class (there was no first class or business class on that flight),

We learned that you can't trust the cruise lines to book flights that will make it likely that you will arrive on time with a connection. We will only accept that from them if it's on the way home, and we don't mind spending another day on our way home. We also no longer allow them to book us on Delta since this was the second time that has happened to us through Atlanta with 2 different cruise lines.
 

[Jack1]

Checked with our TA about booking  flights back home  from LHR after arriving in southampton port on Regent.  She then contacted Regent and their reply was to not book anything before 2pm.  So that's what we'll do.  Should give us lots  of time.

[jjs217]

16 hours ago, asnaleah said:

We did the 12:15 pm on AA.  No problems. We had arranged for a private car (Trenchard), got lucky with very little traffic and arrived at LHR about 8:30 am. Plenty of time to enjoy the great shopping and the lounge.

WOW - you were very lucky.  Sometimes Customs is delayed and you can't even get off the boat until 8:30AM.  I wouldn't risk it.

[Dolebludger]

Our flight after Splendor docks at Southampton from LHR to DIA is at 2:50 PM on United business class that we got via a deviation. It is the only direct flight to Denver that exists. I hope all will go well. But I wouldn’t want the return flight to be any earlier.

Edited February 25 by Dolebludger

[asnaleah]

Yes, we did get very lucky. However, we were only sailing from Honfleur and were scheduled to disembark at 7:00 am. Luckily, Customs went very smoothly. We only had the one option for a direct flight to ORD, so plan B was to stay overnight and try again the next day. Not ideal. A later flight would be much less stressful