V-Flyer

Any good recommendations for a non bus Heathrow to Gatwick transfer ?

Thanks

David

Used Airport Pickups Lobdon. Found them to be excellent and very reliable.

https://www.airport-pickups-london.com

Booked the standard car on each occasion and got a top of the range Mercedes Viano.

Mrs J and I always use when transferring.

Dan

I've used taxicode.com a couple of times on that route and others. Found them reliable and fairly priced - offer you a choice of options on the quote just like Dan's recommendation so won't hurt to compare prices for the day/time/pax of your needs.
Cheers,
Tim

I've done this twice, both on a Saturday morning. I used UberX and it was 47GBP and 54GBP.

UberX collect from the short stay car park at Heathrow.

Flyertalk BA Board did a decent set of detailed options, which I contributed to, if its not taxi...

I personally would get HEX to Paddington, taxi to St Pancras and a train from there to Gatwick. Avoids pretty much any luggage issues, tends to take maybe an hour and a half and isn't too expensive...

Quickest way by train would be HEX to Paddington, Circle Line (or taxi) to Victoria then Gatwick Express to Gatwick.

But if you buy walk up fares on the day you're looking at £40 for the two trains alone, only a bit less than an Uber which, to me, would seem the most sensible option if the coach is a no no.

In no way shape or form is getting the Hex*/Gex either the quickest, easiest or cheapest way to transfer between LHR and LGW.

Nor is HEX* to Paddington then taxi to St Pancras and then the Thameslink to LGW. If you go that route then get the picadilly line as overall it would be around the same time and involve far less luggage hauling.

(* Heathrow connect provides a much cheaper service than the HEX but is longer and not so frequent. Southern trains from Victoria are 2/3rd the price of GEX and only minutes longer and more frequent)

You can actually do it for less than a tenner but it involves tube (including a change) and then trains via West Brompton and Clapham Junction.


It might help if the OP describes what they are actually looking for. Is it quick or cheap and how many people are involved? Taxi or limo service?

If is's one person then the National Express is probbaly best. Once you get into 2+ people then it's taxi. 4 or more then private shuttle bus

http://www.batransfer.com

Have used them twice, decently priced - was £50 which I could prepay.

Efficient, friendly drivers, good vehicles - can throroughly recommend them.

tontybear wrote:Nor is HEX* to Paddington then taxi to St Pancras and then the Thameslink to LGW. If you go that route then get the picadilly line as overall it would be around the same time and involve far less luggage hauling.

I've never went down the route of the picadilly line from LHR, it always seems sooooo far out, it's unbelievable, looked like an hour before it gets to london. Hmmn, 40 minutes according to the web. Maybe one day. Does get you to the south end of the city.

BTW, there is absolutely no luggage hauling on the HEX->Taxi->St Pan route. Apart from taking luggage into a taxi and out. All of it is is escalators, all the way.

Which can't be said if you binned the taxi, and head down the circle line route (which half the time dumps you at baker street, and you end up hauling suitcases up and down between platforms and stuff).

My objection to the GEX and underground route, is lack of escalators in Victoria. The normal trains though are much cheaper and nearly as fast.

I've done the HEX alternatives, and I'd choose them if going from T3. T5 is a bit more convienent to just get on, and get off at the right terminal though. Still, I've got a bit more tolerant of the HEX now we have a 2 together railcard to make it about 22 quid return. First class on that train is not worth it.

The St Pan to Gatwick route does have a reasonable first class for the price and distance though...

Smid wrote:
Which can't be said if you binned the taxi, and head down the circle line route (which half the time dumps you at baker street, and you end up hauling suitcases up and down between platforms and stuff).

Which is one of the reasons for getting the picadilly line to St Pancras in the first place.

If you don't need to be in the Paddington area then there really is little or no advantage of taking the train rather than the tube.

tontybear wrote:Which is one of the reasons for getting the picadilly line to St Pancras in the first place.

If you don't need to be in the Paddington area then there really is little or no advantage of taking the train rather than the tube.

I suppose it is one of the natural things for some people to do, look at the shortest route and just go on it, and never really quantify the time cost (though probably did the money cost).

For instance, I plan to do the Euston to T5 this Friday, and was perfectly willing to splash out the 50 odd quid for 2 of us on return on the hex (add in the 20 quid for 2xtaxis). But at least it avoids Euston Square (which I have been told has a lift now at least). Then again, looks like Picaddilly is a change at Leicester Square for a bit of luggage lumping about... (Alternative is trundle it to St Pan/Kings Cross).

So a T5 to St Pan on Picaddily is like 40-50 minutes? But more importantly around 6 quid (less on oyster)?

Here is a link to the flyertalk post Smid spoke about
It really is worth having a look at for a lot of detail about all the options.

Well, costwise picadilly line from St Pan to T5 (walk from Euston) is a nobrainer. Probably will be £3.10 with an oystercard, because I am unlikely to be doing it before 9:30am.

However, it is an hour (plus 10 minute walk from Euston). HEX/Taxi being around 30 quid per person, is about 25 minutes. Cost versus time, really. Might do the tube one day for a bit of variety. But frankly my recent connections have been via Dublin, so it's not something I have to do often, or in a hurry....

Heathrow T5 to Gatwick via tube to St Pancras and Thameslink train will take about 2.5 hours (the Thameslink route is excruciatingly slow).

If forced to do it by tube/train, I'd do T5-Hammersmith, easy interchange to District Line to Victoria, then Southern train. That should be well under 2 hours.

gumshoe wrote:Heathrow T5 to Gatwick via tube to St Pancras and Thameslink train will take about 2.5 hours (the Thameslink route is excruciatingly slow).

If forced to do it by tube/train, I'd do T5-Hammersmith, easy interchange to District Line to Victoria, then Southern train. That should be well under 2 hours.

They seem to have added about 30 minutes onto each journey through London Bridge now, I'm sure it was around 35 minutes when I did this about 3 years ago (my its been a while since I went to gatwick).

Personally, I'd marvel at the idea that its 20 minutes between St Pan and Paddington on the circle line, like that website states. Maybe if one day I didn't have to change at least once, and then sit for obligatory 10 minutes waiting like always on the circle line trains.

I did do Euston to Vauxhall on Victoria for about a year and a half on Monday and Friday, and that was always 15 minutes for a long journey. Circle line just always seems like hell....

Smid wrote:They seem to have added about 30 minutes onto each journey through London Bridge now, I'm sure it was around 35 minutes when I did this about 3 years ago (my its been a while since I went to gatwick).

That's because they don't go via London Bridge at the moment because of the redevelopment works so the trains no longer have access to the fast tracks to East Croydon.

Instead it's a leisurly trip through South London on the heavily conjested alternative line.

Once London Bridge is completed Thameslink will be back on it's usual (fast) route and more trains.

Smid wrote:Personally, I'd marvel at the idea that its 20 minutes between St Pan and Paddington on the circle line, like that website states. Maybe if one day I didn't have to change at least once, and then sit for obligatory 10 minutes waiting like always on the circle line trains.

If you have to change, you're using the wrong station at Paddington. You want the Hammersmith & City Line station, not the District/Circle Line one. The two are completely separate at opposite ends of the main line station.

From the H&C station, trains run every 5 mins straight through to King's Cross St Pancras, no change required, journey time 10-15 minutes. From the District/Circle station you will always have to change at Edgware Road and, as you say, allow another 10 minutes.

Incidentally when Crossrail/The Elizabeth Line opens in 2018/9 the LHR-LGW journey will become quicker and easier as you'll be able to catch it direct from Heathrow to Farringdon then change there for Thameslink to Gatwick.

gumshoe wrote:If you have to change, you're using the wrong station at Paddington. You want the Hammersmith & City Line station, not the District/Circle Line one. The two are completely separate at opposite ends of the main line station.

From the H&C station, trains run every 5 mins straight through to King's Cross St Pancras, no change required, journey time 10-15 minutes. From the District/Circle station you will always have to change at Edgware Road and, as you say, allow another 10 minutes.

I suppose I aways seem to settle on the District/Circle line because I used to live in Reading, and it seemed to just be in front of you when you get off the train. And have bad luck when always getting one of those as the first train coming along when coming in the other direction. It's not something I've done often enough to think about....

Incidentally when Crossrail/The Elizabeth Line opens in 2018/9 the LHR-LGW journey will become quicker and easier as you'll be able to catch it direct from Heathrow to Farringdon then change there for Thameslink to Gatwick.

Now that is interesting about the crossrail. Definitely the ultimate solution to the heathrow to gatwick problem. I bet they stick in about 100 solid stone steps somewhere in there just to annoy the hell out of people with luggage.

One thing of note though, I was considering doing the picadilly line on Friday to try it out. Yet, then I remembered that I'd be going through London around 4pm on a Friday. That's the massive downside of the tube. Sometimes its just plain horrible...

Smid wrote:I suppose I aways seem to settle on the District/Circle line because I used to live in Reading, and it seemed to just be in front of you when you get off the train.

The trick is not to follow the hordes. When getting off a mainline train at Paddington, instead of walking to the front and exiting with the masses, use the footbridge about half way along the platform which takes you directly to the H&C station. Much quicker than the main tube station.

Now that is interesting about the crossrail. Definitely the ultimate solution to the heathrow to gatwick problem. I bet they stick in about 100 solid stone steps somewhere in there just to annoy the hell out of people with luggage.

They'd never get away with that now, with all the disability discrimination rules. It'll all be step free, with lifts.

One thing of note though, I was considering doing the picadilly line on Friday to try it out. Yet, then I remembered that I'd be going through London around 4pm on a Friday. That's the massive downside of the tube. Sometimes its just plain horrible...

No denying that, sadly.

Thanks everyone for the options and especially Hamster for the link yo the flyertalk pages.

Flights all booked, so will sort out transfers over the weekend.

David

A very minor point when looking at rail options. If you're travelling with another, the Two Together railcard has been superb for us.

It's £46.10 for the two of us to and from Gatwick and after getting on a Southern train out of Gatwick at 9:30am a few weeks ago, I'm now always getting the Gatwick Express. Even without the railcard, the GEX website often lists deals for two travellers.

Heathrow Express is £47.40 for the two of us.

Back on topic and I would personally just jump in an Uber.

Ended up booking TriStar via VS site. - 2 miles to £1

Thanks for everyone's comments

David