time to catch a Heathrow flight?
 

Greetings! I am putting together an award trip using Skymiles to fly on Virgin. I will be returning from a cruise to Dover with the ship docking at 6:00am. I currently have a resrvation on the VS flight to Washington that leaves at 12:00pm. I will be flying on July 10, a Monday. Do those of you with experience at Heathrow think I will make this flight? I plan to have a car service pick us up at Dover around 7:00 am. Will we have enough time to get there? We are in Upper Class, so we have shorter lines to wait in. I'm going to try for a later flight, but I have to connect on Delta to Kansas City and get home all in one day. As of now there are no award seats on the Delta flights that connect with the later Virgin flights through New York or Boston. Some people have said it takes 2 hours from Dover to Heathrow, but I wonder what Monday morning traffic around London is like? What do you all think?
Susie

If the ship docks at 6:00am, I doubt that you will be off and traveling by 7:00am. It takes a long time to get a couple of thousand people off in any orderly (if you are lucky) manner. I have spent 2 1/2 hours on a ship AFTER docking before I was even allowed to disembark. Just getting the bus (forget competing with 2,000 others for a cab) from the dock into Dover will take additonal time.

Are you arriving on a weekday or a weekend? That will greatly affect the traffic that you will encounter if you travel by road.

I would take the train from Dover into London, the train from London to Heathrow, and latest VS flight possible. If you get off the ship early and wind up with extra time, spend it in London shopping or eating. But I think too many stars have to align for your connections to work as planned. It MAY work, but then again, it MAY not, and do you want to end your dream vacation with a missed flight home?

PS - If the cruise line arranges your travel and you have a tight transit connection, they will see to it that you get off the ship as early as possible. Since you are arranging your own travel, they will make you wait your turn. :td:

You know you could probably do it within the 6 hours. Having lived and grown up in London there are far too many variables that can go wrong. Coming in from Kent (Dover) on Monday morning rush hour is far from pleasant especially with luggage.

To drive you will need to take the M23/M25. Again Monday morning rush hour is horrible.

The trouble with the train is that the Kent side terminates in the South of the city and LHR Express goes from Paddington in the North. You will need to allow at least 45 mins for this crossing connection

I do have a suggestion though! Stay over on Monday night, book yourself into the Sofitel St. James with one of their internet specials. This is a 5* hotel right where you as a tourist will want to be. Get up Tuesday morning and take the IAD flight as planned. The internet rates are excellent.

Just took a look and the VS flights and they are wide open July 11 to IAD and NYC in Upper Class.

Good luck. Feel free to PM if you need anything else.

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it's a small ship, but...
 

We are sailing on Oceania, their ship Insignia. The ship carries only 842 passengers so disembarkation shoud go fairly quick, assuming there are no immigration hangups.

Some cruisers have said they got to LHR by 9:00, others said it was 1:00 pm. All depends on how disembarkation goes. I'm going to keep calling Delta to try to get seats on later flights. I'd like to stay one night in London, but we don't have any more vacation time after the cruise. I have this on hold until 8/19 so if I have to get ticketed I can request waitlist on the later flights. Or pay the $50 to make a change if seats open up. The problem isn't with the Virgin flights-they have plenty of seats. The problem is with the domestic connections to Kansas City-this far out Delta says there are no award seats, even in coach, from New York, Boston, or Miami that would get us home the same day.

What would happen if you missed the flight and had to take another day off work anyway?

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the hubby has agreed to stay
 

My husband likes the idea of calling his office from London to say we missed the flight. What can they do-fire him? Not. I am still going to try for availability on a different flight later the same day the ship docks. But we will fly out the next day if I can't get the seats. The hang up seems to availabilty on DL 1297 ATL-MCI. This is the last flight to get back to Kansas City the same day, the one all the east coast flights connect to. I can get to Atlanta, but not to KC on this flight. DL says there aren't even any coach award seats 10 months in advance. How can this be? How popular can this one flight be?
I have until the 19th to get ticketed, unless I can get a 2 week extension on the reservation. I'll keep you posted. If we stay in London, I want to get a cheap hotel near the train station for the Heathrow train so we can walk to the station and go right to the airport. Any suggestions for $100 a night or so?

The Heathrow Express leaves from Paddington Station. I would suggest that you visit www.biddingfortravel.com and get a feel for what is possible in the Notting Hill/Bayswater part of London on your date. Then follow the strategy there for a (hopefully) successful Priceline bid. Bidding For Travel even lists the hotels that frequently participate in Priceline so you will have some idea of what you may get. FYI, the Hilton London Paddington is directly across the street from Paddington Station.

One other source for less expensive rooms in London is www.laterooms.com although it may be too far out to book your dates now.

changed to the next day
 

I went ahead and changed our flights to the next day, July 11, same flights through Washington leaving LHR at noon. Now we'll have time to partake of the Upper Class perks at the airport. The cruiseline said it would be safe to book a flight after 11:00 am, that we should make the airport as the ship actually docks at 5:00 am. But there is still the traffic issue that could cause a delay. And having to get up so darn early.

ecaarch: I have used biddingfortravel.com before to get a room. I was planning on it for this night in London, but it's too early. I will start researching as to what hotels tend to be used in the Paddington area. How long does the train from Paddington to LHR take? Is it an express? What terminal is VS in?

I have only taken the Heathrow Express twice. It is only about 15 minutes. The train runs every 15 minutes so missing a train is no big deal. The facilities are similar to the Gatwick Express with ample luggage bins throughout the carriages. As the name implies, it is an express running only from Paddington to Heathrow. www.heathrowexpress.com

I have flown into/out of LHR a number of times but never on VS since I have always been on AF. I believe that VS uses Termial 3. I have walked from Terminal 2 (where AF arrives) to the tube and to the Heathrow Express station, but the walkways are entirely underground and extremely disorienting. Maybe another FT member with more knowledge of LHR can help with more LHR info. Here's a link to start with. www.heathrow.co.uk

I'm ticketed
 

I went ahead and transferred the membership rewards points and got ticketed on 6/26/06 MCI-ATL-JFK-LHR, returning through IAD on 07/11/06 using 100K skymiles to fly Virgin Upper Class for each ticket. I hope it's worth it. I'm going to call DL back and waitlist for flights on July 10 and hope that between now and next June they clear. Taxes/fees for the whole shebang were $125. Not bad for 2 free business class tix to London for almost the exact itinerary I wanted. It takes a lot of work to get these award seats, but is worth it. The people working the partner desk were all very helpful, fun, and courteous. If Delta goes bankrupt will I still be able to use the Virgin Airways part of the tickets? I am being issued paper tickets, and if I had to buy a ticket to JFK to hook up with Virgin I would.
Susie

Train is quick from Paddington, it is also a very short walkto term 3 departures and puts you right in VS Check-in. Flying Club in Term 3 is excellent - best in the business!

I would highly recommend the Sofitel which is in St James, mainly because beautiful well positioned and the rooms are QUIET! You should get some internet specials on it too for around £150.00 for the night. TIP: Upgrade for another £20.00 at check in - you get a full bath and shower which is great!

It is also just down from Piccadilly so treat yourself and book a show at one of the theatres near by.

Bid $65 - 70 for a 4 star at LHR that plus $20 in taxes and fees should land you the Sheraton Skyline, a great hotel.

isn't LHR out a ways from the city
 

After disembarking the cruiseship in Dover and making our way to London, I figure we'll be checking in around 11:00-noon. If we stay at Heathrow, isn't it a long way and a bit expensive to go back into the city for the rest of the day and evening, maybe see a show, and go back out to LHR late at night? Wouldn't it be more convenient to stay near the Paddington Station? There should be some 4* hotels in that same price range to bid on in town, I would think. Are there any Sheratons in the city?