Lastest you can get to Heathrow for long haul flight?

[GT03ROB]

captain_cynic said:

surveyor said:

To hikack this thread I had a very similar discussion with a cab company last night. They wanted me to plan to be at the airport an hour before checkin closes in case they were late or their was a traffic jam.

My requested pick up was 5:30am, which gave 20 minutes to travel the whole 3 miles to the busy metropolis of Doncaster airport before checkin closed....

The world has gone mad.

The world is relatively sane,

Taxi company is probably just sick of people ringing up and complaining that the taxi got stuck in traffic and they missed their flight. Poor planning on their part always seems to be someone else's fault. It's likely happened enough times that they've made a policy over it.

People go batste insane whenever air travel is involved, common courtesy and personal responsibility (what little of it there is) goes completely out the window.

Quite, company I use have a policy of targetting to get you to the airport 3hrs prior to departure, allowing for normal traffic at that time of day. Given it's a 1hr 20min journey to LHR that doesn't seem too unreasonable. I asked them about it once & they said people always underestimate the potential for things to go wrong & it's their driver that cops it from the passengers when they arrive late at the airport! Personally I'm more than happy to arrive earlyish & relax before the flight, far rather that than a last minute dash about & worry about missing flight!

[surveyor]

GT03ROB said:

Quite, company I use have a policy of targetting to get you to the airport 3hrs prior to departure, allowing for normal traffic at that time of day. Given it's a 1hr 20min journey to LHR that doesn't seem too unreasonable. I asked them about it once & they said people always underestimate the potential for things to go wrong & it's their driver that cops it from the passengers when they arrive late at the airport! Personally I'm more than happy to arrive earlyish & relax before the flight, far rather that than a last minute dash about & worry about missing flight!

The advantage of flying from my local airport is the 5 minute journey. Ok I suppose the road could be closed, in which case it’s a 10 minute journey the back way...

I kind of get where they are coming from, and I suppose if I was looking at an expensive long haul flight rather than a flight to Ireland that at worst case I can rearrange I would be more risk averse.

The main risks for me is the taxi going to the similar road name around the corner, or not being sent. I can mitigate these with 20 minutes by jumping in my car and parking in the short Term car park for my wife to pick up..

All the taxi company has to say iis on your head be it.....

[PugwasHDJ80]

op if you are within shouting distance of bournemouth you could take the train

its two hours from bournemouth to paddington- ie a 1545 gets you in at 1745, you then catch the 1755 heathrow express that gets to T3 in 15 mins.

i suspect you could be going through security for 1830 all in. if you onlly have handluggage then you'll have loads of time to spare.

the 1645 would get you there on time too actually

if you only have hand luggage and you pay for premium security, you wil clear security in about 15mins or so.

[Simon Brooks]

My son is travelling to NY this Friday and has just received an email from Norwegian Air to say that they are opening the desk 4 hours before departure, due to the increased security checks for US flights. Whilst I appreciate that OP is flying to Sri Lanka it may be prudent to allow extra time as the additional checks may have a domino effect on security checks to all destinations

[captain_cynic]

Simon Brooks said:

My son is travelling to NY this Friday and has just received an email from Norwegian Air to say that they are opening the desk 4 hours before departure, due to the increased security checks for US flights. Whilst I appreciate that OP is flying to Sri Lanka it may be prudent to allow extra time as the additional checks may have a domino effect on security checks to all destinations

Thanks for posting that... Going through the US on the way to South America in 2 weeks but I still had to get an ESTA and will likely have to go through the same security measures. Might want to take the full 3 hours to arrive.

I usually drive to the airport though, a taxi from my home in Hampshire is usually more expensive than parking and a full tank of fuel (fair enough, the thimble in my car is only 51L), Plus I'm well situated near the M3 compared to 2 coaches to get to LHR.

[abzmike]

Simon Brooks said:

My son is travelling to NY this Friday and has just received an email from Norwegian Air to say that they are opening the desk 4 hours before departure, due to the increased security checks for US flights. Whilst I appreciate that OP is flying to Sri Lanka it may be prudent to allow extra time as the additional checks may have a domino effect on security checks to all destinations

Extra security checks for US flights are done immediately prior to boarding and not at main security.

[V8LM]

Go First from T5 - private security check n evryfin.

[schmalex]

fat80b said:

There is a saying at work that “if you’ve never missed a flight then you’ve clearly spent too much time in airports”.

We have a saying at work that “if you have ever missed a flight, you clearly need to work on your time management”.

I’d always rather get to the airport 90 minutes or so before the flight and go the lounge, grab a shower and enjoy some champagne.

OP - as long as you’re at check in about 90 minutes before boarding, you should be fine.

If you download the airline’s app, you can check in online and normally save an e-boarding card to your phone, meaning you don’t have to go to a check in desk if you’re hand luggage only.

Pre-book short term parking, not valet parking. The valet’s are often not there on time.

Pay for fast track security or buy a business class ticket to get fast track security.

[loafer123]

schmalex said:

fat80b said:

There is a saying at work that “if you’ve never missed a flight then you’ve clearly spent too much time in airports”.

We have a saying at work that “if you have ever missed a flight, you clearly need to work on your time management”.

I’d always rather get to the airport 90 minutes or so before the flight and go the lounge, grab a shower and enjoy some champagne.

OP - as long as you’re at check in about 90 minutes before boarding, you should be fine.

If you download the airline’s app, you can check in online and normally save an e-boarding card to your phone, meaning you don’t have to go to a check in desk if you’re hand luggage only.

Pre-book short term parking, not valet parking. The valet’s are often not there on time.

Pay for fast track security or buy a business class ticket to get fast track security.

Good advice.

I completely agree with your saying, too. I used to travel a lot for work and only missed one flight, and that was simply because I got the time wrong.

I had to change flights plenty of times when planes went wrong, weather or strikes messed up the schedules.

I was the guy who got to change flights and get home, partly because I turned up in good time, and partly because I go out of my way to be nice to everyone on the desks, at security and in the lounge.

The “just in time” and arrogant crowd spent the evening in the airport instead of at home.

[brickwall]

loafer123 said:

schmalex said:

fat80b said:

There is a saying at work that “if you’ve never missed a flight then you’ve clearly spent too much time in airports”.

We have a saying at work that “if you have ever missed a flight, you clearly need to work on your time management”.

I’d always rather get to the airport 90 minutes or so before the flight and go the lounge, grab a shower and enjoy some champagne.

OP - as long as you’re at check in about 90 minutes before boarding, you should be fine.

If you download the airline’s app, you can check in online and normally save an e-boarding card to your phone, meaning you don’t have to go to a check in desk if you’re hand luggage only.

Pre-book short term parking, not valet parking. The valet’s are often not there on time.

Pay for fast track security or buy a business class ticket to get fast track security.

Good advice.

I completely agree with your saying, too. I used to travel a lot for work and only missed one flight, and that was simply because I got the time wrong.

I had to change flights plenty of times when planes went wrong, weather or strikes messed up the schedules.

I was the guy who got to change flights and get home, partly because I turned up in good time, and partly because I go out of my way to be nice to everyone on the desks, at security and in the lounge.

The “just in time” and arrogant crowd spent the evening in the airport instead of at home.

On the other hand, there is a school of thought in my office that says:
"If you don't miss 1 flight a year, you're spending too long hanging around in airports".

The rationale being when you're flying 100-200 times a year, adding an hour of conservative airport time to every flight actually adds up to a meaningful amount. You're spending enough of your life hanging around in airports as it is, so you should try to trim it down as fine as possible; and that means every so often you'll probably miss one - oh well.

[Yipper]

As long as the OP is parked up in the car park by 800-815pm, everything will be fine.

And if you miss the flight, there will always be another one the next day. It's not the end of the world.

[schmalex]

brickwall said:

loafer123 said:

schmalex said:

fat80b said:

There is a saying at work that “if you’ve never missed a flight then you’ve clearly spent too much time in airports”.

We have a saying at work that “if you have ever missed a flight, you clearly need to work on your time management”.

I’d always rather get to the airport 90 minutes or so before the flight and go the lounge, grab a shower and enjoy some champagne.

OP - as long as you’re at check in about 90 minutes before boarding, you should be fine.

If you download the airline’s app, you can check in online and normally save an e-boarding card to your phone, meaning you don’t have to go to a check in desk if you’re hand luggage only.

Pre-book short term parking, not valet parking. The valet’s are often not there on time.

Pay for fast track security or buy a business class ticket to get fast track security.

Good advice.

I completely agree with your saying, too. I used to travel a lot for work and only missed one flight, and that was simply because I got the time wrong.

I had to change flights plenty of times when planes went wrong, weather or strikes messed up the schedules.

I was the guy who got to change flights and get home, partly because I turned up in good time, and partly because I go out of my way to be nice to everyone on the desks, at security and in the lounge.

The “just in time” and arrogant crowd spent the evening in the airport instead of at home.

On the other hand, there is a school of thought in my office that says:
"If you don't miss 1 flight a year, you're spending too long hanging around in airports".

The rationale being when you're flying 100-200 times a year, adding an hour of conservative airport time to every flight actually adds up to a meaningful amount. You're spending enough of your life hanging around in airports as it is, so you should try to trim it down as fine as possible; and that means every so often you'll probably miss one - oh well.

I fly, on average, 100 - 150 sectors a year on a mix of long haul, ultra long haul and short hops (I’ve literally just got back from a 14 sector, 12 days trip around Australia and Asia). I have a team of 3 people who do the same, if not more. We fly J or F on long haul and Y on short hops but generally get to use the lounges every time through loyalty.

I’ve never, ever missed a flight and no-one in my team has for the last 2 years. Time at the lounge isn’t wasted time at all. There’s free Wi-fi, showers, a decent meal and we all use it to catch up on email / voicemail, write visit reports, arrange for the office to produce quotes etc.

Other than something completely out of your control (highway closure / significant weather event etc), there is absolutely no excuse to miss a flight. I would be furious if one of my guys did as it incurs additional cost for absolutely no reason at all.