time between flights- Gatwick to Stansted

[marniedent]

Hello-

I think I may have been a bit overexcited and overoptimistic when I booked our flight to Biarritz. It looked like Ryanair only had one flight a day- at 1215 so I booked myself and my daughter on it. However, our place isn't scheduled into Gatwick until 0745- 4 1/2 hours seemed like a lot of time, but now it doesn't- plus I forgot about customs!!! Does anyone think this is doable, or should I change the Biarritz flight to the following day??? Thanks for any suggestions. We hope to be on the Camino June 12th- or maybe 13th.

Marnie

 

[jeff001]

According to the website: http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/gatwick_stansted_transfer.htm Travel time is in the 2.5- 3 hour range and buses run at least once an hour. Assuming it takes you 1 hour to clear customs, you have to wait an hour for the bus and the trip takes 3 hours you probably won't have time.

 

[Andrewere]

Personally I wouldn't risk it, although in theory it can be done in that amount of time. The distance between the 2 airports by road is about 100 miles around London and the traffic is very unpredictable, as are trains.

Andrew, England.

 

[Joseph Chan]

As Andrew says it is theoretically possible to get to Stansted airport after landing from your flight from Gatwick in 4 and a half hours. The distance is 60 miles (100km) and not 100 miles. The motorway is one of the busiest in UK and 8am is possibly the busiest time.

You need to factor in the customs and immigration clearance time to get out of the airport, at 7.15am not all the check points are opened as the full complement of staff have not arrived and queues can be very long. You can save time by having a taxi booked before arrival, the cost is usually 135 Pounds for 2 or 3 passengers, but there are cheaper deals. As the bus fare is 25 Pounds per person a taxi should be considered if you wish to risk this connection.

Ryan Air, as with other Low Cost Carriers, expects you to be at the boarding gate 20 or 30 minutes before the aircraft is boarded. The monetary penalty for missing the flight and having to purchase another flight for the LCC is 40 Pounds per person administration fee plus the difference between the cheap fare purchased and the on demand ticket. This difference can amount to 100 Pounds or more per person. LCC's usually have few flights and you may have to spend a day or more waiting to get seats.

Suggest you get in touch with a Gatwick taxi to check whether to usually 4 hour transfer time is worth the risk.

 

[Artemis]

We had the same kind of situation as you arriving at Gatwick around 7:30am and not having enough time to get to Stansted. So instead of trying to transfer to Stansted we got a British Air flight from Gatwick that same day to Bordeaux. We spent some time (5 days) in Bordeaux and then took a train to SJPP.

 

[Joseph Chan]

Artemis wrote: "instead of trying to transfer to Stansted we got a British Air flight from Gatwick that same day to Bordeaux".

Once a Ryan Air flight has been paid for you will see from the fine print that there will be no refund if you cancel the flight. A change of name incurs a charge of 100E, a flight change 45E. Per person. Knowing these conditions will make it easier for you to decide on choices, in any case your camino has started. Welcome aboard.

 

[stephenDevlin]

Check-in for Ryanair flights closes 40 minutes before time of departure. Even without any delays at Gatwick it would be a close run thing to get across London in the time available.

 

[jeff001]

There is a British Airways flight from Gatwick to Bordeaux leaving at 1:45 and arriving at 4:20 for $US73.80. That arrival is too late for the last train to SJPdP but there is one in the morning at 8:20 arriving at 1:13. Depending on what you paid for the Ryanair ticket, what it would cost to change it, the cost of the transport from Gatwick to Stansted, and the cost of an overnight in London vs Bordeaux it might be a worthwhile option.

 

[marniedent]

Thanks for all the good info. I took Jeff001's advice and booked a flight from Gatwick to Bordeaux. I was surprised to find out that it was actually cheaper than the Ryanair flight- and from Gatwick. If only I had been more careful with reading posts on the forum I wouldn't have had to waste a ticket!!! So,for anyone interested I found good prices on Continental from the US (at least parts of it!!!) to Gatwick, and then British Airways from Gatwick to Bordeaux. I figure we'll take the train from Bordeauz to SJPP- are there any direct ones, or do all go through Bayonne? I'd love to book a train pass on line but my French is non existent so I guess we'll do it at the station with sign language!!!

 

[Artemis]

marniedent

Bordeaux is on a route to Santiago. We got our first stamp at Saint Andre in Bordeaux. We were in Bordeaux simply because we were trying to find our way to SJPP but we ended up staying for 5 days because we fell in love with it. If you would like any information about a place to stay near the train station or anything else PM me.

Artemis

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I figure we'll take the train from Bordeauz to SJPP- are there any direct ones, or do all go through Bayonne? I'd love to book a train pass on line but my French is non existent so I guess we'll do it at the station with sign language!!!

I do speak some French, but I don't think you will have any problems booking at the ticket office yourself. I always found the staff at train ticket counters in France to be very helpful. It is probably best to write down the names of the places you want to depart and arrive at, and the date you want to travel on, so they are not struggling to "get" your pronunciation. Ticket offices for trains in France are all linked up with a good computer system, and they often print out several options for you to choose from. You could then point to your preferred option. You cannot actually reserve seats on some of the regional services anyhow - you just buy the ticket and turn up at the right time.
All the best for your walk
Margaret

 

[sillydoll]

You can check times for Bordeaux to St Jean on the French rail site SNCF. It seems that during the day the train has a 2hr stop at Bayonne. It might be best to get a bus to St Jean.

Go to http://www2.ter-sncf.com/aquitaine/index.asp

Type in Bordeaux in the top box and St Jean Pied de Port in the second.
Change the date (I put in 17 June)
Change the time to 06h00

The red writing will ask you to choose a possible departure and destination.
Click on the down arrow and click on Bordeaux Gare in the top box
Do the same for the lower box - clicking on Bayonne.
Then click on Lancer la rechereche

This is the result:
Départ : 06h 41 Arrivée : 08h 38 1h 57
Départ : 08h 20 Arrivée : 10h 03 1h 43
Départ : 10h 25 Arrivée : 12h 03 1h 38

If you click on details it will give you the train number so you could go to the station armed with times, train numbers etc when you book.

 

[philippe33]

hello Marnie
Thank you for your Email. From Bordeaux airport, there is a shuttle direct to train station, leaving every 45 minutes, cost 7 euros, distance....30/45 minutes. Several hotels in front of the train station, I'll check and tell you. About the train, you have to stop and change in Bayonne, a good option should be
bordeaux 8h20-bayonne 10h03-bayonne 12h SJPP 13H13. The Pilgrim office opens at 13h30 in the afternoon
for further informations, please contact me at philippe.beaubreuil@libertysurf.fr

 

[marniedent]

Thanks so much for the info. It will certainly help me, and I'm sure others too. Now I'm thinking maybe we should see a bit of Bordeaux too!!! Any suggestions for what to see in Bordeaux on limited time? I read somewhere on this forum that someone did not reccommend starting from SJPP on a weekend because of the increase in pilgrims on weekends. If that's the case, maybe we could spend an extra couple of days in Bordeaux.

 

[howardd5]

Hello-

I think I may have been a bit overexcited and overoptimistic when I booked our flight to Biarritz. It looked like Ryanair only had one flight a day- at 1215 so I booked myself and my daughter on it. However, our place isn't scheduled into Gatwick until 0745- 4 1/2 hours seemed like a lot of time, but now it doesn't- plus I forgot about customs!!! Does anyone think this is doable, or should I change the Biarritz flight to the following day??? Thanks for any suggestions. We hope to be on the Camino June 12th- or maybe 13th.

Marnie

I have taken the shuttle bus between the two and it took forever , traffic on the ring road is often at a crawl .I don't remember the length of time but I'm guessing 2 hours at least and I almost missed my flight. Next time I flew from stanstead to Biraritz for SJPP and was well pleased. The airport shuttle to the train station direct and as it turned out instead of waiting for the evening train I coraled two other pilgrims( easy to spot) and took a taxi , same price but was on the road in 15 minutes to get to SJPP with enough time to eat , albergue & a good night's sleep

 

[C clearly]

This thread dates back to 2008, and I expect that the connection times may have changed quite a bit since then, and likely not for the better! So, I'll close the thread to further comments.