My wife flies out on the 20th from gatwick south..dep time is 12:40 We can get a direct train from Portsmouth which arrived at 10:38. Is this cutting it a bit tight for the check in ?
I would say it was cutting it tight, personally I always make sure I am at the airport at least a full 3 hours prior to departure for international flights. If anything goes wrong you have no time to spare and it is really stressful trying to get through security when your gate is close to closing.
Which Terminal Malcolm, North or South? https://www.gatwickairport.com/flights/which-terminal/ Ah you said it was Cathay so it should be the South Terminal which hosts the train station, I was thinking about transfer times between terminals.
Allow a good three hours at the airport as @oss says, the bright side is if there are no hold ups and delays will give a bit more time in the duty free for more pressies!
You can check in online with most airlines nowadays. Even Air Moldova have evolved to allow online check in. https://www.cathaypacific.com/olci/#/en_HK/login Arriving 2 hours beforehand is plenty of time normally if you can guarantee 100% the train will be on time. That would be the only factor that might push me to an earlier service.
I find that online check-in while certainly a good thing does not really speed things up all that much, you still have to do the baggage drop and yes the desks dedicated to online check-in are a bit quicker to use because not everyone checks in online but it is getting to the point these days that those desks are often just as busy as all the others. Worrying about the train being delayed would be my biggest concern, I once used the very roundabout train service to get to Manchester to try to avoid the cost of a taxi but it ended up stopping at every station and then the connecting train in Manchester was itself delayed and I got there just in time, promised myself I would never try to go by train again
I would say that's plenty of time I hate waiting at the airport I normally get there 2hrs early and there still queuing at the Philippine airline check in desk but I always fly from Heathrow
my only other option is driving. that way i can guarantee no delays, no breakdowns, no accidents, no getting lost. but seriously--the last time i went to gatwick ( with my ex ) we went by train from portsmouth harbour--a sunday. we found out the brighton - gatwick line was closed for engineering, so the train was routed up the arundel line--which was the weekday route not usually used on sundays. Great !--shorter quicker journey. err--no. got as far as Littlehampton--there it all went wrong. an anouncement that the arundel line had been shut due to a fatal " accident"--so the train would continue to Brighton--as originally scheduled. but the Brighton- Gatwick line was closed for engineering ! i asked a ticket bloke how we were going to get to Gatwick--he said catch a bus !!! fat chance--there were 100's of stranded passengers at Brighton--and no bus. a £100 taxi ride got us there. a great start to our holiday. the up side of this miserable saga was it was the last time she and i went away together.. we split up the following year. ive not been on a plane since.
Between 65 and 75 miles distance from Portsmouth depending what route you take. Fastest and probably less issues would be a3 m25 a217. Your far enough away from Dartford tunnel. There is a lot of roadwideing roadworks going on South of Gatwick on a lot of the a loads so I would do the above route! Is the coach an option? Or 2 pricey Out of the three Train Coach Car I would opt for car
coach timings are just rubbish--a pity--that would be my preferred option. can be a very cheap way. rail is our best option. frequent fast service. she returns to heathrow. i drove that time both ways last time. last time --going to heathrow--we sat in stationary traffic for 30 mins on the m25. thats my nightmare.
M25 around from M4 m40 round to a 3 is the Pitts terrible area to get through even off peak! Train it is then let's hope there are no leaves on the lines
getting an earlier train--get there 3 hours early. so still time to whistle up a taxi if it all goes wrong. not at all worried about the return leg. we will be heading home.
away for 3 weeks. the spam nescafe mars bars shampoos tubes of toothpaste 21 i love london tee shirts boots dried pasta clothes and loads more went into 2 balik boxes that were too heavy for me to move. they should arrive end of this month.
what a total nightmare. i can step out of my front door and be on this in less than 20 minutes walking
