Layover for Gatwick airport when flying different airlines to Barcelona

February 13, 2018 8:58 PM

I am flying from Seattle to Barcelona this June via London and need to change airlines at Gatwick, not sure how long a layover to allow...

I will be arriving in London at 1145 am and am not sure what will be required in terms of clearing customs in order to get from Iceland Air's terminal to either British Airways or EasyJet or Vueling for the next flight to Barcelona. I have never been through Gatwick and did not know if I would even need to clear customs first or if that would happen in Barcelona. Thanks in advance for the help.

posted by docpops to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

Two separate bookings? Unless your second airline feels particularly generous and allows you to rebook without penalty (non-discount airlines typically do, but I wouldn't hold my breath for the two low-cost ones you named) you risk forfeiting your second booking if your first flight is delayed. I'd allow a couple of hours at the very, very minimum. Do NOT check any luggage.

If both of you flights are with BA under one booking, go with whatever flights they suggest, and they'll just put you and your checked luggage on the next one of you miss the connection. Same if your second flight is a codeshare with BA (I see you can book Vueling flights under BA).

You'll be clearing customs at Gatwick.
posted by halogen at 9:25 PM on February 13, 2018

You will be clearing customs at Gatwick, and again at Barcelona. Unfortunately the UK is not apart of the Schegen area, so flying into Spain means a double dose of customs. At the very least, I would give yourself 4+ hours, preferably more. Depending on the time of day, it can take upwards of 1-2 hours to clear customs and get your bags. You may have to change terminals. As it sounds like you will have two separate tickets, you will have to check any checked-in bags again and reclear security if that is the case. Last time I was at Gatwick, it took me 2 hours to get through customs due to delays. Luckily I had 6 hours between between my connecting flights and made it on time.
posted by snowysoul at 9:34 PM on February 13, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks. I wasn't very clear in my post. Flights from SEA to BCN are running north of $2000 one way, although there are suspect fares you can get through Hotwire or Kayak for less that I don't trust. Iceland Air can get me to London/LGW for $550 and there are tons of cheap options from there to BCN. I just wasn't sure how long it would take to get through the process of getting to another airline's gate. Very helpful to understand I need to clear customs at Gatwick.
posted by docpops at 9:35 PM on February 13, 2018

Norwegian is now flying direct OAK -> BCN, sometimes $500-700 USD round trip. You might take a look at doing SEA -> OAK, OAK -> BCN instead so you don’t have a double dose of customs.
posted by asphericalcow at 12:33 AM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

When I make a booking like this involving separate airlines, I always allow myself a minimum of 4-5 hours even when I am connecting in the U.S. and don't have to go through passport control. I generally want to build in 1-2 hours' possible delay for my first plane, plus you have to account for all the time you spend sitting on the plane at your destination while everybody hauls their maximum-size carry-on luggage out of the overhead bins and staggers off. Also, you can usually spend an hour or more waiting in line at passport control in the UK. Furthermore, passport control in the UK can be unpleasant. I mean, you'll be fine, you're just passing through, but why put yourself through that if you don't have to? I would strongly suggest connecting with Norwegian somewhere in the US, as asphericalcow suggests, and flying direct to BCN that way. WOW Air may have some cheap flights from US cities as well. But if not--give yourself 4-5 hours at least. (And just to be clear/pedantic, in Europe, customs and passport control/immigration are separate--customs is generally just a walk-through, you won't wait in line or talk to anyone. Passport control/immigration is what I think you and others mean here when you say "clear customs.")
posted by tiger tiger at 12:59 AM on February 14, 2018

As others have said, I would avoid flying through the UK if at all possible.

Nevertheless I will add my experience of Gatwick, which I fly through all the time:

*You will have to go through customs at Gatwick and talk to an agent. How long this will take is anyone's guess as it depends on factors outside your control such as how many other airlines are arriving from abroad. EU citizens get to use the automated machines, you don't.

*Gatwick is a small airport. There are only two terminals and there is a shuttle going between them which is like a 10-minute ride. Getting between terminals shouldn't be your source of delay.

*Once you have gone through customs, gotten your baggage and found your next gate, you will have to go through a brief passport check *again*. This is because you are not in Schengen as others have said. (Note: you will then have to go through customs *yet again* when you land in Spain)

*If I was landing at 11:45am, I wouldn't be comfortable having another flight booked less than 4 hours later.
posted by vacapinta at 4:11 AM on February 14, 2018

To be clear, you're not just "getting to the other airline's gate", you'll actually be officially entering the UK, and fully rechecking in. Having said this, I have definitely done this many times before (and I know many others that do too)..... but not in the UK, and I probably would never risk it there because immigration queues are notoriously unpredictable, and border staff alot more thorough than what I've typically experienced entering the EU for example. If you're going to do this, give yourself minimum five hours gap IMHO.
posted by ryanbryan at 4:16 AM on February 14, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks again. I looked at the Norwegian Air via OAK. Having flown Iceland many times I am comfortable with their record and there is a lot of debate online about how Norwegian is keeping their airfares so low. I am not savvy enough to parse the debate but enough people question their maintenance practices that I opted for Iceland since it's my kid that is making the trip. But I do SO appreciate the counsel and can better prepare for the potential nightmare ahead. At least she will get an interesting dose of culture while she navigates the UK customs... :)
posted by docpops at 6:10 AM on February 14, 2018

Not knowing what date you want in June, I just randomly chose June 13 using hipmunk.com (my search here) and there are a number of under $1000 options from SEA to BCN for one-way flights. There's Condor and Lufthansa from SEA to BCN through Frankfort for $829. There's Aer Lingus through Dublin for $951. There's American through Chicago for $846. (There's a Norwegian fare for $506 with a 12 hour layover in Gatwick, but you're not interested in Norwegian).
posted by ShooBoo at 8:19 AM on February 14, 2018

You can't get guaranteed connections at Gatwick for Icelandair. You can for easyJet, Norwegian, WOW Air, Westjet and BA flights. (Yes, I'm fully aware that normally it's the airline that assists with connections, but Gatwick's trying to do this thing where it becomes a hub for low cost airlines.)

If the plan is to change in Iceland, why not get a direct onward ticket from Keflavik to Barcelona? This means she only clears passport control once, in Iceland (which is in Schengen), and gets to avoid the sheer misery of going through passport control in the UK & Ireland.¹

WOW air have flights direct from Iceland to Barcelona 3 days a week. And, although it still involves transferring through Gatwick, easyJet tickets from Iceland to Barcelona have guaranteed connections and fast transfers, slightly in addition to those Gatwick offers for the other airlines.

Norwegian is also really really not a worry. They fly 787s (Dreamliners), and the prices are low because they're so efficient with fuel (70 litres per seat from Boston - London), and they fill them pretty full. They're extremely comfortable planes to fly across the Atlantic in, far more so than Icelandair's 767s, in my experience.

I'd not rule anything out at the moment. There's some very good one way fares available on any route right now.

¹I know of where I speak here, because I flew from Keflavik to Dublin² last Saturday, and I was waiting 40 minutes at arrivals for my friend who's Canadian, while I'd walked straight through the automatic passport control gates. And only UK & Ireland passengers were going through exit passport control in Iceland.

²Coming home from Dublin to England, they were checking IDs at Bristol, too, and were extremely unimpressed with me insisting they accept my work photo ID, so the police had a few words with me after I cleared that shambolic queue.
posted by ambrosen at 12:33 PM on February 14, 2018 [1 favorite]

Easyjet's largest airport is Gatwick, I think. I'd far prefer having them be the second airline than anyone else who does the route for frequency reasons alone; it's probably trivial for them to lay on a new plane or crew compared to the others.

Also - this trip was made for travel insurance.
posted by mdonley at 4:03 AM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]