Latest flights from Heathrow and Gatwick

A snowHead

Hi all

I'm trying to find the latest possible flights from either Heathrow or Gatwick on a Friday night. Destination can be anywhere in Europe that I can ski.

Thanks
Andy

A snowHead

Well I would suggest you take a quick look at either the airport flight departure schedules or skyscanner.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

but don't forget you then need to get to resort, so need onward transport of some sort to be available.

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Latest possible isn't always a good idea. Being on the end of the schedule day means your flight is delayed and too late and you can be then cancelled as you won't hit curfew e.g. for GVA. Last time it happened to me I got trade 3 days in very snowy Tignes for a few laps of earn your turns on Box Hill.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It's really down to complete inflexibility at work. Realistically the earliest departure I can make is 21.00. I figure that getting there and overnighting in an airport hotel will allow for an early drive and a full day on the slopes. The best I've found is 20.15 heathrow to Munich.

The alternative is to get the earliest flight on Saturday morning but it doesn't really appeal to get up at 4am.

So I'm not looking for the cheapest or easiest, just the latest flights.

I'll check the historic departures next chance I get.

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there aren't any after 9pm.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Is city any closer, check in is shorter too.

After all it is free

Have you looked at the train?

@andybomb1, your main problems are going to be a) onward transport to the resort as others have already said but more importantly b) the night flying bans that operate in most of the areas. You say the earliest you can make it is 21:00 (UK) time - that is already 22:00 in Europe and most airports are already into their night flying ban period. Munich, which is a major air transport node has only transcontinental flights landing after 22:00, and those are usually few and far between. From 23:00 there is a complete night landing ban, the airport is closed. If you check the arrivals schedule in Geneva, Zurich, Salzburg, etc, I think you will find the same thing.

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@andybomb1, i used to regularly (weekly) get the 20:50 LGW-GVA. Do you mean the earliest is 21:00 at the airport? In which case o/night at the dep. airport and get the earliest flight out.

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have you considered driving?

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You might be better off looking for an airport hotel in the UK and catching the first flight in the morning. Easyjet have a 6:15am flight from Gatwick to Geneva, arriving before 9am CET. Say a 90 minute transfer and you could be hitting the slopes by lunch time.

If you have to work Saturdays and are trying to avoid missing a whole days skiing on the Sunday you could always look at it the other way around. Write off the first Sunday as a travel day but book a late transfer/airport hotel for the following Sat and basically get the whole of the final Saturday to ski, flying home on the Sunday.

under a new name
which airline was that for Gatwick to Geneva?

Plan is to leave central London (knightsbridge area) at 19.00 on tube to heathrow or express to gatwick. I know a 21.00 departure is cutting it fine.

Ski Saturday & Sunday and come back home last flight on Sunday night. We'd most likely go witha na airport hotel then a 7.30 start on Saturday to some reasonably convenient resort. It doesn't have to be massive as the main point is to help my gf get confidence without eating into precious holiday time.

Heathrow is ideal as we live around 20 minutes away but Gatwick is possible due to the Gatwick express.

The early Saturday morning departure is a possibility but I'm trying to keep Saturday as stress free as possible.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far.

You know it makes sense.

if cost is not really a consideration you could get the 19:00 eurostar to Paris and then the sleeper train to Bourg st Maurice

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I fly GVA from London a fair amount. Your options are all pretty much equal in my experience:
19.25 from City (Swiss)
19.35 from LHR (BA)
19.55 from LGW (EZJ)

Bear in mind that City is by far the quickest airport to get through. LHR and LGW I arrive an hour before takeoff to be safe, City can be done in 30 mins.

A snowHead

A snowHead

@snowdave, is that the wintertimetable? LCY a pain to get to from Knightsbridge

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I was just about to post a very similar thing when I saw this.
I want to fly out on a Friday night - ski all day Saturday and all day Sunday and return home on a flight late on the Sunday night.
Any flight options?

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@garethjomo, lots per above if you can get to the airport a little earlier! Last flights on Sunday quite busy but getting to airport early on Monday from France a bit of a palaver.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

In this instance if you really are nailed to a desk in Knightsbridge until 19.00 sleeper to Aviemore may be your best bet, snow conditions permitting.

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@garethjomo,

20.15 LHR to Munich on BA is the best I can find. Scheduled to land at 23.05.

Going for the early morning method, 06.00 - 08.40, LHR - Zurich on Swiss

I have no idea where to ski near to Zurich but I'm sure there is somewhere close enough.

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After all it is free

@under a new name, yes, that's the winter timetable (at least the early winter one through January).

I reckon LCY is at least as quick as LHR - both could be done in 30-40mins, then LCY wins by miles on security time (LHR fail you at security I think at T-35mins, LCY I've been ok at T-10). To get the 19.25 Swiss flight I'd think leaving at 18.00 was comfortable and 18.15 was a bit tight.

If there's more than one of you, if your buddy gets to the airport a bit earlier with bags etc. then leaving at 18.15 would be fine. Jubilee line from green park to Canning town, DLR to the airport.

Oslo could also be an option, Norwegian have pretty cheap return flights from 8pm from Gatwick, coming back up to 2215 on Sunday. oslovinterpark / tryvann is only 20 minutes by public transport from the city, allegedly. Probably enough for a weekend for a beginner. It doesn't meet your outgoing flight requirements but I'm not sure much does. It is open until 10pm on weekdays though, so if you could take Friday off work, grab a morning flight, and probably still squeeze in a full 8 hours skiing giving you 3 full days of skiing.

Also maybe Iceland? Flights to Reykjavik at 2035 from LHR. Still probably doesn't meet your requirements, and coming back at 1630 is a bit crap.

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@snowdave, hmmm, either my memory is faulty or they've improved the LCY link. Either way, yes, 35-40 mins. Not bad.

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You know it makes sense.

I use the Swiss 6am Heathrow to Zurich flight a lot; means I'm usually in the slopes somewhere (Engelberg, Arosa, even Grindelwald once) by around mid-day. Usually arrives ahead of schedule and plenty of choice of onward travel to Swiss or western Austrian resorts. Cuts out the hassle of getting on the late flight somewhere and not much difference if you're staying at an airport hotel at the other end!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

yeah, @Mjit, that's what I saw.

A snowHead

It sounds like a hell of a risk leaving so little time between leaving work and getting a flight. I fly every week and always give myself a good bit of leeway as too often something has cropped up and delayed me.

If your aim is to get your gf on to proper snow then consider the suggestion to try Scotland. Fly to Edinburgh or Glasgow (good choice of late departures), pick up a hire car and drive to Aviemore, Glenshee or Glencoe. The Caledonian Sleepers would also be an option but given the availability of late flights I'd be tempted to stick with flying.

However, I'd recommend not booking too far ahead and keeping an eye on the weather and conditions and only booking when both look favourable.

A snowHead

Risk appetite for flight times is very like risk appetite off piste- there's a big spectrum (I wonder if they are correlated?!). I fly a reasonable amount (not quite every week tho'), and I happily arrive at LCY 30mins before takeoff. I'd consider an hour at LHR T5 to be plenty of time (I arrived at 19.00 for a 20.00 transatlantic the other week and had time for a quick dinner at the airport!). If I'm driving all the way round the M25 to Heathrow its a different matter, but using public transport its possible to cut it fine.

In contrast, with kids in tow, it seems that no matter how much time we leave, we're always running to the gate!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Ah, but now you are getting in to the difference between personal travel and business travel. Rightly or wrongly I’ll take slightly more risk if travelling on business than personal. If I have spent a chunk of cash on flights, transfers and hotels for personal travel I would be gutted if I was left standing at the departure gate watching the aircraft being pushed-back and with it my weekend. On the other hand if it was business I might be pissed off but more likely than not, I’d have a contingency plan and any additional costs would be picked up by the business.

The issue is you can never predict when problems will arise. As a WILLIE (Works In London Lives in Edinburgh) Toofy Grin

I commute each week to/from Edinburgh and Stansted. I’ve had a few close calls and that is me allowing a good amount of time to get from the office to that airport. I allow this extra time as when I’m away all week, getting home to my family is very important. A couple of months ago the M11 was shut due to an accident with gridlock on all the surrounding diversionary routes. I made it on to the flight by the skin of my teeth. Last week I had a similar problem with car fire closing the M11. Thankfully I had my TomTom on in the hire car and it told me of a 48 minute delay and proposed an alternative route. Thankfully I made it in time. I haven’t missed a return flight (yet) but that is because I’ve allowed for issues.

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Final solution is a 6.10 flight from Gatwick to Grenoble and a return from Geneva landing at Heathrow at 8.15. Let's hope it all works.

Thanks all

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

That's Saturday morning btw

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Interesting @andybomb1 you never responded to comments from @bertie bassett et al about your absolute ban on leaving work a bit earlier on a Friday.
Does seem a bit draconian.

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@Jonpim,

It's actually my girlfriends job and as working arrangements go it's generally good but the busiest times tend to be late on Friday.

If I ever meet anyone and they really care why I'll happily explain but it's not something I can say much more on in public. She's happy with it and we can still ski but it takes a little more effort and some compromise.

After all it is free

@Jonpim, there was no reason to respond, I don't see what business that is of anyone else's. The OP merely asked for advice on ski flights, the reasons why @andybomb1 can't leave work earlier are not really relevant. I think we can credit him with enough intelligence to have thought of leaving work earlier if it was at all possible don't you think?

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