Departure Day in London: The Last Morning, Worked Backwards

Published 9 November 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

Plan the last day backwards from the flight: take the time your airport tells you to arrive, subtract the journey from the station you leave from plus a margin of at least 30 minutes, and what is left before that moment is your free time. For an international flight from Heathrow at 18:00, that means being on the train at Paddington by about 14:00, which leaves a checkout at 11:00 with three useful hours in between.

Most departure days go wrong in one of two ways. Either the morning is wasted sitting in a hotel lobby with a suitcase, or the afternoon is spent too far from the airport train and the last hour turns into a sprint. Both are fixed by the same thing: deciding the time you must leave central London first, and only then deciding what to do with the hours before it.

This page does the arithmetic for each airport and covers checkout, bags and the last few hours. The bag rooms themselves are covered in detail in our guide to left luggage at the main stations, and the first day of a trip has its own page, arrival day in London.

Step one: the time your airport wants you there

Start with the airport's own advice, then check it against your airline. The airline's deadlines, printed in your booking, are the ones that actually close: bag drop shuts at a fixed time before departure, and the gate shuts after that. The airport figure is a recommendation that includes queues.

Heathrow recommends arriving three hours before an international flight and two hours before a domestic flight or a flight to Europe. That second part matters: a flight to Paris or Madrid counts as two hours, not three. Our Heathrow airport guide covers the terminals.

Gatwick gives two figures on the same help page. Its general answer is to arrive at least two hours before your flight. Its answer for drivers says to aim for two hours before a domestic or short-haul flight and four hours before a long-haul one, and adds that check-in typically opens four hours ahead for long-haul and European flights and two hours ahead for UK and Ireland flights. For a long-haul flight we would take the longer figure. Our page on Gatwick and the trains to London explains which terminal the station serves.

Stansted does not give a number and sends you to your airline. It does say one thing worth knowing: the terminal closes between midnight and 02:00, and passengers on early flights should not arrive before their check-in time. See our guide to Stansted Airport.

Luton also refers you to the airline, but it runs a free Prebook Security service: you reserve a 30-minute slot at security, from four days ahead until 60 minutes before you arrive, for slots between 03:00 and 15:00. The airport says plainly that it cannot guarantee how long the search itself will take. Our Luton Airport guide has the shuttle details.

London City is the small one. Check-in opens two hours before the flight and the building is quick to cross, so the airline's deadline is what counts; our page on flying out of London City does the timing. Southend is outside the Oyster and contactless area, so buy your rail ticket before the day; see London Southend Airport.

Step two: the journey, and the margin on top

The scheduled journey time is the minimum, not the plan. Add the walk to the platform, a missed train and, if you have bags, the slower pace. We add at least 30 minutes to every rail journey to an airport, and an hour to any road journey in the afternoon.

The times are from the train operators, TfL and the airports, as given in our airport guides. The last column is our own arithmetic: the airport's advice, the scheduled time and a 30-minute margin. For an 18:00 flight to Europe from Heathrow, take an hour off each Heathrow row. If your flight is on a Sunday, check engineering works the evening before; our page on what to do if the airport train is cancelled lists the alternatives for each airport.

Checkout at 11:00, and the question to ask the night before

In our observation (November 2026), most London hotels set checkout at 11:00 or noon, and a few budget chains and serviced flats use 10:00. Late checkout is sold, given free or refused depending on how full the hotel is, and the only way to find out is to ask. Ask the evening before, not at the desk at 10:55 when the housekeeping list is already printed.

If your flight is after 18:00, late checkout is the single best purchase of the day: a room until 14:00 means a shower and a repack at the point you would otherwise be carrying everything around. If it is refused, ask whether the hotel will hold your bags after checkout, which almost all will, and whether you can use a changing room or the gym shower later. Our page on hotel bag storage and late checkout covers what the hotel is liable for, and checking in to a London hotel explains the card hold that should drop off after you leave.

Before you hand back the key, check the safe, the socket by the bed for a charger and the bathroom for anything in the shower. They are the easiest places to forget something on a rushed morning. Then check the bill against what you agreed at check-in.

Where to leave the bags: behind you or ahead of you

The rule is simple: store the bags at the station you leave from, or keep them at the hotel only if the hotel is on the way. Going back across London to collect a case and then out again to Paddington or Victoria can cost an hour and two Tube changes.

• Heathrow: Paddington, which has a left-luggage office and both Heathrow trains.
• Gatwick: Victoria, which has an office in the rail station and TfL's own luggage room at the coach station.
• Stansted: Liverpool Street, where the Stansted Express leaves from the same building.
• Luton: St Pancras or King's Cross, across the road from each other, both with offices.

The station offices open at 07:00 and close at 23:00. For a flight before about 09:00 they are no use at all, and the hotel's bag room is the only option. For the prices and the queue at each office, see the left-luggage page linked at the top.

A last morning that stays near the train

Once the bags are stored, spend the free hours within about 20 minutes of the station you will leave from. That rule turns the question "what shall we do on the last day" into a short list.

• From Paddington: Hyde Park and the Italian Gardens are a ten-minute walk, and Little Venice, where the canal boats start, is about the same in the other direction.
• From Victoria: Buckingham Palace, St James's Park and Westminster Cathedral are all walkable.
• From Liverpool Street: Spitalfields and Brick Lane are five minutes away, and the City churches are around the corner.
• From St Pancras: the British Library, Coal Drops Yard and the canal at Granary Square.

Avoid anything with a timed entry you cannot leave early, a long security queue of its own, or a river boat that runs late when the tide or the weather is against it. A museum with free entry is ideal: you can walk out after 40 minutes without feeling you wasted a ticket.

The Tube with a suitcase at the wrong hour

TfL's peak hours run from 06:30 to 09:30 and from 16:00 to 19:00, Monday to Friday. Those are fare periods, but they are also roughly when the trains are fullest. A large suitcase on a Central or Northern line train at 08:15 or 17:30 is hard work for you and for everyone around you.

If your journey to the airport train crosses those hours, either move it earlier, store the bags at that station in the morning, or take a black cab or a booked minicab for the first leg. Black cabs make no extra charge for luggage. Our page on luggage on the Tube lists the stations with no lift and no escalator, which you should avoid with a heavy case at any hour.

Eat before security or after it

At the big airports, eat after security. There is more choice airside, it opens earlier, and you are not watching the clock while you queue. Our guide to breakfast before an early flight has the opening times Gatwick publishes.

The exception is the liquid rules, which still differ between airports. At Heathrow and Gatwick, upgraded scanners allow larger containers in your cabin bag; at Stansted and Luton the 100ml limit still applies, so a bottle of water bought before security is lost at the scanner. Take an empty bottle and fill it airside. Our guide to airport security and the liquid rules has the airport-by-airport detail.

Duty free, VAT and the last shopping

Do not leave shopping until the airport in the hope of a tax refund. Great Britain ended VAT refunds for visitors buying in shops on 1 January 2021, and the airport "duty free" shops do not give back VAT on most goods either. The only remaining route is to have a shop send the goods abroad for you. Our guide to tax-free shopping in the UK explains what still works and which signs are misleading.

If you buy liquids airside and have a connecting flight, keep them in the sealed bag with the receipt. And remember your own country's customs allowance on arrival, which is set by your destination, not by London.

When something goes wrong in the last hour

If the train is cancelled, decide within five minutes whether to wait or switch to a road option, and keep the ticket and any announcement screenshot. If you are going to miss bag drop, call the airline before the deadline rather than after it; airlines often have more options while the flight is still open. Our page on what happens if you miss your flight sets out the rules that apply.

The reliable protection is the margin itself. A last day planned around a 30-minute buffer is a relaxed day with a quiet coffee at the gate; a last day planned with no buffer is a day spent looking at the departure board.

Frequently asked questions

How early should I get to Heathrow for an international flight?

Heathrow recommends arriving three hours before an international flight and two hours before a domestic flight or a flight to Europe. Your airline's bag-drop deadline, printed in your booking, is the time that actually closes, so check that too.

Can I leave my suitcase somewhere after hotel checkout in London?

Almost every hotel will hold bags after checkout, usually free. Otherwise the left-luggage offices at nine main stations, including Paddington, Victoria and Liverpool Street, are open daily from 07:00 to 23:00 and charge per item.

Is it worth paying for late checkout on my last day?

If your flight is in the evening, often yes. A room until early afternoon gives you a base, a shower and somewhere to repack. Ask the evening before; when the hotel is not full, an extra hour or two is sometimes free.

What time should I leave central London for an evening flight from Gatwick?

For a long-haul flight at 18:00, aim to be on the Gatwick Express at Victoria by about 13:00, using Gatwick's four-hour advice for long-haul and a 30-minute margin. For a European flight at the same time, about 15:00 is enough.

Can I get a VAT refund at a London airport?

No. VAT refunds for visitors buying goods in shops in Great Britain ended on 1 January 2021. The main remaining way to avoid VAT is to have the shop ship the goods directly to an address outside the UK.

Sources

• Heathrow - Checking in: when to arrive (checked November 2026)
• Gatwick Airport - FAQs: check-in and arrival times (checked November 2026)
• London Stansted Airport - FAQs: check-in and terminal hours (checked November 2026)
• London Luton Airport - Prebook Security (checked November 2026)
• Transport for London - Tube and rail fares: peak and off-peak times (checked November 2026)
• GOV.UK - Tax-free shopping (checked November 2026)