# Which London Airport?



## laura28 (27 Oct 2009)

Hi, 

Travelling to London in January for a few days - doing the usual West End show & Shopping. We will be staying in the Knightsbridge/Oxford St area. Which airport is the best to fly into in terms of getting into the centre of London relatively easyily and cheapily?

Thanks!


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## csirl (27 Oct 2009)

Tube from Heathrow stops at Knightsbridge en route to the centre of London.


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## Guest116 (27 Oct 2009)

Yeah Heathrow is best option. Tube is 4 pounds single journey. You could also get an oyster card which is probably cheaper but I just pay by cash. Journey time is about 40 mins, just know which terminal you need when getting the tube back as there are two different tube trains for terminal 1\2\3 and the others.


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## laura28 (27 Oct 2009)

Thanks for that guys. Is it hard to find out what terminal you will be returning by?
Which of the 3 Ryanair airports is closer - i think the Ryanair flights might be cheaper so might have to factor in travel costs from airports and see which is the best option.

Any suggestions?


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## maura (27 Oct 2009)

If you fly into gatwick, you don't have to get the gatwick express, there was another train we took "southern trains" or something to that effect, much cheaper and just leaving from a different platform.  Also they were very regular trains. Left us in Victoria station.  I hope that helps.  Here is a link  http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/gatwick_local_trains.htm


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## z104 (27 Oct 2009)

laura28 said:


> Thanks for that guys. Is it hard to find out what terminal you will be returning by?
> Which of the 3 Ryanair airports is closer - i think the Ryanair flights might be cheaper so might have to factor in travel costs from airports and see which is the best option.
> 
> Any suggestions?


 
You fly in to and out of Terminal 1 in Heathrow. Fly to Heathrow if possible. Otherwise it takes almost 1.5 hours to get to the city centre if you got to Stansted or Luton.

It's easy to get into London from all of the airports. Cost will probably be your deciding factor if you are on a tight budget.


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## laura28 (27 Oct 2009)

Just checked prive with Aerlingus to Heathrow and is 130 per person for my dates, Ryanair to Stanstead is 30 so Ryanair it is then!
Is it easy enough to get from Stanstead to central London?


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## huskerdu (27 Oct 2009)

laura28 said:


> Just checked prive with Aerlingus to Heathrow and is 130 per person for my dates, Ryanair to Stanstead is 30 so Ryanair it is then!
> Is it easy enough to get from Stanstead to central London?



Yes, it is easy to get from Stanstead to sentral London, but not particularly quick. Look at the Stansted airport website for all the options of trains and buses and check if Ryanair sell train tickets.


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## ilovepink (27 Oct 2009)

theres no way id go into stansted, u only get into stn and then u must ge the train which costs 30 sterling into liverpool street which takes over an hour and then u must get a tube into central london.. a long journey, early start and plus could cancel at any time for no reason. i wouldnt even think about it. def go with ei because ur there and 845 and only 25 mins to central london. believe me its well worth it.. i do it all the time.


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## Hans (28 Oct 2009)

I usually travel to Gatwick and fast train to Victoria station and you are in the centre of London with a tube station at Victoria too to jump on a tube to where ever you want.


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## lyonsie (28 Oct 2009)

I usually go via stanstead, only when its .01 cent or 1.00 euro!!!  They have started selling the tickets on the plane again, but if you order them online and get them from the machine with your ref. no. it is a few pounds cheaper. About 23 sterling.   Only got delayed once, and go about 6 to 10 times a year.   For that price why not.....
Its cheaper than going to the north....


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## so-crates (28 Oct 2009)

If there is no issue about what time you arrive at then probably Stansted is your best bet. Having flown too often to remember into London, I never opt for Stansted unless it really is the most convenient to my destination as I really don't enjoy that airport at all (it kind of gives me the creeps and then I have to endure RA service on top of that), it is the furthest from London (the equivalent in Ireland would probably be landing in Athy to get to Dublin) and security there can be even more irksome than usual. 

I base my decision on where to land based firstly on what airport is most convenient to my destination, since travelling London tubes with bags is something I like to minimise.

To plan your travel around London I would use the very comprehensive Transport for London website.

Oh and the Gatwick Express into London is a little bit of a con as it is only marginally faster than some of the Southern trains the maura referred to.


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## sunrock (28 Oct 2009)

If you are flying to Stansted and having read all your previous posts, I suspect Ryanairs low price to Stansted will be too tempting for you.My advise is to buy bus tickets from stansted into central london.If ryanair are selling them on the plane...buy them there and pay in euros and get return tickets. The bus company is called terravision and goes to victoria and is about 14 £ or 14e return...takes less than an hour and goes every half hour and takes  about an hour.You can also buy bus or coach tickets in the terminal itself.
If I was on an expense account I`d fly into heathrow and get the tube...more interesting than a taxi...but this usually is more expensive as one as to pay for the convenience of heathrow.


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## laura28 (29 Oct 2009)

Wow, thanks for all the information guys. Whenever i have flown to London before i have gone to Stanstead, but usually because we have relations near there & been collected. This time we are flying out on a Wed eve and staying in Central London. Unfortunately costs are an issue and i would prefer Heathrow if it was only a few euro more but it's nearly a hundred (the cost of a decent seat to Legally Blonde!) so i think Stanstead might be the way we go!


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## twalsh47irl (29 Oct 2009)

Having used all three airports for London, I now favour Heathrow! Tube is excellent and if u are going to travel the tube quite often pick up an oyster card, it has an unlimited lifespan so you can use it on the next trip. It will also save u money and queueing. Check on line for w/e works on tube lines as this means a bus to Stansted if u choose this route.


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## sunrock (29 Oct 2009)

A lot of people posting here would be willing to pay an extra 100e to fly into heathrow.Thats fair enough but I ,like laura am not willing to do so...not because I am mean but because I am not very rich.I am willing to spend an extra 2 or 3 hours on the bus to save 100 euros.
I was just looking at the ryanair website and they have flights from cork to stansted for 4e total and 4e total for the return...you must choose the flight that has free online check in.The return departs at 6.20am...necessitating an overnight stay, but there is a 4e total flight leaving gatwick in the middle of the day for the same price.
The lesson here is to check the times and costs of all flights from dublin or cork to heathrow,gatwick and stansted.Also check aer lingus which sometimes has cheap flights to heathrow.


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## laura28 (30 Oct 2009)

Ok, again thanks for all the replies!
Aerlingus is out of the question now - heathrow is €130 return and Gatwick is €75, unless i get a ridiculous early flight on the way back, in which case it's €44.

Ryanair, including free on-line check in is €28.99 to both Stanstead & Gatwick, so on top of that is the €10 booking fee each and a bag to check in so not to bad.

So, Stanstead or Gatwick????


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## mro (30 Oct 2009)

Have you tried BMI to Heathrow? sometimes they are cheaper than aer lingus. sometimes more expensive but worth trying and they dont charge you any of the annoying extras


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## NorfBank (30 Oct 2009)

If you're landing in the morning but after 930am then I would choose Gatwick, you can buy an off peak zone 1-6 day travelcard which will get you into London and then you have free use of the tube for the day. 

The one day travelcard is only GBP 10 or 11. They are available for Southern, First Capital Connect and any non Gatwick Express trains but be careful the Southern travelcard is not valid on FCC trains and vice versa. 

You can buy them at the vending machine our just ask at the ticket counter.

The one day travelcard is obviously better value if you are going to London and back in a day as you get to use the return fare but as a Zone 1-4 day travelcard is a tenner, you are basically getting to London on the train for a quid.


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## krissovo (30 Oct 2009)

The best airport in London by far is London City, easy to get in and out and a nice releaxing enviroment.

The doclands railway will join you to the tube.


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## mystry4all (30 Oct 2009)

The nearest airport to London central is Heathrow, but that airport is much expensiver. 2nd option is Gatwick airport to London Central that is A lot cheaper to travel to with ryan air or bmi, check it out. Heathrow to Central London is abt 20 minutes and Gatwick to Central London is about 30 minutes. It doesnt make a big difference. Because At heatrow you will find alot of traffic and the airport is much bigger so it will take you much more time to get out of it instead of Gatwick. I will go for the Gatwick.


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## laura28 (30 Oct 2009)

Thanks Guys.

We are flying over on a Wed eve around 9pm and back on a Sunday morning, don't know if that makes much difference?


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## zag (30 Oct 2009)

There are 5 airports for London - not 3.  Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, London City.

You should check out the one way fares for each of these routes and mix and match if you want to optimise value.

One way fares from Dublin to London City with Cityjet are around €45, including all the extras that other airlines charge you for - baggage, check-in, taxes, etc . . . you even get a free newspaper, sambo, coffee, and a bottle of wine on the flight.  Remember the costs of all these when booking your Ryanair flights.

If you really, really want to maximise your value you should check out *all* the routes, add in all the charges, establish the end-end time from the airport to your final destination, etc . . . and then decide on which one suits best for each leg of the journey.  It may be cheaper to fly out with Ryanair to Gatwick and back with another airline from another airport.

z


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## EvilDoctorK (30 Oct 2009)

zag said:


> One way fares from Dublin to London City with Cityjet are around €45, including all the extras that other airlines charge you for - baggage, check-in, taxes, etc . . . you even get a free newspaper, sambo, coffee, and a bottle of wine on the flight.  Remember the costs of all these when booking your Ryanair flights.
> z



Yeah I noticed this recently ... Cityjet seem to have finally started selling one-way fares to/from LCY .. previously it was crazy expensive unless you went a round trip  - now they've got oneways and it can be a real bargain sometimes.

Roughly speaking the order of price for travelling from the airport to Central London is 

1) City (it's in Travelcard Zone 3 which is £6 off peak day pass)
2) Heathrow (it's in Travelcard Zone 6 which is £7.5 off peak day pass)
3) Gatwick - just under a tenner on the train (non Gatwick Express)
4) Luton - about £12 on the train
5) Stansted -about £18 on the train

From Gatwick, Luton and Stansted there are buses as well which are a bit cheaper - but only if you have a lot of time on your hands.


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## so-crates (30 Oct 2009)

zag said:


> One way fares from Dublin to London City with Cityjet are around €45, including all the extras that other airlines charge you for - baggage, check-in, taxes, etc . . . you even get a free newspaper, sambo, coffee, and a bottle of wine on the flight. Remember the costs of all these when booking your Ryanair flights.


 
With the added advantages of a small airport. Incredibly quick to pass through and no long trek to the gates. Fastest I ever got out of that place was when I was standing on the DLR platform waiting for the train and realised I had landed only ten minutes earlier! Impossible in any of the other airports.

I too have recently noticed this new thing about being able to book reasonable one way flights also. Didn't notice much of a fanfare from CityJet but maybe I just didn't notice it.


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## thisismyrepl (30 Oct 2009)

plenty of information of inter airport transfers here:
http://www.milesfaster.co.uk/information/stansted-airport/stansted-to-london-transfers.htm


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## so-crates (30 Oct 2009)

Can I just ask if you have any links to this website thisismyrepl?


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## mimmi (31 Oct 2009)

laura28 said:


> Thanks Guys.
> 
> We are flying over on a Wed eve around 9pm and back on a Sunday morning, don't know if that makes much difference?


 
Dreaded engineering works on Sunday can be a pain for Stanstead, so check these out.

[broken link removed]}


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## thisismyrepl (31 Oct 2009)

you may ask!


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## so-crates (31 Oct 2009)

are that you should declare any interest.


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