Kandace_York

Hi, we're taking an early morning Ryanair flight that departs Stansted at 7:30am on a Saturday morning: four people, plus three small pieces of luggage and four small three carryons.

We're staying at YHA London St. Pancras, and I'm wondering what your thoughts are on:
- walking to St. Pancras and taking the Stansted Express bus to the airport (£32, I think)
- walking to Kings Cross and taking the train to Tottenham Hale, then changing to Stansted (£44 on top of fare to Tottenham Hale, if I understand correctly)
- hiring JustAirports or a comparable taxi service to haul us all from our hostel to the airport.

I'm weighing cost vs. journey duration (i.e., how early we need to rouse the teenagers) vs. convenience.

We're all healthy and fit, so walking to St. Pancras/Kings Cross with our minimal luggage wouldn't be a problem. But if we go to the wrong stop, then we might not make it to the airport in time, and I understand that Ryanair has a strict cutoff time on checking in.

From what I've seen, a private taxi would be £54 to £67, which isn't all that much more, plus it would be door-to-door service. But the taxi would be the slowest of all the methods, right?

I realize that this probably sounds elementary to many of you. But at home, we live in an area where public transit is virtually unknown, so the only time we ever deal with it is when we travel. I'm also embarrassed to say that I've been in a taxi maybe three times in my whole life, and I've never arranged for one ahead of time.

What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

laurie_ann

Not sure why you think taxi would be slowest especially on an early Saturday morning. Light traffic times I think are the best for car service as you get the benefit of speed even if you pay slightly more. And I am a big fan of JustAirports in London.

Kandace_York

That's all good to hear, thanks! I thought I saw on another post that the trains are faster than the taxis, but I thought that that might be less true early on a Saturday morning.

sofarsogood

you could stay the night at a Stansted airport hotel rather than having to get up at stupid o'clock

Kandace_York

That's true, and I'm weighing that, too, but then we'd need to lug all our bags across London for all of Friday. It might be worth checking with our hostel to see if we could leave it all there after checkout...I've just been trying to limit the number of different hotels we stay at. We're already up to 5 different lodging accommodations over 11 days which can be a hassle.

RM67

You will need to be at Stansted at least 2hrs before your flight, and preferably a bit more.

The journey from Tottenham Hale is a good 30 mins or so. That means catching the train before 5am. Have you checked what time they start running, because I live in the Stansted area and I'm not sure it's that early tbh.

RM67

Ok looks like the service starts pretty early (3-40 - 4am ish) - you'd still need to check the Victoria Line tube start times though.

janisj

Assuming you are using a budget airline - they are very VERY strict about check in times - you must be checked in by the cut off, not just in the queue.

With that early a flight I would 100% stay near Stansted.

>>but then we'd need to lug all our bags across London for all of Friday. <<

No you wouldn't. Most any hotel will hold your bags after you check out. You leave them go out and explore London, go back after dinner, collect your luggage and take the tube and an evening train to Stansted, check into the hotel, get a decent night's sleep, fly out the next morning.

And if you happened to have booked at one of the maybe 4% of hotels that won't hold your things, there is Left Luggage at most of the train stations -- including Liverpool Street.

jpie

Yeah I think I am with janis on this one. We have done that in Paris at CDG and it isn't really that hard. Most hotels are happy to hold bags if your room isn't ready. And it is so nice to be able to not worry in the morning about the travel even though it will be Sat. morning. Also if you decide to go that route look for a hotel with a free shuttle to the airport. The truth is that you will probably want to make it an early night that night anyway with an early departure and so you could have dinner Friday night and make your way back out to the hotel.

sundriedtopepo

I wish we had done what janisj suggests rather than paying way too much for a taxi, and arriving at Stansted to find a huge long line-up. It was very stressful wondering if we would make it through on time.

anicecupoftea

That is just about peak time for flights from Stansted. The lines for check in and security will be huge, and if it's a Ryanair flight, chances it will be a long trek to the gate. Give yourself at least 2.5 hours to get through.

jpie

Another thought that is similar to what janis suggested. You could see if the Youth Hostel will keep your luggage for you til evening and then pick it up and go out to a hotel near the airport. I know many hostels may not do this-as opposed to hotels, but it might be worth asking. Otherwise a left luggage place is a good suggestion too and would save you the extra trip out and back.

RM67

The tube won't get you to Tottenham Hale early enough - first train on the Victoria Line is well after 5am - you will be better off staying near the airport overnight.

MmePerdu

Last time I flew a budget airline out of London, Luton I think, I discovered quite by accident that the transport option I'd assumed would get me there didn't begin early enough and staying at the airport was the most sensible thing to do. I suggest you start there, check on the transport and you, too, may find that the decision will be made for you. The other issue is not having to worry about getting up at quite such an awful hour, then actually getting there in time. Stay at the airport. You have to sleep somewhere but you don't have to hire a car.

Kandace_York

Thanks, you've convinced me to hire a car (from the price quotes I've gotten, it would actually be less expensive anyhow). Grateful for your guidance!

Do you think the 2.5 before-flight arrival would hold true for business class, too? With it we get fast-track airport security and priority boarding, and our seats are already reserved.