Easiest London Airport for Transfer To/From Heathrow
 

Greetings all.

I did a quick search but couldn't find an answer...any thoughts on the best/easiest London airport for traveling from, to Heathrow? We will be flying back from Dublin on a Saturday, then transferring to fly out of Heathrow in early afternoon of the same day. I see the various train/tube or bus options. We'll be flying Ryanair to one of the smaller airports in the morning (Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, or London City), then going to Heathrow to fly out. Any advice/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much!

Gatwick has buses to Heathrow and that may be the easiest: takes about an hour:

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel...s_transfer.htm

Maybe other airports do too but it seems again GTW-Heathrow buses may be most frequent and quickest.

London City you can take the Tube with some changes - with baggagnice to have a direct transfer.

None are fast -- but LGW would be the easiest - with an express coach between the two.

Since you tickets are unlinked -- I would fly in to London the evening before. If your RyanAir flight is delayed or cancelled you will be stuck. If by 'early afternoon' you mean say 1PM you would need to be at LHR by 10 or 10:30 which means arriving at LGW by 8-ish to allow for luggage retrieval and waiting for the next coach.

>>London City you can take the Tube<,

First you would take the DLR and then a couple of tube changes - quite a schlepp w/ some long walks at the tube stations

Your LHR-departing carrier owes you no favors if Ryanair is late. Definitely follow the above advice and stay the night in London - preferably as close to LHR as possible, there are still other possible snags lurking that you want to minimize - tube trouble, road trouble, that sort of thing. Better safe than sorry.

Almost always the best place to start is with the airport's own website. Heathrow lays out your options here:
http://www.heathrow.com/transport-an...tween-airports

If you go into London City Airport and have a lot of time - like the day before-it can be neat taking the Docklands Light Railway -DLR which soars above the vast Docklands, old docks now converted to an extension of the London banking and financial district - lots of modern architecture but the DLR itself is novel - driverless trains running on tracks on tall pillars:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lond...HboBDrwQsAQIGQ

Nab a seat up front and make believe you are driving the train!

Take DLR to Tower Gateway or Bank to join the regular Underground Tube to anywhere in central London.

>>Take DLR to Tower Gateway or Bank to join the regular Underground Tube to anywhere in central London.<<

To clarify . . . not if one is headed to LHR.

Yes if staying in London the night before and if so City Airport is the easiest and quickest of any London airport to get into central London.

The short answer to the original question is -- Heathrow.

Wouldn't it be much less strain all round, rather than bearing the cost of an overnight stay just to get a cheap ticket from the first leg?

Gatwick is the only one not on the wrong side of London if you don't want to overnight, but even then there's the risk of some hitch on the incoming flight.

Great replies/info, thank you all! We would prefer to stay the extra night in Dublin and then fly early on that Saturday (b/c yes, the flight out of Heathrow is around 1-2pm). Sounds like Gatwick might be the easister, and it also seems like train/tube is less risky than bus as it brings traffic and such into the mix.

I've never flown Ryanair. I realize they are a discount airline. Are they often late, or have flight cancellations, or other troubles? Or are they generally pretty reliable for shorter flights, like from Dublin to London? Perhaps we could take the earliest flight from Dublin on that Sat morning...or the latest flight on the night before, though that would not be ideal (of course missing a flight home would be even less ideal). Thoughts?

Thanks again.

Just a reality check. Not knowing your dates, I plugged in a Saturday in March for Ryanair on DUB-LGW with a morning departure that would get you to Gatwick with enough time to get to Heathrow.

Base price, $30. Add a bag and a seat, total $58, bus from LGW to LHR, £20, say $24.00, total $82.00

British Airways, DUB-LHR, same departure time, one bag, no seat selection (it's BA after all), total $77.

Five bucks cheaper, an hour (at least) quicker. Use the five bucks for a coffee in the departure area.

"Are they often late, or have flight cancellations, or other troubles? Or are they generally pretty reliable for shorter flights, like from Dublin to London?"

Ryanair is by several light years the largest international airline the world's ever seen. For getting on for the past two decades, it's carried more people between countries than any of the minor league players like American Airlines, United or Lufthansa.

Without any government subsidies, or free help from diplomats lobbying for it, it's gained global supremacy the honest way: by a world-beating punctuality and safety record. And generally dynamite prices.

The web's stuffed with professional whingers complaining that the airline treats people sensibly and, like any well-managed business, will have no truck with modern fads about grovelling "customer service".

It's less full of people acknowledging how it's revolutionised international travel. Which only goes to show what wankers complainers are.

Yes Ryan is notorious for delayed and cancelled flights. I am totally with Gardyloo, British Airways, DUB-LHR. It will be so much easier and a much better chance of no issues.

figure the cost of getting from other airports to Heathrow and time and all I'd pay a lot more even if you could not get the $5 cheaper flight Gardyloo found.

And yes I think Ryanair must be fairly punctual -especially at secondary airports with less traffic than say Heathrow- stats are available to show that I guess. but no matter which airline you take always leave plenty of time for it to be late.

>>or the latest flight on the night before, <<

this . . .

You will not gain any sightseeing time in Dublin by staying an extra night there. Take an evening flight to LHR (or LGW if you <i>must</i> -- unnecessary but at least doable)

If you fly in the same morning and <i>anything</i> goes pear shaped, you will lose your flight home.

I think the probability of a problem connecting through London in one day is not high but things can and do happen. Last year I had to deal with a Lufthansa strike in December and a French railway strike in June. If you miss your connection what might happen to you? How much will new tickets home cost you? This depends on the time of year and where you are going but it could easily be close to $1000 a piece. Most flights also usually depart for North America in the morning or early afternoon unless its somewhere like New York city and so your next flight could be either a very long connection or the next day in which case your will need a LHR hotel. What you do depends on your tolerance for risk.

And they just had a Tube strike and may have more - even if not taking the Tube the strike tied up all cabs, Ubers, cars, etc. For folks going into London City Airport.

Excellent points. I'll look into taking a British Air flight in the early AM, to Heathrow, or some late evening flight the night before. Thank you all for your help. Cheers.

No, it's entirely correct depending on your definition of international airline. When this post was written over 2 years ago, Ryanair was the 5th largest carrier in terms of passenger number - but all four of the airlines above them in the list predominantly flew withn the US. Ryanair carries more passengers between international destinations any other airline.