Ryanair from London to Pisa
 

Has anyone flown Ryanair from London to Pisa?How far from Gatwick or Heathrow is their terminal? Approx. commute time from either one to Ryanair. What is there reliability?

I can't comment on London to Pisa, but I have flown with Ryanair from Stansted to Cork in IReland, and they were on time, staff were friendly, and we had no complaints about the flight, and the fare was very reasonable. We had a rental car, and we arranged to drop off our car at Stansted Airport (near Cambridge). The car rental depots are "Very close" to the departure section of the airport, and after a 5 minute inspection of the car for any damage, they signed off the car, and we trolled our luggage into the airport, and then off to Cork, easy peasy.
Most of the airports just outside of London, have "Express Trains" running to them. However, I did read somewhere on this Board, that Gatwick now uses a normal train.
As for commuting time on the express trains, I think most of them would be around 30-40 minutes.

Heathrow-Stansted could only be done in 30-40 minutes if you had a private, fast helicopter. On the direct, pleasant National Express coach ride, it takes about 85 minutes. The cost is reasonable, though it might be higher than your Ryanair fare for STN-PSA! Around 14-18 GBP, if that's an accurate recollection from the last time I looked.

Best wishes,

Rex

I presume that 85 minutes works only if you have reasonable traffic.

Lots of people have asked about what is the right amount of time to allow if you are traveling on two separate tickets, departing from a different airport than you arrived at. I wouldn't leave any less than six hours myself, because I fully expect the first flight to be delayed, to experience delays in the first airport, to experience delays in the transfer, and then be confronted with a long lineup when I arrive at the other airport.

I agree with the plan to leave lots of time. I have preferred to just overnight it nearby (as opposed to going into London). The first time I ever flew Ryanair, I didn't know to leave lots of time (this was before 9/11/01, for one thing), and we found that the coach operated right on schedule, joining up nicely with our very early morning arrival in Heathrow. We were headed to Dublin, so there were plenty of other frequently operated flights - - though at the time, we would have never expected Ryanair would require a separate ticket purchase, if we had failed to arrive on time for our flight.

If Greater London is a clock, Heathrow is roughly at 9 o'clock. Stansted - the fully fledged international airport Ryanair currently fly to Pisa from - is at about 1, and roughly the same distance from the centre as Gatwick, which is at 6. All three of these airports (as well as Luton, at 11, also at the same distance as Gatwick and also used by Ryanair) have trains to them from the centre, though each from a different station.

The bus is the only sensible route from Heathrow to Stansted.

Getting from Gatwick to Stansted is a pain. There is a bus, slightly more frequent than hourly, which takes three hours, and is very subject to traffic disruption. Faster, more frequent (and far more uncomfortable), connection is available by getting the Gatwick Express (and there is NO thread on this board saying it's been stopped, though there are several which discuss the suggestion that it MIGHT be stopped) to Victoria, tube to Tottenham Hale and Stansted Express on to the airport. Journey time below 2 hours, but allow at least 7 from touch down to take off that way.

There are direct BA flights from Gatwick to Pisa, and you'll almost certainly find using them is a great deal less stressful (and not a lot, if any, dearer) than messing about with the Stansted connection.