jeanm

I think that I made a mistake.

My family and I are travelling from Amsterdam to Sicily in May. For the return flight, I happily booked a Ryanair flight from Palermo to London for all of ten pounds per person. It arrives in Stansted airport at 12:55. Then I saw an easyJet flight from Stansted to Amsterdam that leaves at 2:30. "Great!" said I, giddy with low-cost flying, and booked it.

That would be fine in the U.S., but I hadn't really focused on the consequences if we miss the easyJet flight (no flight!). I looked up Ryanair's on-time stats, which claim an 85% on-time record (98% within half an hour) -- so far, so good. But I also hadn't really taken into account customs processing. We're U.S. citizens.

Now I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and change the easyJet flight. Not the end of the world, but a penalty x 4 people and -- no flight until the following day. What would we do in the greater Stansted area for 24 hours?

The "budget" aspect is quickly being squeezed out of this trip, but I'm willing to chalk it up to experience. I haven't travelled in Europe since my college days, when Eurail was all the rage. . .

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Musicteacher

This schedule is very risky. You do not have a connecting flight with luggage checked through. You would have to retrieve your luggage from Ryanair and check it in with Easyjet.

As to what to do near Stansted for 24 hours, I would go to Cambridge, about a 40-minute train ride.

flanneruk

Easyjet requires you to have checked in 30 mins before takeoff. Not be in the queue for checkin, or start talking to the checkin person. The process has to be finished by then, and there are no ifs or buts. And you need to go through Immigration, get your bags, go through customs (a non-issue, as they will have been checked in at an EU airport, but there's still usually a bottleneck at that point if you're in a hurry) and run over to the Easyjet checkin.

On-time data is pretty unhelpful. First, whether Ryanair is on time 99% of the time or 1%, you're 100% late if you're late. And there's no data about how long it takes to retrieve bags, whether the jetway develops a fault, or whether your arrival coincides with a jumbo full of people with passports that require individual personal examination.

The likelihood is that with carryon only you'll get to the head of the checkin queue by 1400.

But what you need to consider is that if you miss the flight, you'll have to buy another ticket at the rate on the day - which will be pretty much the full BA/KLM single fare.

If you don't want to spend a day in Cambridge, there are tons of flights from Heathrow, City, Luton, Gatwick and Norwich. - - and many strategies for getting cheap one-way fares from them.

ira

topping

TimS

There is an easyJet flight that leaves Luton at 19:20. Take a National Express coach from Stansted to Luton for 9.25 GBP. If you can catch the 13:30 coach, you'll go directly to Luton and arrive at 14:50. If your Ryanair flight is delayed, you could catch the 14:00 coach, but you won't arrive at Luton until 16:40 (55 minute connecting layover). There is another coach (with connecting layover) that leaves Stansted at 14:30 and arrives at Luton at 18:10, but that may not give you enough margin if traffic is heavy. Or you could take a National Express coach to Heathrow and catch a BMI flight to Amsterdam from there. Coach service is direct and frequent. Visit www.nationalexpress.com for the timetables and prices.

flanneruk

The problem with Tim's - well National Express's - coaches is that if you're on time for the 1330 you'll be in time for the Stansted Easyjet. And the others involve preposterous tours of England, changing at either Milton Keynes (of interest only to people doing a Masters in New Towns) or Victoria.

The quickest, most reliable, route to Luton airport, taking 100 minutes and with departures every 15 minutes, is the Stansted Express to Tottenham Hale, whence the Victoria Line tube to Kings Cross/St Pancras, and then the Thameslink train to Luton Airport Parkway.

Sounds horrid (and, to be honest, is). But it'll definitely get you to Luton in time for the 1920.

TimS

Flanneruk's route to Luton definitely sounds better than the one I came up with.

jeanm

Many thanks to all of you. Your collective advice has been very helpful, and I'm sure that it will help to prevent others from getting into a similar pickle (or will help to get them out of it).

When I went over the options with my husband, he suggested that we spend two nights in Cambridge. Not within my linear thought process, but a good idea. So that is what we plan to do. My son and husband are both WWII buffs, so the opportunity to visit the Imperial War Museum at Duxford will be welcome.

I've made the changes to our easyJet tickets; it was, indeed, easy, and not horribly expensive.


Thank you again for your time, research, and advice.

jeanm

P.S. flanneruk -- in fact, I did a Master's in New Towns (well, in Urban Design and Regional Planning at the Univ. of Edinburgh) -- and I still don't want to go to Milton Keynes!