laurarick

Hi,

We are staying in a flat in South Kensington in early June. Our nearest stops are South Kensington and Gloucester.

From London, we will be flying to Barcelona. I see similarly priced and timed flights departing from both LHR and LCY. Curious if there is a better airport in terms of ease and time of getting there, and also, would LCY be significantly less crowded than LHR?

janisj

Note the edits above, Gloucester Road is the station near your flat - Gloucester is a city 100 miles away in the Cotswolds.

Heathrow is 'easier' by transport because of the direct Piccadilly line with no changes. The trip out to LCY is actually faster but with two changes. District line to Westminster, Jubilee line to Canning Town, DLR to LCY. LCY is a much smaller airport, security takes much less time. With smaller/manageable luggage I'd probably pick LCY.

laurarick

Thank you Janisj!

One last question -- we are US citizens. If we fly from LCY ---> BCN, I know you said security is less time. Any suggestion how far in advance we should arrive at LCY for a 9AM flight?
2 hours? or more? And similarly, if we decided to fly from LHR---> BCN instead, any suggestion about how long in advance we should arrive to LHR? I've heard security at LHR takes a very long time. I wasn't sure if it is the same if flying within Europe, or it the security is longer for flying outside Europe.

Thanks again!

janisj

1 hour should be more than fine. 1.5 hours if 1 hour makes you nervous I have friends who live near LCY and they don't even walk out their door til 45 minutes before a flight.

One goes through security no matter the destination/passport. At LHR every terminal has its own security/issues could be fine in terminal 2 and lousy long in terminal 5 or vice versa.