Nov 13, 2007
Going to London? Consider flying to Stansted -- and save!
London has five major airports, and three of them accept standard coach flights from the United States. Heathrow and Gatwick are well-known; Heathrow, however, has acquired a dismal reputation as overwhelmed and falling apart, with dreadful rates of luggage loss, and Gatwick is hardly state-of-the-art. But shiny new Stansted (www.stanstedairport.com), located in the green countryside north of the city, is gaining traction as a popular landing field. Last week, American Airlines (www.aa.com) kicked off daily flights from America (New York-JFK) to Stansted.
The bright side of AA's Stansted flights is that they are often slightly cheaper than flights to Heathrow. But even with all things being equal, and assuming your quoted base fare is the same between a flight to Heathrow and one to Stansted, the flight to Stansted currently comes with lower mandatory fees: £75 versus £81 at Heathrow.
Add to that the fact that American Airlines will likely, over the coming months, periodically slash fares even further for its Stansted route in order to drum up business, and you may be able to score a deal on flights to the United Kingdom.
Stansted is also a much easier airport to navigate than is Heathrow. Lacking the size and import of Heathrow, its security clearances are much quicker. It's not uncommon to go from airplane to front curb (or vice-versa) within 30 minutes, whereas Heathrow is plagued with delays, long walks, and interminable lines. Four of London's five airports have rail links directly to the city, and Stansted's station goes from underneath the terminal to Liverpool Street station. The trip takes about 45 minutes on a commuter train (£15) or about 75 minutes using the discount easyBus (www.easybus.co.uk) service (as little as £2 with pre-booking).
When pricing flights to London by Internet search engines, make sure you include Stansted (code: STN) in your searches, or else you may never be shown the prices to that less crowded and potentially less expensive airport.
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The bright side of AA's Stansted flights is that they are often slightly cheaper than flights to Heathrow. But even with all things being equal, and assuming your quoted base fare is the same between a flight to Heathrow and one to Stansted, the flight to Stansted currently comes with lower mandatory fees: £75 versus £81 at Heathrow.
Add to that the fact that American Airlines will likely, over the coming months, periodically slash fares even further for its Stansted route in order to drum up business, and you may be able to score a deal on flights to the United Kingdom.
Stansted is also a much easier airport to navigate than is Heathrow. Lacking the size and import of Heathrow, its security clearances are much quicker. It's not uncommon to go from airplane to front curb (or vice-versa) within 30 minutes, whereas Heathrow is plagued with delays, long walks, and interminable lines. Four of London's five airports have rail links directly to the city, and Stansted's station goes from underneath the terminal to Liverpool Street station. The trip takes about 45 minutes on a commuter train (£15) or about 75 minutes using the discount easyBus (www.easybus.co.uk) service (as little as £2 with pre-booking).
When pricing flights to London by Internet search engines, make sure you include Stansted (code: STN) in your searches, or else you may never be shown the prices to that less crowded and potentially less expensive airport.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
