Airmiles & London airports

fatboyonadiet

Slowly building up my Airmiles and I know they charge 500 miles for flying from regional airports, I'd rather not waste my miles on that so does anyone know roughly how much a train to one of the London airports would cost and which would be the cheapest?

I'm guessing it might just be cheaper all round to drive and park depending on the parking costs over train travel and the time saved too.

benjus

From where?

City and Heathrow are the cheapest to access from central London, as they are within the TfL travel zones. Stansted is probably the most expensive.

In terms of connections to the National Rail network, Stansted has a (slow) rail link to the midlands (Leicester/Birmingham), Luton has links to the East Midlands (although the station is not at the airport - you need to take a shuttle bus), and Gatwick is on the Bedford-Brighton line. Heathrow only has rail links to central London, although there are coach services to nearby railway stations.

fatboyonadiet

DOH! Forgot to say, from Manchester

isplumm

Hi,

Have a look at megabus.com .... I was looking for a friend in a few weeks ... Manchester to London Victoria £10 return .... takes 4.5 hrs, then you could get train/underground/bus to airport ....

Mark

omelette451

fatboyonadiet wrote: »

DOH! Forgot to say, from Manchester

In that case you'll be fine on the train. Advance tickets are generally available to all major London airports from about £15 one-way if booked in advance, and if you get one all the way through they also include the cost of any tube transfers needed. For Heathrow the cheapest option is to book your ticket to 'Heathrow Undergd' (=train to Euston and tube all the way to the airport), but you can pay a bit more and travel on the Heathrow Express via Paddington if you want. For Gatwick and Stansted you get a tube through London (no changes required - both Victoria and Tottenham Hale are on the Victoria line from Euston) and the connecting train will take you direct to the terminal building.

stuart.pinfold

Of course, most of the Airmiles flights go from either Heathrow or Gatwick anyway, with a few European destinations from City. As far as I know, none leave from Luton or Stansted.

It seems the most direct route on train is to buy advanced tickets from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, and then:

- To Gatwick: Walk (5 minutes) or get on a Circle*, Hammersmith and City* or Metropolitan* line Tube from Euston to Kings Cross St Pancras and get on a First Capital Connect* train direct to the Gatwick terminal.

- To Heathrow (option 1): Get on a Circle* or Hammersmith and City* Tube from Euston to Paddington, then get on the Heathrow Express (expensive but fast) or Heathrow Connect (cheaper but slower) to Heathrow.
- To Heathrow (option 2): Get on a Victoria line* Tube to Green Park, then change for the Piccadilly line* to Heathrow.

- To City (option 1): Get on a Circle line* Tube to Tower Hill, then change for the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) to London City Airport.
- To City (option 2): Get on a Hammersmith and City line* Tube to West Ham, then change for the Jubilee line* to Canning Town, then the DLR to London City Airport.

* If travelling at the weekend, ensure you check engineering works first on www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk and www.tfl.gov.uk - the FCC line between Kings Cross St Pancras and London Bridge is closed most weekends and overnight, although tickets are valid on the Northern line Tube between KCSP and London Bridge.

dzug1

But bear in mind that the Circle, Hammersmith and City and Met lines don't serve Euston.

They go from Euston Square - a short walk away the other side of Euston Road.

omelette451

stuart.pinfold wrote: »

It seems the most direct route on train is to buy advanced tickets from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston, and then...

No. Advance tickets are available for the entire through journey from Manchester to the airports, including tube transfers if necessary. It is far better (not to mention easier) to do it this way, not least because it usually adds only a few pounds to the Manc-London fare and as a result is much cheaper overall.

benjus

omelette451 wrote: »

No. Advance tickets are available for the entire through journey from Manchester to the airports, including tube transfers if necessary. It is far better (not to mention easier) to do it this way, not least because it usually adds only a few pounds to the Manc-London fare and as a result is much cheaper overall.

I'm not sure this applies to the Manc-London route, but buying a combined ticket means that you'll pay the standard national rates and potentially miss out on any special fares offered by the rail company.

For example, a return from Banbury to Stansted costs £57 (including tube transfer). However, on some days you can buy a ticket by text to London from Banbury from Chiltern Railways for £5 each way. Combined with £24.60 for a return on the Stansted Express and £7.40 for an Oyster card and two tube journeys makes a total of £42. You can also get a discount on the Stansted Express if you're flying with Ryanair.

This is just an example - maybe it doesn't apply when you're talking about advance fares or the larger London airports, but I'm not convinced that you can assume that it's always cheaper to buy all-in-one tickets.

omelette451

benjus wrote: »

I'm not sure this applies to the Manc-London route, but buying a combined ticket means that you'll pay the standard national rates and potentially miss out on any special fares offered by the rail company.
[...]
This is just an example - maybe it doesn't apply when you're talking about advance fares or the larger London airports, but I'm not convinced that you can assume that it's always cheaper to buy all-in-one tickets.

It depends on the train company involved. Some (obviously including Chiltern, from your example, but also notably London Midland) don't offer advance tickets with other operators' connections included but Virgin definitely does, and it's they who set the fares for the Manchester-London route. I've never tried it from Manchester but I do it from Liverpool all the time (often including connections at both ends) and I'd be surprised if they didn't have the same rules for all their routes. The only exception is when they offer 'blockbuster' fares for weekend services diverted because of engineering works, but these are rare and don't generally apply from Manchester anyway.

inamar

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