Why is flying from London so expensive?

N9eav

London always used to be the cheapest airport to fly from.


Now I find that Manchester, Scotland, Birmingham even Bristol is cheaper.
Suits me as living in Cornwall any airport is far away, but why is London often £100's more than regional airports?

PeacefulWaters

Supply and demand. Not enough runways in the South East.

Although my recent flight to Poland was cheapest out of LHR.

Lyndacarter

I think it's Supply and Demand, Due to high demand Taxes are high and also people usually buy cheaper seats in advance like 6 months to 9 months in Advance after that what's left are expensive classes to travel on.

alanrowell

Marketing.

If you want to go from A to B and your choices are via airport C, D, E or F then the airline will price it so you pick them rather than another airline.

If you want to fly direct from A to B then you generally have a limited choice of airlines - in the UK that's typically BA and the main airline in the destination country - so there's less need to cut prices to get the business.

tomtontom

Examples? Are you comparing like for like?

jpsartre

N9eav wrote: »

London always used to be the cheapest airport to fly from.


Now I find that Manchester, Scotland, Birmingham even Bristol is cheaper.

It depends entirely on route and even what dates you are looking to fly. I can easily find flights where a flight from London will be cheaper than a flight from the regions.

richardw

London area has six airports LHR, LGW, STN, LTN, LCY and SEN and lots of direct non-stop flights to a large number of places, I can find some very cheap flights amongst this, which expensive routes were you thinking of?

tomtontom

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Supply and demand. Not enough runways in the South East.

Although my recent flight to Poland was cheapest out of LHR.

Compared to where? :eek:

N9eav

tomtontom wrote: »

Examples? Are you comparing like for like?

Basically yes.


Random Example. I want to go to Chicago. Its where my daughter lives. I choose Expedia for convenience as some of the flight scanners have prices for travel agents that I don't trust.


Dep 4 Nov Ret 18 Nov Indirect


London - £436
Bristol - £367
Man - £327
Birm - £326
Scotland £329.


Its a no brainer for me.

Moto2

as living in Cornwall any airport is far away

Have you looked at Newquay>Dublin/Dublin>Chicago?

Kernow666

i live in cornwall and find it cheaper to fly out of london , exeter is the closest but expensive then its bristol but i can get a coach from cornwall to heathrow for £35rtn ( yes it takes a long time )