London Luton Airport

grimm2005

I wasn't a fan of Luton last time I flew, the lack of train or connection options puts me off. I fly to London around 3 times a year and 9 times out of 10 I go for Stansted as it's the best trade off between price and convenience for me. If booked enough in advance you have tonnes of options for time and can always get them for about €30 return and then the Stansted Express @ £7 e/w every 15 minutes means you can get the lot done at about €50 return. Have to say it's a comfortable no nonsense train as well. Might be a bit long at 45 minutes for some but if you're not in a rush it's a grand journey.

In terms of the air side experience I don't really get the hate. It is busy and fairly crowded most of the time but there's tonnes of places to eat and shops to browse if you've time to kill and you'll always get a spot to sit down. I've been to a lot of airports (particularly some of the smaller ones in Eastern Europe) that have little to nothing to offer passengers and are frankly miserable and boring experiences. The whole walking you through duty free to get to your gates may be a bit passive aggressive but they do that in Dublin T1 nowadays and personally I consider Dublin airport one of the better airports in Europe (that I've been to anyway).

I don't really get the hype of Heathrow. People cite the tube as a good reason to fly there and while it's handier if you've got somewhere specific you need to be, but it's still going to cost you £6 or so on the tube anyway to central London and it's not exactly a pleasant way to travel particularly if you have baggage. Flight prices tend to be really over inflated I find which always puts me off flying there (think €30 vs €100 return).

If money were no object I'd be flying to London City without question every time but there's usually a significant enough difference in the price that Stansted usually wins when I take everything into consideration. I haven't flown to Southend yet but the train seems very expensive from what I've seen so not sure if it's worth the consideration.

theteal

grimm2005 wrote: »

If money were no object I'd be flying to London City without question every time but there's usually a significant enough difference in the price that Stansted usually wins when I take everything into consideration. I haven't flown to Southend yet but the train seems very expensive from what I've seen so not sure if it's worth the consideration.

I have found that when flying with the family i.e. luggage and parking needed, City can work out cheaper than Stansted (Stansted is ridiculous for parking, it costs £3 just to drop people off at the front of the airport!)

Yes the train to Southend is expensive. I live in a small town along the route. Also to note, because of upgrade works we've had very little weekend service for the last year and to continue up to April/May. The airport itself is a dream though, small and straight to the point - off the plane and through the airport in about 2 mins.

grimm2005

theteal wrote: »

I have found that when flying with the family i.e. luggage and parking needed, City can work out cheaper than Stansted (Stansted is ridiculous for parking, it costs £3 just to drop people off at the front of the airport!)

That's fair, I nearly always travel solo or with maybe one other with minimal baggage and always for pleasure rather than business when going to London so for my particular needs it suits me. The time from plane to train is always really quick in Stansted as well so if you've no baggage and are travelling solo it's a nice no nonsense transfer.