UK Flight Routes

Six airports called London

Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, City and Southend all sell themselves as London, and the difference between them is measured in your time rather than the airline's. Heathrow is on the Piccadilly line and the Elizabeth line and works from most of west and central London. Gatwick suits anyone south of the river with the Thameslink or Gatwick Express. Stansted and Luton are genuine journeys out — the express coach or train is an hour or so each way from central London, and both are notably harder to reach late at night. City is the fastest of the lot on the DLR but serves a narrow route network at higher fares.

The practical test is not which airport is nearest the city centre but which is nearest to you, at the hour you are travelling. A Luton departure at seven in the morning means leaving home at four, and that is a different trip from the same fare out of Gatwick.

Getting home is the harder half

Departures are predictable; arrivals are not. The last trains from Gatwick and Stansted into London run earlier than most people assume, and a delayed evening arrival can leave you choosing between a night bus and a taxi that costs more than the flight saved. If the inbound leg lands after about half past ten, check the timetable for that specific night before you book — and factor in that engineering works close sections of the line most weekends.

This is also why the arrival airport matters as much as the departure one when you are comparing two similar fares. Our airport and metro transport guide covers the equivalent question at the other end.

When flying beats the train, and when it does not

On domestic routes the train is often the better journey even when it is not the cheaper ticket. London to Edinburgh takes around four and a half hours by rail city centre to city centre, which is broadly comparable to flying once you account for getting to the airport, security and the tram at the other end — and you arrive in the middle of town. Stations and the sleeper are in the London to Edinburgh guide. Manchester to Edinburgh and Manchester to Newcastle are similar.

Flying wins clearly for Belfast, for the Scottish islands and the far north, and for anyone connecting onto a long-haul flight from a London hub. It also wins on price fairly often, particularly when booked well ahead — the rail fares move in the opposite direction from the flight fares as the date approaches.

The school calendar sets the price

More than any other factor, UK fares are shaped by term dates. February half-term, Easter, the late May break, the summer holidays and October half-term all produce sharp, predictable spikes on leisure routes, and they are the weeks when flexibility is worth the most. If your dates are fixed by school, book considerably earlier than you otherwise would and treat the price as unlikely to fall.

If your dates are not fixed, the weeks either side of a half-term are consistently better value than the half-term itself, and a Tuesday or Wednesday departure usually beats the Friday. Our guides on when to book flights and fare tracking tools go into how far ahead is far enough.