London airports

[U2fan]

Hey all, I'm trying to buy my ticket for early next week and of course, last minute is working against me. I could get a ticket to London for a few hundred less than to Spain, but the ticket to London flies into Heathrow, then I'd have to get a ticket on Ryanair or Easyjet, but they don't fly out of Heathrow, so I'd have to somehow get to Stansted or Luton, and then fly to Spain....do you think this nonsense would be worth it? Keeping in mind that I want to do Spain/Portugal and not London and I might not save much more than $75 dollars in the long run....

Plus...for those good with logistics..I will have about one month before Pamplona and one month after and want to do as much of Spain and Portugal as possible. I have decided to eliminate France entirely. Where do you think the best place to start is? Now I am thinking Madrid, then head south and over into Portugal, then up and over to Pamplona, then after, over to Barcelona, and south and around, then back up to Madrid, to essentially divide the trip in half with Pamplona as the midpoint......but I don't know??

Any ideas for these dillemmas? Thanks guys!!!!!! I really appreciate it!!!!!

Love,
Lauren

[naj131]

Hi

If your only going to save about $75, I'd say forget it. Stansted and Luton are both on the otherside of London. That would mean you have to go into central london and out again. It would not only be costly, but very time consuming and a pain in the backside.

If the connection is at Stansted, the cost would prob be about $40-50 at best. Luton would be more

[worldwidemike]

I did the transfer for my recent trip to Barcelona and Andorra (on easyjet). It was a bit of a pain. I would do it for $100 savings or more. From Heathrow, the Tube and Train cost me 12.90 pounds and took 1:45 or so. Coming back, I took the bus (because I just happened to return on the day the tube wasn't running all the way to Heathrow. I forget how much it was since I had to pay cash.

I agree that it isn't worth it to save a few pennies, but if we're talking lots of money, it isn't that bad. Just remember the more steps you throw into your process, the more you increase the chances something will go wrong to delay you.

If you do end up taking easyjet, remember NOTHING is free on their flights -- not even water or soft drinks. And keep your luggage as light as possible, their restrictions (and penalties if you go over) are very severe.

worldwidemike

[omisan]

Crap.. I just wrote out a long reply and accidentally closed the window! Grr.

Anyway, like the others have said, transferring from Heathrow can be a royal pain in the ass. I know budget's a concern for everyone, but being that I'm in the exact same situation for July (flying into London, then getting over to Barcelona) - and having done this before - here are some considerations beyond the $50-$100 you'll probably save:

* If you're leaving Heathrow to grab another flight elsewhere, you'll have to go through UK passport control. This can take anywhere from a breezy 10 min. to well over 2 hours, depending on how many other flights are coming into your terminal at that hour. Whereas if you take a flight out of LHR, you go through a (relatively) painless international transfer, where you're led to an area with transfer check-in stations and you go on to your next gate.

* Low-cost airlines like RyanAir fly into alternate airports, which can be well outside of the town you want to end up in, meaning another hour or so of transport once you arrive. If you've just been on a trans-atlantic flight, then spent a few hours in immigration and transfer, this could make for a brutally long journey. Personally, as much as I want to save $$$$, I really don't want to arrive at my final destination at 10:00 pm without any sleep the night before.

* BMI (www.flybmi.com) has some low cost fares that can compete with EasyJet and RyanAir, and they fly out of Heathrow. (Bonus if you come in on Virgin-Atlantic, as they're partners and fly out of the same terminal. You also get Virgin miles!) I got to Dublin for $45 return and Paris for $70 return in the past, without having to trudge over to Gatwick or Stansted. Summer prices are higher, but still a good deal. And if you do the transfer check-in a few hours before the flight, ask for Row 4, and you'll get a business class seat in the economy section

Anyway, my experiences lead me to believe that paying a little extra is the way to go, as much as it hurts at first!