I'm flying to London from Dublin on RyanAir and have a choice of Gatwick, Stansted or Luton airports.?

Question

Which is best for taking the train into the Westminister area? Also, how can RyanAir charge such a cheap price (1 Euro total, 63 Euro with taxes).

Answer 1

Well mate, forget about Luton. It's north west of London and so too far out. I can't advise you on transport from there into London as I've never been there due to the above reason.

From Stanstead you can catch a train to Liverpool St. Station for £13 one way from memory. from there take a Westbound Circle Line train on the Underground to Westminster Station. That'll cost £3 something. I can't remember exactly.

From Gatwick you can catch the Gatwick express to Victoria Station for £20 one way and then an Eastbound Circle Line Train or District Line train to Westminster Station. Same price as before.
Or from Gatwick you could take an overland train to Victoria Station which is cheaper but just takes a little longer.

The price is cheap to fill seats. More often than not the closer to departure and the more seats are sold the more the price goes up. They subsidise this by a no frills service and charging passengers for food and drinks.

Answer 2

Just take the cheapest fare, as transport into town is provided from all airports.
(Check on-line for the prices.)
I remember a coach from Luton to Victoria bus station, which is in the Westminster area, but that was a couple of years back. (Cost about 5 pound then.)

You will see that the cheapest flights are often the unpopular times and they are gone pretty fast too.
It is an advertisement tool, they can now boast flying for 1 Euro, (63 all included) even if they have only one seat a week for that price, if they had their cheapest seat at the normal low price of 20 or so euro it would not look as good.

Answer 3

Gatwick definitely my choice to get to Westminster. Victoria station well served from Gatwick airport and forget the Gatwick express train, use the normal local service as it is cheaper but only takes a few minutes longer.

I dont think 63 euros one way is especially cheap when I used to get return London to Spain with BA for 99 euros all taxes included and full service too. Regrettably people get caught by the 1 penny or 1 eurocent "fare" and forget all the extras.

We should remember that a low cost airline is one which actually runs a low-cost business model. Shortest turn around times possible, push employees to their limits, use cheaper airports and cheaper times. Cheapest for the airline is not always cheapest for the passenger.

Answer 4

I would definately use Luton if it is an option. I have used Luton Airport at least 50 times and have never had a problem.