Avoiding the London Heathrow Hassle

Why is Heathrow a Hassle?

If you're planning a trip to Britain there is a good chance that you'll be flying into Heathrow Airport near London. Heathrow is the 3^rd biggest airport in the world in terms of Passenger Numbers (67,530,197 in 2006) and the biggest in the world in terms of international passengers (61,348,340 in 2006) but it was designed to handle just 45 million passengers, and the strain is beginning to show. Even British Airways, the airports biggest airline has referred to the "Heathrow Hassel" and the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, has described it as London's "Shame". A new terminal (Terminal 5) is due to open in March 2008 but that's just the start of a long program of renovation and rebuilding that's due to last until 2012.

Alternative London Airports

So what can you do if you want to fly to Britain and avoid Heathrow? Well, London has four airports that have flights from the US. As well as Heathrow there is Gatwick to the South of London and Stansted to the North east. Gatwick handles many flights from all across the US, operated by Delta, Continental and Northwest amongst others. The airport has a direct rail link to Central London (about 30 Minutes) and easy access to London's M25 Ring Road. Stansted is served by American Airlines from New York's JFK as well as by Business Class only carriers MaxJet (New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles) and Eos (New York). As with Gatwick there is a direct Rail Link to Central London and if your traveling to East Anglia there are excellent road connections to East Anglia and Cambridge. The fourth option is Luton, north of London served by Business Class Only Airline Silverjet from New York's Newark Airport.

Avoiding London