Flight from Edinburgh to London - which airport in London ?

I am not sure about the flight answer, but I wanted to throw out the idea of the train from Edinburgh to London. If you take the train to King's Cross then to Paddington, which has a tube connection to Heathrow it may be cheaper, (may not but it is an option to look at) and you would end up probably spending the same amount of time. From Edinburgh to London Kings Cross it will take about 5 hrs and then about 45-1 hr to Heathrow. Seems like a lot of time but the the flight is an hour and a half, with two hours head time getting to airport before the flight about 30 minutes to de-plane you are looking at 4 hours so it will be about an hour longer for the train.

I am going to add to my reply. It looks like easy jet lands at either Stansted or Luton and per the national rail website those trips take about 2 hrs, and that is on the Heathrow express. You can look at trip info at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

I would advise getting into London and then taking the tube to Heathrow because the Express isn't worth it if you aren't on a huge time crunch cause it is expensive but not a great time saver. The tube would end up being 20 minutes more and about $10 I think?

Take a National Express coach from Luton or Gatwick (or Stansted) airports direct to Heathrow.

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/airports/heathrow

Have you already discounted flying with flybe or even BA to Heathrow? The latter admittedly tends to be expensive on one-way flights of this kind because it can sell out easily on a Friday, but flybe can be competitive if booked a reasonable time in advance.

Edinburgh to London . . . . on a Friday with plans to fly out of Heathrow on Saturday morning.

That implies you stay somewhere in London on the Friday night. Do you want to stay in central London or is your flight so early you want to stay at Heathrow?

If the former, I too would recommend the train. 4½ hours city centre to city centre, a train ever 30 minutes, and a lot more comfortable and stress free than flying. You can then stay in one of the hotels near Knig's Cross, and get the Piccadilly line direct from Kings Cross to Heathrow in the morning.

If you want to stay in a hotel near Heathrow, then Luton, Stansted and Gatwick are equally (in)convenient. You either go through central London (train+tube), or get a bus direct to Heathrow, which may not be any faster, but will be more convenient.

Luton is the least convenient London airport (or perhaps Southend, never flown in there yet). Use London City if possible. Stansted and Gatwick both have easy train connections to central London.

I agree that if your goal is to go from central Edinburgh to central London, the train is likely to be faster, door to door, than a flight. If you want to be near Heathrow for an early flight the next day, then fly to Heathrow (British Air and Flybe both fly this route). Flying to another airport, then trying to get to Heathrow, will be both more time consuming and more difficult; for me, this would negate any cost savings (which may not even exist - I haven't priced the various options).

www.skyscanner.com will quickly summarize all the flights to London, including a half dozen non-stop from Edinburgh to LHR. Prices depend on time when you will travel but it appears that the flights to Stansted are a small amount cheaper than to LHR but not so much when you add in the costs of moving between the airports. More heaving of luggage and stress of making the connections too. I'd fly, missing that scenic ride through southern Scotland.

Have you checked with British Airways? sometimes they are fairly comparable to the so called budget airlines when you consider luggage and seating charges and the hassle of getting to one of the other airports. Scratch Luton - it is the furthest away and you don't need to go there. I would stick with LHR or London City Airport. I do have family that live near Stansted so am very familiar with the airport. You can get the National Express bus to Stansted from Heathrow (I do it all the time and its usually takes about 1.5 hours depending on traffic). but I think it may not be worth the savings. Also, keep in mind some of the airlines do not have very many services on a Saturday to Edinburgh. Most UK weekend travelers leave on a Friday and come back on a Sunday.
Margaret

Thank you all for the informative suggestions. Based on the fact that we are leaving out of Heathrow early Saturday morning I will try to fly back into Heathrow on Friday afternoon from Edinburgh. Sounds like flying into any other airport would be impractical. Appreciate the suggestions to take the train back. I did decide to take the train on my way up to Edinburgh though. Again thanks so much to all who responded.

There are many private buses that take you from one airport to the other...... I have flown from the usa into Heathrow, jump on a bus to Stansted (it's only going to stansted) and fly into Killarney from Stanstead (Ryan Air). It's simple - designed for those switching airports.....

Susan
Expat living in Waterville, Ireland