Heathrow vs. Gatwick

Elodie,

Gatwick is a smaller, single runway airport so one reason could be that the landing fees are cheaper? If I had a choice, I would always use Gatwick, but unfortunately my preferred airline only flies into Heathrow.

Cheaper? It depends on the airline and the route.

Why do you say its seems like it is cheaper? Give us an example from your experiences.
It is definitely cheaper if you are talking about Transatlantic flights taking Norwegian Air to London. That is my experience as I've taken 3 in the last 12 months all one ways for under $300. It is also a major hub for low cost carrier Easy Jet (which does not fly to Heathrow) and none of the United, Delta American full price legacy airline fly to Gatwick.

Gatwick is better for flying the budget European airlines connecting to most cities in Europe.

I think so too.

Getting there I prefer Gatwick from OAK or SFO. I want non-stop since I am used to the ten hour plus flight going over to London.

The return flight is a toss up, both LHR and Gatwick have advantages, apart from the price. Then I look at departure times. Flying out at 14:00 hrs is preferable than at 10 am if no difference in price and is non-stop.

Gatwick is about 30 miles from London. Heathrow is about 16 miles away.
From Gatwick you take a train into town. It's about 35 - 60 minutes depending on the train and how many stops it makes.
Heathrow is either about 40 minutes via tube (depending on your destination) or 15 minutes via Heathrow Express (my personal perference).

are saying the distance to London is what makes the prices higher at Heathrow?

Thank you for all your replies! We've decided on United into Heathrow.

The difference in price is due to the airline. It's cheaper for airlines to operate out of Gatwick (even cheaper at the more provincial airports but not as lucrative) therefore many of the cheaper and budget airlines base themselves at Gatwick. I'll see very liitle difference in cost, if any, flying BA in and out of Gatwick or Heathrow but I would see a difference in price flying Easyjet from Gatwick in comparison to flying BA from Gatwick.