Which Airport is most convenient to get to?

If you are near the Victoria Station you can take the Gatwick Express train. It is a direct non-stop line, and takes about 30 minutes to get there. I took it a few months ago to catch an Turkish Airlines flight.

Gatwick is far more convenient than Luton in my opinion.

leslie,

I also agree that Gatwick is more convenient, especially if you have easy access to Victoria station. The Gatwick Express is a bit pricey, but it will get you to the airport quickly. I vaguely recall that EasyJet uses the north terminal.

If this is the first time you've travelled with EasyJet, be sure to read the Terms & Conditions carefully, especially related to luggage. They have a strict policy of ONE carry-on item per passenger of the approved size, and they do enforce that. If you're travelling with checked luggage, be sure you know the weight and if your bags will be above their allowable weight limit, it's cheaper to pay for the next weight tier at the time of booking rather than at the gate. I've always found flying with them to be relatively "easy", which is why they're the first place I look when planning flights in Europe.

Gatwick and Luton are both served by Thameslink trains from St Pancras, Luton or Blackfriars. These may be more convenient for Gatwick than Victoria, depending on where in London you are staying. You don't need to get the Gatwick Express from Victoria, a fast Southern train to Brighton or elsewhere on the south coast that stops at Gatwick will be almost as fast and have a cheaper fare.

The difference between the two is that the Gatwick Airport station is close to the terminals, whereas the one for Luton needs a (frequent and convenient) shuttle bus. If you ask for "Luton Airport" at the rail ticket office you should get a ticket including the bus. Make sure you check the tickets before you accept them, as if the ticket says "Luton Airport Parkway" it only covers the rail journey and you'll waste time having to buy a bus ticket at the station.

Stansted Airport is less convenient as the rail tickets to get there from Liverpool Street are, imo, extremely expensive. A much cheaper option for Stansted is to take a bus from Stratford railway station in the inner suburbs, which can be easily reached from central London by Central or Jubilee Line. Taking the bus from there rather than central London gets you past the worst of the traffic delays. There are two bus companies, National Express and Terravision, which both sell tickets online. Terravision is slightly cheaper, but has a significantly worse reputation for reliability. The exception would be if you're doing a night flight, as the area where you'd wait for the bus at Stratford might be slightly unsafe in the late evening.

None of the London airports are really inconvenient. They all have rail connections from central London. If you are coming from somewhere outside London some may be more convenient than others. But an early flight (before 08:00) makes it difficult to reach any airport.

1) Heathrow. Big, bad, the one you love and hate. The main airport for long distance flights.
2) Gatwick. Overflow for long distance flights, plus cut-price airlines.
3) Luton, holiday flights and cut-price airlines to European destinations.
4) Stansted, mostly cut-price airlines to European destinations.
5) Southend, new and small.

Thank you, very helpful!

There are various discounts on the Stansted rail route these days if you book in advance. £8 single per person is the simplest. £7.50 from Tottenham Hale.

Southend may have only recently come back into prominence after being bought by the Stobart Group but has been around a long time; go back 50 years and it was London's 3rd airport (it was opened pre WWII).