Heathrow vs Gatwick

Or Luton, or Stansted, or City or Southend.

Personally I would go with whichever has the cheapest and or most convenient flights, where I am travelling from (if I am in Manchester I would look at flights from there for example). If all else is equal (and it isn’t) I would use City as it’s small and very efficient.

Whichever has flights to suit you in terms of cost, timing and destination. Both are very easy to get to from central London via public transport.

Luton and Stansted also very doable although not quite as straightforward.

London City (on DLR) and Southend are also very easy. Southend is 55 minutes from Liverpool Street every 20 minutes. They reckon they are closer from train to check in than London City Airport- just a restricted range of destinations.

Ok, everyone has been very fair and balanced, so here’s a personal opinion!

I live in west London, ie. the same side of London as Heathrow, and I am usually prepared to pay a bit more to be able to fly from there because it it so much easier to get to, and there are multiple ways to get into London if one of them has problems. I loathe having to leave from Gatwick (looking at you, BA flights to Tampa!) - if I drive, it’s a long journey in heavy traffic coming off a night flight, and if I take the Elizabeth Line and trains to/from Gatwick, something always go wrong on what looks like an easy journey. So, I’m prejudiced by past experience, but you need to make your decision on all the factors above.

Ultimately, it probably doesn’t make a difference which one you choose, unless you are transiting to somewhere else, in which case it’s important to make sure you’re flying into the airport you’re flying on from.

Which airport I use depends on.....

where I want to go,

who has the flights I like in terms of time/price/type of aircraft,

how easy is it for me to get to the airport?

Will the extra time/cost to get to distant airports be worth it or will it be easier to fly out of the closest aiport?

I spend a lot of time in airports so they rarely fluster me. And if they do, I just think "I'm going somewhere. Yipee."

So, the answer to your question for me is...It depends.

We really like London city Airport for flights to Zurich and would use them for wherever else is possible. Very quick and easy access from our favored lodging area (around St. Paul’s using the Docklands Light Rail right into the airport. And the airport is so much smaller and easier to deal with than Heathrow.

When we travel we try to avoid Heathrow at all costs. It is so big, so busy, and so rude. The few times we transferred through there they always find something in our bag to question. And it is always something stupid, not like we’re trying to sneak a knife through. When they have finished emptying your bag, they shove you off quickly while you’re trying to keep everything together, for their next victim. There is always a next victim. And yes, we use packing cubes but it is still annoying. And yes again, we understand they are just doing their job, they are just so rude.
Our last trip we left through Gatwick. We were staying across the street from Victoria Station. It was such an easy train to find, inexpensive, and not crowded. When you disembark, you walk right into the airport. A pleasure.

I love small airports. We flew from Gatwick to Scotland and really enjoyed not entering the Heathrow chaos for this short flight.