My family of 5 is flying standby to LHR from O'Hare this July.(we are nuts, but my husband works for AA, and with the Euro and all, we figured, why not give it a shot ) We are building in at least a full day in London before taking a yet to be scheduled flight to Cork on Ryan Air. Any suggestions on choosing Gatwick or Stansted in terms of ease getting there from LHR? We are doing a house exchange, so we are not locked into hotel reservations.
Thanks!
Posted by
Anaheim, CA, USA
1455 posts
Stanstead is outside London, I believe 45 minutes?? I flew out of Stanstead on EasyJet and from London took the EasyBus to there.
If you are coming from LHR, I would chose Gatwick. I beieve there's a shuttle that takes you from LHR to there.
Posted by
Nottingham, UK
658 posts
As an airline employee and long time stand by ( sub-load ) traveller there is one thing I know: you have to have a plan B.
So I would suggest Plan A should be to fly into London on whichever of the two flights leaves first. That way if you get 'bumped' off the first flight all you have to do is list for the second flight.
Once you're in England then and only then do you have to worry about transport to London ( it's relatively easy from either airport ).
Sub-load travel is a great deal of fun but you have to take it one stage at a time.
It's always worthwile asking advice from other airline workers in foriegn airports, on more than one occasion we have been given seats on half empty crew buses heading into town. Just remind hubby to take his staff ID and show it descretely when talking to other airline employees, also if he has a business card from his airline - it's worth passing a few around and using the phrase 'If you're ever in ....... and need help, call me.'
Posted by
OP
Winnetka, Il
2 posts
Thanks for the advise! Flying as a non-rev is always an adventure!,beats paying over $5000 in tickets if we can make it work.