As we are learning every day, very high oil cost (114 $/barrel while writing this editorial) along with the geopolitical uncertainty is threatening global businesses and, in particular, the transport sector.
Many airlines have been forced to revise their plans for current and next quarters with some countermeasures being already announced. In Europe flag carriers such as British Airways and Lufthansa have announced plans of offer reductions aiming to maintain a certain level of profitability per seat sold with the consequence that some destinations are now only partially served or even axed.
In addition to this situation, there are climate change events that contribute to disrupting flights. Finally, random strikes of national air controllers enhance difficulties in travelling by air, thus spoiling schedules.
In this complicated scenario, where catching a flight has become pretty randomised, I’d like to focus on how to make robust plans of travelling from/to airports.
Despite airports can be reached by car (personal or taxi), the best environmentally-friendly choice is travelling by public transport, which means bus/coach, underground, train. In some cities there is only one mode (generally coach services), in some others there are multiple solutions available.
London, for example, has got six airports: Heathrow/LHR, Gatwick/GTW, Luton/LTN, Stansted/STN, City/LCY, and Southend/SEN. Apart from the last one, which has a limited offer of destinations and it is not going to be assessed, the remaining five ones have more than one solution to get to/from. The problem is how these solutions are devised.
If you choose coach services, these are quite standardised. There are two main companies (National Express and Flibco) where the the former serves the first four airports. The ticket has a cost that varies according to the travel time but allows a 3-hour window to be used. Of course, this is important when returning to London as this time window can compensate potential (short) delays. Choosing to pay a small extra fee, the window can be extended to 12 hours.
While Heathrow and City airports can also be reached by urban buses (the latter can also enjoy a direct connection with the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) at urban price), the tricky situation is when you choose to go to/from the airports (LHR, LGW, LTN) by rail (or underground) as every airport shows a different situation:
- LHR – it is linked to Central London by the Heathrow Express train, by the Elisabeth Line, and by the Piccadilly line. The Elisabeth line is a hybrid service: half underground (urban fares in Central London) and half train (and consequently higher fares) when reaching LHR or other destinations beyond Zone 6. The Piccadilly line is a regular underground service and can reach LHR, located in Zone 6, with a normal ticket.
When tourists land in LHR, despite now some signs highlighting the difference between Elisabeth and Piccadilly lines, is not that obvious that tickets to each Central London have got different price, provided that both services stop in Central London.
- LGW – can be reached by several train services: the Gatwick Express, and other services run from Southern and Thameslink railways . The first is expensive and allow to travel anytime of the day chosen; the second may offer very cheap tickets that are only valid on their services and at the specific time of the day chosen whereas tickets bought from third one allow to travel anytime of the day chosen
- LTN – the train journey is made by one automated train shuttle (DART) carrying passengers from Luton Airpot to Luton Parkway, then they find two companies: Thameslink (that one serving also LGW) and the Luton Airport Express service. Here we have three important pieces of info to bear in mind:
- when buying the train ticket, choose departure from LUA (instead of LTN) otherwise the DART ticket is not included. By the way, this is quite confusing as for air travelling LTN means Luton Airport whereas from rail travelling LTN is Luton Parkway station, not the airport
- be careful when buying the train ticket because Thameslink and Luton Airport Express are separate companies and one company doesn’t accept the other one’s tickets
- when buying the train ticket, remember to choose “anytime travelling” otherwise discounted prices are limited to the specific train (time and date) chosen
- STN – the train journey is possible by the Stansted Express, departing from Liverpool Street Station (and stopping at the Tottenham Hale station) which offer high price tickets for anytime travelling within the day
All this long explanation aims to show how difficult is travelling by public transport for someone who is not familiar with the London transport system. The risk is paying a flight ticket £16.99 and then paying a fortune to reach Central London. LCY is very easy (and cheap) to each to reach, but there are flights are expensive as there as there are no low-cost companies serving it.
The advice is to get proper information on how to get to/from Central London BEFORE buying a flight from/to one of the London airports.
One could say London is a large city and of course has a complicated transport system. That’s true, but my argument is that not all passengers are transport experts or frequent travellers, therefore providing easy guidelines and easy/simple pricing schemes is the most powerful way of making people choose public transport to get from/to airports. When rules are too complicated, people would instead choose taxis (inc. Uber services) that comfortably carry passengers to their final destination while, though, increasing traffic congestion in city centres.
How is the situation in your city?
Stefano Mainero
EPN Consulting and EPN Consulting Research and Innovation Founder & CEO
This article was written by human beings without any use of AI whereas this time graphics displayed was generated by AI tools. EPN Consulting Ltd. copyright 2026
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