This thread has been launched as a beta. As you can see from the contents list it is still a work in progress. So please bear with us while we work on the remaining chapters (displayed in grey in the list of contents).

If you'd like to add your own experience or wisdom, your contribution would be most welcome.

Really helpful thread - thanks folks.

For computer illiterates (like me) who just copy the list of airports and paste into the "From" box on the Matrix search, you might have to separate them with a comma and not a semicolon.

This is really helpful for those of us who haven't been to all of the EU hubs. Really helpful in assessing the risk of turnarounds.

super thanks....
John

An easy way of getting to Holland, to start your flights from Rotterdam or Amsterdam, is to use the Stena Line rail and sail deal overnight.

Typically the inclusive ticket costs £80 single including a train ticket from London Liverpool Street, cabin on the ship and onward train travel to anywhere in Holland.

It is very easy, and I have found it to be very stress free.

The ship is huge, new, and reliable. There are no long walks as the stations are next to the docks.

What a great guide! You can also do a turnaround at MAN, here's a TP I did of my experience. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...gw-tp-run.html

For FRA, the nightstopper is always a bus gate. BA902/903 912/913 usually goes to the finger. LCY is always a bus gate.

What an excellent and helpful thread with user-friendly graphics! Thank you.

In the past, I have used ex-EU tickets from VIE, ZRH and LIS as well as LIN, usually in conjunction with business trips to those cities. Since then, I know that the turnround situation at VIE (relocation of gates since my time) and ZRH (Heidi train and Schengen/non-Schengen) has changed. I'd be hesitant to recommend either of these without a test run myself.

This leads me to think it will be important if all of us can check and update as things change.

Really excellent stuff!

In particular the graphics, and ITA software directions!

Curious about 2 questions though from the point of view of a luggage traveller, assuming AMS-LHR-XXX ticketed

1) Can you check luggage in at LHR before you fly AMS-LHR?

2) Can you check in luggage at LHR after flying AMS-LHR (same day non-stopover)

1) Yes from 05:00 hrs, provided you have status or flying Club Europe or higher. (Or you are 3 hours before the XXX departure). It needs to be the same day however.

2) Yes, same as above.

Obviously not checking luggage (or sending it in advance) makes life a lot easier.

The title of the thread and the introduction should be changed, since this thread is not about travels ORIGINATING in mainland Europe, but travels that ORIGINATE in the UK but which include a TICKET with origin in mainland Europe. If you have travels which originate in the EU then this guide to the airports is not that relevant.

I know the regulars on this board like to call this kind of ex-UK trip with an ex-EU ticket an "ex-EU trip" but should everyone reading these posts and finding this thread through a search have to know than and try to understand why trips from EU airports are described in such a strange way.

An amazing, painstakingly researched and beautifully presented thread, but I was about to suggest something similar regarding the title. There *are* some people who travel ex-mainland Europe because they, ahem, live there..

As someone who has been making these trips since the original ex LIS days, my compliments to the authors of the thread !

One thing I would comment on is the length of the permitted stopover in London. In the good old days the stopovers were unlimited in duration and not particularly painful from a cost perspective. This did enable the short haul first sector to be taken months ahead of the longhaul trip. BA has, as noted above, gradually limited the stopover duration and many fares now have a max of 10 days and a hefty stopover fee.

Even the 10 days would be potentially useful, but it has also to be borne in mind that any UK stopover of 24 hours or more requires UK APD to be paid for the noward longhaul sector. Since the fare (at least in CW) often has a €200 stopover fee, a stopover of more than 24 hours can add nearly £400 to an otherwise bargain basement ticket.

This also means that saving the last 'unused' sector for a future trip has also become a lot less attractive. With a €200 stopover fee, £26 APD and a possible change fee if the date of the next trip is uncertain, using the last sector for a future trip is rarely a particularly attractive option.

Really useful info, thanks. ^

My only currently booked trip of this sort is ex-JER, which isn't in this guide. IIRC from reading other threads, the procedure is very simple and you just duck out of the queue and straight into the lounge, is that right?

I would love any comments on doing same plane turnaround at ORY, as I and many others will be doing multiple trips through ORY on BA metal as part of the IB mistake fare:

fare-gone-ib-ow-mr-out-par-15k-miles-435ai-2-8cpm.html

The Aeroports de Paris website suggests there is a flight connections route at ORY; can anyone confirm this or do you have to go landside?