KeaneJohn

I live near LCY and can be walking in the door within 20 of landing but prefer it for arrivals only with no lounges.

LHR is second choice due to cost/frequency of transport. Typically night Bus for early morning departures in the absence of night tuBe thereafter. LGW as a last resort usually destination and price driven.

futuramadramallama

Plane-Door to Home-Door in 20 minutes sound fascinating. I could see that at a small town airport but it's all-the-more intriguing in a large, dense city.

Also, what's the night bus like to LHR? (Is it reliable, does it take forever, is it dodgy, etc.) This would be good info if I ever take an early morning LHR departure.

KeaneJohn

London City is a small but efficient airport and there’s a display board in baggage reclaim that indicates when a DLR train is coming which can hurry you up if he train is due within a minute or two.

The night bus N9 runs every 20 minutes starting at Aldwych. It takes around 75 minutes to reach T5. It’s busy most nights though for the past year with no nightlife the revellers getting home have been absent.

I normally board at the first stop to secure a seat. It’s been full to the point of standing many days of the week before reaching Hammersmith but again this was when there were revellers. For the last year passengers are travellers from central London and travellers/airport workers from Hammersmith onwards, agAin buses being full going past stops from Richmond onwards.

it now costs £1.55 by contactless card or oyster and you can of course connect free of chargE on any bus in the proceeding hour should you need to travel to pick this service up. The vehicles opening this are the Boris route master bus with the 3 doors and 2 stairs, are clean so would recommend if you’ve got HBO or a rolling suitcase and HBO.

As it’s the longest night bus route you will get the odd person that sleeps rough board as a round trip journey can get them 3-4 hours in the warm. They keep themselves to themselves, don’t beg and are no hassle. I’ve used this regularly for the last few years without issue.

Akoz

LGW every time for me. Will use other airlines if I can get flight from Gatwick, but then it's only 20mins drive for me compared to 1hr plus to LHR (Train for me would mean a trip into London and then out to LHR). Parking is generally cheaper and as far as BA goes (in normal times) I massively prefer the LGW lounge (I don't get access to First/CCR) to the LHR zoo lounges which seem permanently rammed.

dougzz

You could replace BOB with Stretch on Board, and motorise the seats, with appropriate software and a means of payment, link the seat position to bidding for space. Just hope the people in front and behind you won’t outbid you. It could take the arguments about recline to a new level.

Confus

Not dodgy, is fairly reliable (only exception is at nightclub-kicking-out time on a particularly busy night) and is actually for some journeys quicker than the daytime tube. I had no issues taking it regularly when I lived on the route.

Globaliser

It actually works the other way, too. Although I haven't yet got home in 20 minutes, I have done it in about 25 when all goes well. And if I'm departing from LCY with no luggage to check, I know that I can reasonably safely leave the house 60 minutes before scheduled departure. With that timing, who needs a lounge at the airport?

KeaneJohn

Likewise. Back in the day though I would say pre covid in the latter days Monday AM and Thursday/Friday PM arriving at LCY at T-45 with HBO could be.a gamble with security and HBO. There want even fast rack for the BA1.

Also in the event of irrops if you got up to go to the toilet or grab a drink expect your seat to be taken and you to hover around like a cuckoo for the next person to do the same.

futuramadramallama

Thanks to you both for the insight. Especially comprehensive, KeaneJohn.

This sounds hilarious and extraordinary. And potentially lucrative to the airline which implements this.

Thank you everyone, for your two cents. Based on this rather small sample, it seems like if JetBlue ended up at LGW long-term, it wouldn't be the end of the world. In fact, some prospective passengers might even prefer LGW's location. B6 doesn't have any onwards connectivity anyways, and who knows if they're even aiming for the corporate-contract-type of business traveler. (Would OPM travelers even be disinclined to fly out of LGW?) (Also, LGW seems to be significantly cheaper for an airline operate out of?)

P.S. Apologies for the truncated quotes; was trying to save space.

Reetmafreen

My best is about 1hr and 35 mins door to door from my flat in Hayes, to my parents house in Bishopton, which is less than 5 miles from Glasgow Airport. This was back in the mid 80s, so no real airport security checks, especially on domestic. Decided last minute on a Saturday morning to visit my parents. (My sister kindly reminded me that it was the their silver wedding anniversary that evening). Got my flatmate to drop me off at LHR T1, strolled up to the ticket counter (blast from the past!) and bought a standby ticket to GLA. No bag to check. Ticket agent said that there was a flight in about an hour, but if I got a move on and got to the gate ASAP, there was a flight leaving in 10 mins. Payphone call to my dad to be at GLA in an hour and then ran to the gate and made it onto that flight. Landed at GLA about 45 mins after take off. Got off the flight and dad was parked outside (nowadays it takes about 15 mins to get out the bleedin car park) and less than 10 mins later we were at their house. 11 mins after he picked me up, the first can of Tennent’s of the weekend was cracked open!

argonath

Strange world, do your parents still stay in Bishopton ?

Reetmafreen

My mother does. My father passed away several years ago now. If all goes to plan I should be visiting her in early June.

I’ll probably spend more than 15 mins at the luggage carousel waiting for my checked bag to appear! Does Glasgow still do that thing where overseas luggage pops up on a different belt, even on a domestic connection?

argonath

No it was always on the domestic connection flight trying to fight your way to the front past all the weegies coming home from their hols. We are from Bishopton so its always good to have a 15 min drive or taxi ride back home, although to center this back to discussing B6 would love them to try a regional airport to NYC to compete against UA/DL high prices.

VSLover

so the jetblue flights are now on sale for flights starting aug 12.

picking a random date in january, the B6 J seat LHR-JFK return is 1260GBP v BA at 1525GBP.

if you want to sit in row 1 of the more mint seats, it is 211GBP each way.

personally i cant wait to try this since i do love the B6 mint product, and while premium pricing continues to be a bit deflated right now, it will be interesting to see if they remain this low as the likes of BA rise. i hope they are a success.

FlightDetective

They're even cheaper if you go before November. The lead in pricing is £990 LHR-JFK-LHR in Mint and £950 for LGW-JFK-LGW. Apparently the opening sale lasts through to 25 May for travel 11 August to 18 November.

Certainly exceptional there!