Stansted to Heathrow..how long does it take on various methods?
 

Basically I'm thinking of flying silverjet or maxjet into STN (whichever flies into there) but would then need to get to LHR or LGW to continue on to Helsinki. To you native Londoners, realistically how long does it take to get between the airports? Is this do-able in less than 4-5 hours or is it an all day excursion? I am game to travel pretty much any way short of chartering a helicopter.

Stansted to Heathrow approx 90 Minutes

www.nationalexpress.com

Silverjet flies into Luton and you can take the train into London and then switch to the HEX. If you do want to go to Stansted fly EOS. It is all fist class (48 seats) yes, more expensive then Maxjet but so worth it. Sillverjet flies out of EWR and Max & EOS fly out of JFK if that helps your decision.

the US part doesn't bug me, I can get to either one just fine. I was just wondering how bad it is to get from one airport to another.

You can also fly directly from Stansted to HEL with the LCC Blue1 or even Ryanair to TMP and then the bus or train to HEL. I have never flown Ryanair but Blue1 is ok (although they charge for everything including water) and part of *A. There are no flights to HEL from LGW that I am aware of.

Unfortunately the one daily Blue1 flight from Stansted to Helsinki leaves at 20.40 in the evening which is not much use for the morning Maxjet arrival.

This transfer topic has come up many times before, the National Express bus service is seen as the best way, about 1.5 hours journey time. If you don't like the thought of a public bus a Stansted taxi will charge about £100 and take about 75 minutes. It all depends on the road conditions on the M25 motorway. You should be doing it after the morning rush hour.

Don't feel bad about not being able to charter a helicopter, they are not allowed into Heathrow anyway without a lot of advanced planning.

The irony is that after departure from Heathrow your flight to Helsinki will normally route north-east overhead the Lambourne radio beacon and within sight of Stansted ! Look out on the left about 10 minutes after takeoff.

I had to do this in reverse a few months ago, due to mucking up my car parking arrangments :mad: although it sounds complex, I found it quite good, as I was always moving and not static in Traffic.

take the train (www.stanstedexpress.com) to liverpool street station. Walk a few yards to the underground, taking the circle line to London Paddington, then the heathrow express to T1 (www.heathrowexpress.com). Easy!

took me about 2 hours maximum.

I did this a few years ago and followed the same course as Impulse9. However, I actually had a while between flights (and the check-in at Paddington was still open) so I checked in there and then walked around the city a bit before catching the tube (sans luggage) to Heathrow.

I think the choice between National Express and Standstead Express/Heathrow Express is based on time of day (the bus during rush hour can take forever), how much luggage you have (the bus involves less carrying of luggage and lots of luggage on the tube, especially during rush hour, can be a problem), and costs (the bus is likely cheaper).

For any transfer between London airports allow at least 4 hours between landing & take off if

a) not landing at Heathrow or Gatwick
b) not transferring during rush hour

In those cases I'd be allowing at least 5 hours

In most cases the direct coach between airports is the fastest option - the one exception is between Gatwick & Stansted which goes via Heathrow and takes substantially longer than taking a train to London then another train out of London EVEN with a Tube transfer

We flew Maxjet in and out of London these past few weeks. Aware that Maxjet was fraught with mechanical problems because of the limited amount of planes for their routes, we were hoping for no delays on our itinerary.

On our return, we were slammed with a 9 hour delay (and they had to fly a 762 without ETOPs between STN-LAS, meaning a stop over in Iceland for refueling)... One problem on a Maxjet flight can cause a domino effect on the Maxjet 20+ year old fleet network. So I'd think twice before flying them if you need to get somewhere with a connection.

First of all, there is no such thing as the Stanstead Express... I've heard it called that, but that train is long and pokey.

I'd arrange a transfer driver... if you'd like a suggestion I've used in the past, please PM me.

Timothy

Well whatever the attributes of the train from Liverpool Street, it is indeed called the Stansted Express.

However it is true that the "Express" part is a misnomer. It stops at a variety of Tottenham, Harlow, Bishops Stortford and Mountfitchet on the way. Almost all the route only has two tracks and it is not possible to route the Express past trains stopping at the many stations along the way. It's a particular problem at rush hours when the railway is full and accounts for the train taking up to an hour and only averaging 37 mph on the way.