London flights: which of six airports

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London is served by six airports — Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend — and the distance from each one to the centre matters less than the ticketing does. Heathrow alone has three trains into town charged on three different scales. Stansted takes contactless but not Oyster. At Southend the pay as you go zone stops at Shenfield, well short of the terminal.

London City is the one airport here carrying no figures. Its published transfer and kerbside tariffs could not be read on the airport’s own pages when this page was compiled, and nothing goes on this site that has not been read at source. Everything else below is the published figure from the authority that sets it, checked on the date at the foot of this page.

Fares for the flight itself are not here and never will be; that is what the booking sites are for, and how booking works sets out what this site does and does not do. What is here is the fixed part: TfL’s 1 March 2026 fares, the Heathrow supplements, the operators’ own single fares, and what it costs to be collected by car.

Heathrow has three trains and three different fare scales

The Piccadilly line is the cheap one. It is charged as an ordinary TfL journey on the zones 1 to 6 scale, which went to £5.90 peak and £4.00 off-peak on 1 March 2026, up from £5.80 and £3.80. It is also the only one of the three that calls at every Heathrow terminal, and Heathrow puts every terminal at under an hour from central London on it.

The Elizabeth line is not a flat airport fare, which is where people go wrong. It is the ordinary zonal fare plus a Heathrow supplement, and from 1 March 2026 that supplement is £9.60 for travel via Zone 1 and £6.50 not via Zone 1 on pay as you go, or £6.50 and £4.60 on cash fares. Put the £9.60 on top of the £5.90 peak zones 1 to 6 single and a Zone 1 to Heathrow journey is £15.50 — the figure City Hall used when it announced the 2026 package, against £13.90 before it. Heathrow quotes the line at under 40 minutes into central London.

Heathrow Express is the fast one and the expensive one. The published Standard single is £26.00 and Premier+ is £32.00; a Standard same-day return is £30.00 and an open return £42.00. The number that changes the comparison is the Standard Advance Discounted Single, sold from £10.00 when booked 30 or more days in advance. Children aged 15 and under travel free — in Standard with a paying adult, or unaccompanied with proof of air travel from Heathrow; in Premier+ only with an adult holding a Premier+ ticket.

The trap is the one nobody checks until the gate. TfL is explicit that “Journeys on Southeastern high-speed and Heathrow Express train services are not included in caps and Travelcards”. A zones 1 to 6 7 Day Travelcard at £81.60, or a contactless card already running towards the £16.30 daily cap, buys nothing at all on Heathrow Express. Both of those were frozen in the March 2026 package. The Heathrow fares around them were not.

Which train leaves you at which terminal

Heathrow Express runs Paddington to Heathrow Central, for Terminals 2 and 3, in 15 minutes, four trains an hour, with Terminal 5 a further six minutes on. It does not serve Terminal 4 at all. The operator’s advice to T4 passengers is to “jump on a quick connecting shuttle bus from Heathrow Central”, so for that terminal the 15 minutes is not the whole journey and the shuttle is not in the headline figure.

The Elizabeth line reaches all three Heathrow rail stations — Terminals 2 and 3, Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 — but the service is not spread evenly across them. There are six trains an hour at Terminals 2 and 3, four an hour at Terminal 4 and two an hour at Terminal 5. A half-hourly service at T5 is a wait that no published journey time includes, and it is the reason the Elizabeth line can lose to the Piccadilly line from that terminal on a bad connection.

The Piccadilly line calls at every terminal, which makes it the fallback when a rail station is shut. The difference between the three is not only speed: Heathrow Express terminates at Paddington, while the Underground drops you inside the network, which can save a change at the far end. Onward rail out of London is a different fare system again — see London trains.

The 1 March 2026 change, and the page that has not caught up

TfL’s 2026 fares took effect on 1 March 2026. The zones 1 to 6 adult pay as you go single went from £5.80 to £5.90 at peak and from £3.80 to £4.00 off-peak, and the TfL-set Heathrow supplements rose with them. Caps and Travelcards did not move: zones 1 to 6 stays £16.30 a day, peak and off-peak, and £81.60 for a 7 Day Travelcard or a weekly cap.

Peak pay as you go applies 06:30 to 09:30 and 16:00 to 19:00 Monday to Friday, public holidays excluded. There is an exemption that works in an arriving passenger’s favour: on every fare scale, a journey starting between 16:00 and 19:00 on a weekday and ending in Zone 1 is charged off-peak. Landing at half past five and heading for the centre is an off-peak fare. Heading out to the airport in the same window is not.

One consequence of a change this recent is that the airport’s own pages lag it. Heathrow still tells passengers that Elizabeth line travel “starts from £13.90 for a journey to or from Heathrow airport, where that journey starts, ends or goes through Zone 1”. That was the pre-March price. Budget on the current one.

Gatwick: one station, three operators, and a train that is not going to London

Gatwick’s railway station is at the South Terminal, about a five-minute walk from departures and arrivals; from the North Terminal it is a free two-minute shuttle first. The airport puts London at 30 to 45 minutes on Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express.

Gatwick Express is the non-stop one, twice an hour to London Victoria, quoted at 30 minutes by the airport and 31 minutes by the operator, which takes 10 per cent off for booking online or in its app. Thameslink is the one that often saves a change, running through London Bridge, Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras International; Southern serves Victoria and Clapham Junction. The trap on the departure board is Great Western: it runs direct from Gatwick every half hour, but to Reading in about 90 minutes. It is not a London train.

Both contactless and Oyster are accepted on trains between London and Gatwick, and Gatwick Express lists Oyster and contactless as its pay as you go options alongside Anytime, Off-Peak, First Class, Child, Web Duo and Carnet tickets. The limit is at the far end, and National Rail spells it out: “Oyster coverage ends at Gatwick — if you’re travelling beyond, you’ll need a separate ticket for the remainder of your journey.”

Stansted, Luton and Southend: the rules change at every one

Stansted Express takes 48 minutes from London Liverpool Street and runs every 15 minutes, seven days a week, with the station a two-minute walk from the terminal and step-free by lift, escalator and ramp. Tottenham Hale is about 37 minutes out and Stratford about an hour. The ticketing catch is specific: Oyster is not valid to or from Stansted, although it works for onward journeys once you reach Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale, while contactless does work on the Stansted Express, tapping in and out with no ticket bought in advance. The first train from Liverpool Street leaves between 03:40 and 04:40 depending on the day and the last at 23:25; from the airport, services start at 05:30, or 06:00 Tuesday to Thursday, with the final departure at 00:30.

Luton is two legs and, if you buy it correctly, one ticket. The Luton DART runs between Luton Airport Parkway station and the terminal in four minutes, 24 hours a day, at £4.90 adult single and £2.45 for children aged 5 to 15, with under-5s free. Do not pay it twice: book a train to or from “London Luton Airport” with Thameslink, Luton Airport Express or East Midlands Railway and the DART is included, with the rail ticket opening the barriers at Parkway and at the terminal. Luton Airport Express runs St Pancras to Parkway in about 30 minutes, every 30 minutes from early morning to late at night Monday to Saturday, with regular Sunday services; the airport has quoted 32 minutes end to end including the DART.

Southend’s station is about as close to a terminal as a station gets — the airport describes it as 100 steps away, opposite the main building through a covered walkway, with up to six peak trains an hour to Zone 1 — and it is the hardest of the six for a tap. The Oyster and contactless zone ends at Shenfield, and a valid ticket is needed from there on to the airport, so it is a problem you solve at Shenfield or not at all. Trains reach London Liverpool Street in 52 minutes and Stratford in 43. The ticket office is staffed 06:00 to 23:00 every day including bank holidays and the machines run around the clock. Coach is the other way in from these three — see London buses.

Ride-hail at Heathrow does not come to the kerb

This is the one that catches people with luggage. Uber and the other ride-hail apps do not collect at the Heathrow forecourt. The airport’s own wording is that “Riders will be required to meet their driver on foot, in their terminal’s designated Terminal Parking car park.” The pick-up point is a multi-storey, not the door, and the driver is paying to be in it.

Terminal Parking is metered and steep at the short end: £8.00 for 0 to 29 minutes, £12.50 for 30 to 44, £15.50 for 45 to 59 and £20.00 for one to two hours at the machine. A slow bag reclaim is billable time and it lands on somebody. Anyone collecting you in their own car should use the Park and Ride car parks instead, where the first 29 minutes are free and 30 minutes to 1 hour 59 costs £9.40, with two free hours for Blue Badge holders.

Terminal 4 changes on 23 June 2026, when its multi-storey car park goes to a redevelopment programme. Collection there moves to a Priority Pick-Up area at £7.00 for up to 10 minutes, £14.00 for 11 to 29 minutes and £25.00 for 30 to 60, or to Park and Ride Zone A, which is free for up to two hours and £9.40 for two to four. After that date, meeting someone at T4 in Zone A is free and meeting them in the Priority area is not.

Driving yourself off the airport is a different set of charges again — see London car rental — and if the transfer is only ever going to be a short one, London hotels is the page for where that leaves you.

Common questions

Which London airport should I fly into?

On the transfer alone, Heathrow: it is the only one with three separate rail routes into town, so a closure on one does not strand you. Gatwick is next, with Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express from a single station at the South Terminal. Stansted, Luton and Southend each have one rail corridor, at 48 minutes, about 32 minutes end to end and 52 minutes respectively, and all three have ticketing rules that differ from central London’s.

Is the Elizabeth line cheaper than Heathrow Express?

Usually, but it is not a flat fare. The Elizabeth line charges the ordinary zonal fare plus a Heathrow supplement of £9.60 via Zone 1 or £6.50 not via Zone 1 on pay as you go, which puts a peak Zone 1 to Heathrow journey at £15.50 against a £26.00 Heathrow Express Standard single. The exception is booking well ahead: the Standard Advance Discounted Single is sold from £10.00 at 30 or more days out.

Does a Travelcard or my daily cap cover Heathrow Express?

No, and it is the most expensive misunderstanding at Paddington. TfL states that journeys on Heathrow Express are “not included in caps and Travelcards”. A zones 1 to 6 7 Day Travelcard at £81.60, or a contactless card running towards the £16.30 daily cap, is worth nothing on it. The Elizabeth line and the Piccadilly line are TfL services and are not excluded in the same way.

Can I use Oyster or contactless to reach the airport?

It depends which one. To Heathrow, yes, on the Piccadilly and Elizabeth lines, at TfL fares plus the Heathrow supplement on the Elizabeth line. To Gatwick, both are accepted on the trains, but Oyster coverage ends at Gatwick and travel beyond needs a separate ticket. To Stansted, Oyster is not valid at all, though contactless works on the Stansted Express. To Southend, neither: the pay as you go zone ends at Shenfield.

How much is the Luton DART, and do I need a separate ticket?

£4.90 for an adult single and £2.45 for a child aged 5 to 15, with under-5s free, for a four-minute ride that runs 24 hours a day. You do not need a separate ticket if you book your train to or from “London Luton Airport” with Thameslink, Luton Airport Express or East Midlands Railway: the DART is included and the rail ticket works the barriers at Luton Airport Parkway and at the terminal.

Where does Uber actually pick up at Heathrow?

Not at the terminal kerb. Heathrow requires riders to meet the driver on foot in their terminal’s designated Terminal Parking car park, where the pay-at-machine rate starts at £8.00 for the first 29 minutes and reaches £20.00 for one to two hours. Someone collecting you privately gets the first 29 minutes free at the Park and Ride car parks, then £9.40 up to 1 hour 59. From 23 June 2026 Terminal 4 switches to a Priority Pick-Up area, at £7.00 for up to 10 minutes.

Sources

Fares, journey times and operating rules on this page were checked against these sources on 11 September 2026. Authorities change fares and timetables without notice — confirm anything time-critical on the operator’s own site.

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