What airport

[ranchette]

What airport would you fly into to get to Harwich?

[LHT28]

Might depend on where you are flying from

 

International flights go to Gatwick or Heathrow

[ranchette]

Might depend on where you are flying from

 

International flights go to Gatwick or Heathrow

Thanks for your reply We're traveling from NYC which airport is closer to Harwich? How far is it?

[skisteamboat]

Thanks for your reply We're traveling from NYC which airport is closer to Harwich? How far is it?

 

Doesn't make much difference. I would pick the best fare to whichever airport the flight arrives at and then make the ground arrangements. Lots of threads on how to get from either airport to a port.;)

 

Cheers

[LHT28]

Thanks for your reply We're traveling from NYC which airport is closer to Harwich? How far is it?

I agree pick the one with better price & times to suit you

 

You could check London toolkit for info on transportation to the port

I think both airports are some distance away

[fabnfortysomething]

both Gatwick and Heathrow are on the "other side" of London from Harwich so not much difference time wise

 

how were you planning to get from the airport to port or were you going to stay in London for a few days?

If you don't mind hauling luggage your best bet might be Heathrow or Gatwick express into central London and then another train out to Harwich-

alternatively a private car service-I personally wouldn't want to hire a car after a long transatlantic flight but from either airport could go direct to Harwich port via that giant car park known as the M25 orbital motorway around London

[scottbee]

What airport would you fly into to get to Harwich?

 

Wow, that's a very open ended question; and the answer is a little more involved, and also depends on how you're going to get from airport to terminal. Also complicated given Harwich isn't really near any of London's 6 airports, or NWI/Norwich airport (next nearest city w/ an airport)

 

First the Geography:

Harwich is 70 miles NE of London

LHR/Heathrow is 15 miles west of London

LGW/Gatwick is 20 miles south of London

LCY/London City is 5 miles east of London

SEN/London Southend airport 25 miles ENE of London

plus a couple of more

 

So in almost all cases you need to get across London.

 

For a non-stop flight from New York, the only options are LHR, LGW and LCY (and LCY only by business class flights). If you're flying business class LCY is the best bet.

 

Are you willing to change planes? Are you taking a private transfer? If the answer to both of these is YES, you could fly via DUB/Dublin, and then into SEN/London Southend Airport, which is the closest airport to Harwich, but there are few destinations from there (DUB being one of the few), and less than ideal public transport options.

 

Are you taking a private transfer?

If so, LHR is probably your best bet. It's the biggest airport, and will have the most flight options, despite being the far from Harwich

 

Are you taking public transit from airport to Harwich?

LHR or LGW; In either case it's train to London, taxi (probably most effective to avoid tube line changes) to Liverpool Street Station, train to Harwich Intl (which is the cruise terminal)

[celle]

Wow, that's a very open ended question; and the answer is a little more involved, and also depends on how you're going to get from airport to terminal. Also complicated given Harwich isn't really near any of London's 6 airports, or NWI/Norwich airport (next nearest city w/ an airport)

 

First the Geography:

Harwich is 70 miles NE of London

LHR/Heathrow is 15 miles west of London

LGW/Gatwick is 20 miles south of London

LCY/London City is 5 miles east of London

SEN/London Southend airport 25 miles ENE of London

plus a couple of more

 

 

If so, LHR is probably your best bet. It's the biggest airport, and will have the most flight options, despite being the far from Harwich

 

 

Actually, Stansted is the closest international airport to Harwich. Not sure if it has direct flights from New York, though.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Actually, Stansted is the closest international airport to Harwich. Not sure if it has direct flights from New York, though.

 

Stansted has no services at all from North America anymore, which is probably why it doesn't get mentioned often on these threads. Worth keeping in mind for Europe flights, but it is mostly low-cost airlines, which are frequently not so low-cost with cruise luggage :)

[scottbee]

Actually, Stansted is the closest international airport to Harwich. Not sure if it has direct flights from New York, though.

 

I am sure, and it doesn't. It's pretty much entirely low-cost/charter/holiday flights to the rest of Europe. The only possible connections would be to fly to Germany, and then back to STN on Germanwings or Air Berlin.

 

I offered up SEN/Southend as at least it's severed by Aer Lingus, and a JFK-DUB-SEN is a reasonable connection without travelling a long way out of your way

[Bob++]

You can fly from N America to Stansted via Dublin. I am not sure that it makes sense though as there is no good connection from there to Harwich anyway.

 

One could also fly into London City Airport via, say, Frankfurt.

 

LHR or LGW must be the better choice, unless there are other factors, like taking in a tour of Dublin for example.

[scottbee]

You can fly from N America to Stansted via Dublin. I am not sure that it makes sense though as there is no good connection from there to Harwich anyway.

 

One could also fly into London City Airport via, say, Frankfurt.

 

LHR or LGW must be the better choice, unless there are other factors, like taking in a tour of Dublin for example.

 

While you technically can fly NYC-DUB-STN, you can't do it on one ticket as the only airline that operates DUB-STN is FR/RyanAir who don't have any partnerships (and I seriously wouldn't recommend to a cruise passenger w/ luggage); hence the omission from my list.

 

This is why I suggested Southend as you can fly Aer Lingus all the way JFK-DUB-SEN

[Bob++]

While you technically can fly NYC-DUB-STN, you can't do it on one ticket as the only airline that operates DUB-STN is FR/RyanAir who don't have any partnerships (and I seriously wouldn't recommend to a cruise passenger w/ luggage); hence the omission from my list.

 

This is why I suggested Southend as you can fly Aer Lingus all the way JFK-DUB-SEN

 

Ah! I did wonder. SEN is closer and easier for Harwich anyway.

[Ashland]

We flew into LHR and used the RCI bus transfer option to get to Harwich the morning of cruise...May not be what many would do but to allow us the time to spend a week post cruise in London it was a fair trade off and worked out well.

[Riise]

Stansted would be ideal but as has been mentioned does not have direct flights from the US, if you could stop off somehwere like Dublin and then head to Stansted that might be suitable.

 

If this is not an option than Gatwick is far easier than the others mentioned. Heathrow is alot further than it seems, im not sure if this ie because your on the M25 so much longer but there is a significant difference between the two. Southend might look close but the roads you have to use are not very nice at all and it would be about the same time as Gatwick. This is all if your going to dive it yourself, if using public transport or transfers others might know better.

[emarismom]

How difficult would it be to get from Stansted to Southampton? I live in Miami and Air Berlin has decent rates MIA-DUS-STN for next June. I also have a lot of miles through American Airlines which is a partner with Air Berlin and British Airways. British Airways would be ideal if it weren't for the inflated taxes.

[celle]

How difficult would it be to get from Stansted to Southampton? I live in Miami and Air Berlin has decent rates MIA-DUS-STN for next June. I also have a lot of miles through American Airlines which is a partner with Air Berlin and British Airways. British Airways would be ideal if it weren't for the inflated taxes.

 

It would be a bit of a challenge! It can be done, but not easily and it could be time-consuming.

 

Stansted is roughly north of London, while Southampton is south, so any journey from Stansted to Southampton would involve either going through London (by train) or skirting it (by road).

 

 

It wouldn't be my choice, but if you do decide to do it, I'd advise pre-booking a car service.

[skisteamboat]

How difficult would it be to get from Stansted to Southampton? I live in Miami and Air Berlin has decent rates MIA-DUS-STN for next June. I also have a lot of miles through American Airlines which is a partner with Air Berlin and British Airways. British Airways would be ideal if it weren't for the inflated taxes.

 

If you have a lot of miles with AA, why not use them to fly AA to LHR and avoid any potential problems with a stop in DUS?

 

Chers

[jsmeeker]

If you have a lot of miles with AA, why not use them to fly AA to LHR and avoid any potential problems with a stop in DUS?

 

Chers

 

I would agree, but maybe it's an issue of award availability? If they want an "Plan Ahead" award and it's not available on AA, but they can redeem a similar amount of miles for an award on AB, I can see how maybe it makes sense.

 

 

But they are right to avoid redeeming for BA awards due to high surcharges they impose.

[emarismom]

It is an awards availability issue. AA has nothing available. AB has awful flight times into STN. BA has wonderful flights at a premium price even with miles.

 

The decision is a difficult one as we are a family of four. I have enough points for 2 free tickets on AB. Given the currents price of airfare, that is a significant amount of $$. The trade off of flying into STN with awful flight times isn't a pleasant one, but it could save me over $2000. even after factoring in the added cost of extra transfers and a night in DUS.

 

This is for next summer. I have been checking daily for 2 months. The AB flights are the only ones that can work.