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Colin Rosenstiel · May 27th 08, 07:41 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(Charles Ellson) wrote:

On Tue, 27 May 2008 11:12:44 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On 27 May, 19:09, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Tue, 27 May 2008 15:18:55 +0100, James Farrar

wrote:
On Tue, 27 May 2008 06:47:09 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On 25 May, 07:53, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 07:46:19 on
Sun, 25 May 2008, Martin Edwards
remarked:

Also it is debatable whether Luton or Stanstead are actually
in the London area. The names are a product of London's
self-obsession and the international obsession with it.

Luton qualifies under your description (even though it's as well
connected to London as Gatwick and arguably better than
Stansted)
but Stansted is the official "third London Airport".

Surely Luton isn't closer to London than Stansted is? I'd have
thought they were about equi-distant.

Luton looks to be about 5 miles closer than Stansted.

According to DirectGov journey planner:-
To Charing Cross from -
Stansted 40.8 miles
Lu'on 34.7
Gatwick 29.4
Thiefrow 17.4
Northolt 14.1
London City 8.6

Fair enough. But I still think it's difficult to argue that 35 miles
away in Bedfordshire is London, while 41 miles away in Essex isn't...

Leaving aside the dishonest claims made in airline advertisements
(where they won't necessarily land you in the same country never mind
the named town), the name "XYZ airport" normally indicates the nearby
place served rather than the actual location as in practice many (if
not most) large towns haven't got anywhere to put an airport within
their own boundary. The distances above do not directly relate to the
time taken to reach London (or e.g. somewhere two or three miles from
the station in London which might take longer than the journey into
London); IIRC you'll get to London quicker from Stansted than you will
from Luton (and in the past from Heathrow?).

Can you demonstrate that? The train times are 47 minutes from Liverpool
St to Stansted and 22 minutes on the hourly fast trains from St Pancras
to Luton Airport Parkway.

--
Colin Rosenstiel