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
Apparently DirectGov doesn't cater for flying crows so the shorter
journeys possibly have an increasing distance error.

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...

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

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...

The point is that they all *serve* London. Gatwick isn't much
closer...

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On May 27, 12:02*pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
On Tue, 27 May 2008 11:12:44 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

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...

The point is that they all *serve* London. *Gatwick isn't much
closer...

IMHO the Rail to Terminal interchange at Gatwick is about as good as
it gets. There is a frequent rail service to many destinations. The
platform overbridge leads directly into the terminal building.

1506 wrote:
On May 27, 12:02 pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
On Tue, 27 May 2008 11:12:44 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

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...
The point is that they all *serve* London. Gatwick isn't much
closer...

IMHO the Rail to Terminal interchange at Gatwick is about as good as
it gets. There is a frequent rail service to many destinations. The
platform overbridge leads directly into the terminal building.

Unless you're flying into the other terminal. But it is pretty good.
--
Michael Hoffman

In message
, at
09:15:41 on Thu, 29 May 2008, 1506
remarked:
IMHO the Rail to Terminal interchange at Gatwick is about as good as
it gets. There is a frequent rail service to many destinations. The
platform overbridge leads directly into the terminal building.

It's not far from the south terminal, if anything closer in minutes than
Stansted (where the station is actually under the departure concourse,
but some walking is required). But it's a shuttle ride to the north
terminal (can easily take 10 minutes including waiting time). I reckon
Birmingham airport is closer to its station than Gatwick North is.
--
Roland Perry

On Thu, 29 May 2008 09:15:41 -0700 (PDT), 1506
wrote:

IMHO the Rail to Terminal interchange at Gatwick is about as good as
it gets. There is a frequent rail service to many destinations. The
platform overbridge leads directly into the terminal building.

Agreed, though Stansted is probably as good (though not in terms of
its service) - the station there is also right under the terminal.
Birmingham might well rank higher in terms of accessibility - you do
have to ride the people-mover thingy but it has a wider range of
destinations that aren't London (and not a bad service to London
either).

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

Neil Williams wrote:
On Thu, 29 May 2008 09:15:41 -0700 (PDT), 1506
wrote:

IMHO the Rail to Terminal interchange at Gatwick is about as good as
it gets. There is a frequent rail service to many destinations. The
platform overbridge leads directly into the terminal building.

Agreed, though Stansted is probably as good (though not in terms of
its service) - the station there is also right under the terminal.
Birmingham might well rank higher in terms of accessibility - you do
have to ride the people-mover thingy but it has a wider range of
destinations that aren't London (and not a bad service to London
either).

Neil

On the downside, the number of popular holiday destinations has actually
diminished. I often have to fly from Manchester.

--
Corporate society looks after everything. All it asks of anyone, all it
has ever asked of anyone, is that they do not interfere with management
decisions. -From “Rollerball”

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?).

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