London's Airports: Why Searching LON Finds Cheaper Flights

London has six airports, and the one with the cheapest fare is usually not the one people think of first. Searching the metro code LON covers all of them at once, so you see every option in one list.

The six airports

• Heathrow (LHR): west London. Heathrow Express from Paddington, plus the Elizabeth line and the Piccadilly line.
• Gatwick (LGW): south of London. Gatwick Express from Victoria, plus Thameslink and Southern trains.
• Stansted (STN): north-east of London, in Essex. Stansted Express from Liverpool Street.
• Luton (LTN): north of London. Trains to Luton Airport Parkway, then the Luton DART shuttle to the terminal.
• London City (LCY): in the Docklands, closest to central London. On the DLR.
• Southend (SEN): in Essex. Its own railway station, with trains to Liverpool Street.

What our fare data shows

On November 4, 2026 we pulled up to 30 of the cheapest one-way fares for each of the 44 London routes we track, searching LON, and noted which airport each fare left from.

Where the single cheapest fare departed:

• Stansted: 23 routes
• Southend: 9 routes
• Luton: 6 routes
• Gatwick: 6 routes
• Heathrow: none
• London City: none

Across all 815 fares, 50% left from Stansted, 20% from Gatwick, 20% from Luton, 8% from Southend and just 2% from Heathrow. If you only search Heathrow, you miss almost all of the cheapest options. Southend, the smallest of the six, had the cheapest fare on 9 routes, all starting with an easyJet flight, including Antalya, Paris and Amsterdam.

Heathrow still matters for nonstop long-haul

The picture changes if you want a direct flight. On 11 long-haul routes, the cheapest nonstop fare left from Heathrow on 7 of them. Gatwick had the other 4: Toronto, Orlando, Singapore and Dubai, where the cheapest nonstop actually landed in neighbouring Sharjah.

The very cheapest long-haul fares often come with stops. To New York, the lowest fare was £231 with two stops, against £328 nonstop from Heathrow. To Hong Kong it was £227 with one stop, against £435 nonstop. Decide whether the saving is worth the extra time before you book.

Count the cost of getting there

A cheap fare from Stansted, Luton or Southend can look less cheap once you add the train or coach to the airport, especially for an early-morning flight. Budget airlines also charge extra for bags. Add both before comparing against a Heathrow or Gatwick fare.

How to search

Every London route on FarePockets, like London to Barcelona, already searches all London airports, and the flights from London page lists them together. When you search on your own, choose London as a city rather than a single airport. We cover the same idea for US cities in our guide to metro airport codes.

Fares change constantly, so treat these figures as a snapshot from November 4, 2026 rather than a promise.