heathrow or southampton airport.

[bobbisailsolo]

i will be cruising out of southampton. It seems only air frances flys there.. and i would have to go thru paris with a short layover.. Is it worth it to fly into southampton to save on the transfer to/from heathrow.. pricewise, the airfares are about the same...

[juggles]

I would say so. Southampton would be quite a way to travel on land from Heathrow.

[greatam]

i will be cruising out of southampton. It seems only air frances flys there.. and i would have to go thru paris with a short layover.. Is it worth it to fly into southampton to save on the transfer to/from heathrow.. pricewise, the airfares are about the same...

 

Fly into LHR and take the National Express bus direct from the airport to the station in Southampton. About $25.00 for the bus. Runs about once an hour. MUCH easier than trying to fly into CDG, change planes and fly to Southampton, unless you have plenty of time. In addition, you will have to MAKE SURE the luggage allowance on the flight from CDG to SOU is the same as from the USA.

 

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/index.cfm

[fbgd]

I used to go to University in Southampton and lived not far away for most of my 24yrs so far so know the place pretty well. The airport is very convenient (small, no waits for security, few delays etc) but it is on the wrong side of the city for the port. You'd need to take the train (there is a station at the airport) or cab it to the port.

 

I'd fly into Heathrow and take the coach as I loathe CDG. The M3 goes essentially from Heathrow to Southampton and once you get outside London is free from traffic. Around an hour by car, by NatEx, err, never tried it!

[keltic]

Fly to SOU and avoid LHR, and the road trip from there. SOU it´s a hassle free airport, and real close to the port. I would start my cruise with no stress. I rather prefer CDG to LHR.

[sandancer]

Depends on when you are cruising. Southampton is the main hub for Flybe who have just been bought out by Lufthansa. If you can fly from the US with them you will go via a German hub, possibly Frankfurt. I would expect them to then have a route to Southampton. Personally I would do almost anything to avoid both CDG and Heathrow. Southampton is a lovely little airport, we use it frequently. Might be on the wrong side of Southampton for the port but it is really not difficult. The train station is right there at the airport and it is a very short trip to Southampton Central and a taxi ride from there to the port.

[fbgd]

Depends on when you are cruising. Southampton is the main hub for Flybe who have just been bought out by Lufthansa.

 

That's bmi.

 

Flybe are a different airline.

 

http://www.flybe.com/

http://www.flybmi.com

[sandancer]

Sorry - should have got my facts correct. Once flew with BMIbaby and had an 11 hour delay with NO compensation so I would not be recommending anyone to use them.

[Jiminkcmo]

Last June, I also cruised out of Southampton and didn't want to deal with LHR.

 

So, I flew Continental from EWR to BRS (Bristol) on the West coast of England.

 

Had a couple of nice days in Bristol, went to Bath, did sightseeing and then took the 5 GBP train to Southampton. (approx. 1 1/2 hrs.)

 

The train was super, reserved seats, smooth ride, nice scenery.

 

Did the reverse coming back and it was great.

 

Just my $0.02.

 

I'm a solo traveler also, if it makes any difference.

 

Jim

[Globaliser]

Sorry - should have got my facts correct. Once flew with BMIbaby and had an 11 hour delay with NO compensation so I would not be recommending anyone to use them.

And bmibaby is to all intents and purposes a different airline again - different from bmi, flybe and Lufthansa.