The majority of passengers travelling to Amsterdam and Netherlands from the UK and Ireland arrive by air at Schiphol airport. There are many airlines flying directly to Amsterdam, both budget and scheduled airlines. Let's take a look at who flies to Amsterdam (AMS) from London and other British regional airports: |
1. Easyjet
(Cheap and reliable - charges extra for check-in baggage)
Flies from London
Luton, London Stansted, London Gatwick, Bristol, Liverpool, Belfast, Edinburgh
and Doncaster-Sheffield.
2. British Airways (Heathrow
flights more expensive, watch for special offers)
Flies from London Heathrow,
London Gatwick and London City.
3.
KLM (very good UK network, but can be somewhat pricey)
Flies from London
Heathrow, London City, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Norwich,
Humberside, Leeds, Durham Tees Valley, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. No other
airline flies to so many UK airports.
4. bmibaby (watch the extra
charges)
bmibaby from East Midlands and Birmingham. Note, parent company bmi
has pulled its London Heathrow - Amsterdam service.
5. FlyBe
Flights
from Exeter and Southampton.
6. Jet2 (extra fees charged for baggage,
checking in, paying by credit card etc)
Flies from Leeds-Bradford.
8.
Cityjet (Air France-KLM subsidiary - can be quite expensive)
Flights
from London City to Amsterdam.
9. Aer Lingus
Flies from Cork and
Dublin.
Flights between UK and Netherlands are short and take around 45 minutes if flying to/from the London area and up to 1 1/2 hours when flying from the regional airports. Many flights from the UK land on Amsterdam Schiphol's infamous "Polderbaan" runway which is the furthest away from the terminal - taxi time can take 10-15 minutes!
Because UK is not part of the Schengen open border agreement, passport controls apply at both ends. The UK also requires "advance passenger information" for both arriving and departing passengers - most airlines have an online facility to input this information.
Booking Tips - Either book as far in advance as possible or during special sales to get the lowest fares. Get on the e-mailing list of the airlines to stay informed. Travel during mid-week and avoid Friday and Sunday evenings as there are many commuters who travel between UK and Amsterdam at the weekend.
Note, Dutch carrier Transavia flies from London Gatwick to Rotterdam airport whilst Ryanair serves Eindhoven airport.
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