Flights and Airports

Overview

Flying to the UK from the US is about as easy as international travel gets. Dozens of nonstops leave the East Coast every evening, the flight is shorter than a workday, and once you land you are in an English-speaking country with excellent airport trains. The main decisions are which airport to fly into, if you can fly into one city and home from another, and how to get from the runway to your hotel without paying taxi prices.

London Heathrow is by far the biggest gateway, served by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American, United, Delta, JetBlue and, since 2026, Alaska Airlines. Gatwick, south of London, has a smaller set of US flights. Outside London, Edinburgh now has the best US connections of any British airport, with Manchester and Glasgow behind it. Northern Ireland has almost no scheduled US nonstops, so most Americans reach Belfast via London or Dublin.

Before any of this, every US citizen needs an approved UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to board. It costs £20 (about $27) per person, including children, and you apply through the official GOV.UK service or the UK ETA app. Our entry guide covers the ETA in detail, including how to avoid the copycat sites that charge several times the real fee.

Nonstop routes from the US

Routes below are what airlines are flying or have scheduled as of October 2026. Seasonal routes generally run from late spring to early fall. Airlines add and drop routes every year, so confirm on the airline's site before you plan around a particular flight.

Leisure carrier TUI also flies seasonally from Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow to Orlando Melbourne International, an airport on Florida's Space Coast about an hour from the Orlando parks. These flights are aimed at British vacationers, but seats are sometimes sold one-way.

If your city has no nonstop, the easiest one-stop options are usually your airline's US hub, or a European hub where you change planes onto a short flight: Dublin (Aer Lingus), Reykjavik (Icelandair), Amsterdam (KLM) and Paris (Air France) all feed regional British airports such as Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Inverness and Cardiff, which have few or no US nonstops of their own.

Which airport for which trip

When to book and what fares look like

Transatlantic fares follow the seasons. Summer (June through August) and the Christmas period are the most expensive, and the August festival month pushes Edinburgh fares and hotel prices up sharply. The cheapest months are usually January through March and November outside Thanksgiving week. For summer travel, start watching fares in the winter and book once you see a price you can live with; for the off-season, two to three months ahead is usually fine.

Basic economy fares on the US airlines and the "Light" fares on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic often exclude a checked bag and seat selection. Add those costs before comparing with a full economy fare. Premium economy on BA (World Traveller Plus) and Virgin is popular on this route, because it buys a better chance of sleep on an overnight flight for much less than business class.

Many US frequent flyer programs earn on these routes through alliances: American with British Airways (oneworld), Delta with Virgin Atlantic (SkyTeam joint venture), and United with Lufthansa group and Air Canada (Star Alliance). Award tickets on British Airways carry large carrier surcharges; booking BA flights with American miles or partner programs can reduce them.

Arrival: the ETA, eGates and customs

Most flights from the US leave in the evening and land between about 6am and 10am British time. A handful of daytime flights leave the East Coast in the morning and arrive in the late evening, which some people find easier on the body clock. Either way, expect to be in the terminal around the time hotels are still hours away from check-in.

Passport control

US passport holders with an approved ETA can use the automatic ePassport gates (eGates) at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and other major airports. You need a biometric passport (all current US passports are), you must be at least 8 years old and at least 120 cm (about 3 ft 11 in) tall, and anyone aged 8 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult. Families go through one at a time: a lone adult goes first with the child behind; with two adults, one adult goes first, then the children, then the second adult.

The gate reads your passport, takes your photo and opens. There is no landing card, no question about where you are staying, and no stamp in your passport. Children under 8 and anyone whose passport or ETA does not read go to a staffed desk, where an officer may ask the purpose of your visit and how long you are staying. Answer plainly and have your return flight and first hotel handy on your phone.

Baggage and customs

After passport control you collect bags and walk through customs. Use the green "nothing to declare" channel if you are within the allowances, the red channel if you have something to declare. Allowances and banned foods are covered in our entry guide; the one that catches Americans is that meat and dairy products from the US are not allowed in.

Heathrow: terminals and connections

Heathrow has four terminals in use: 2, 3, 4 and 5. Check your terminal on the booking or the airline app, because it decides which train you take and where you get off. As a rule of thumb:

• Terminal 2 (the Queen's Terminal): United, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus and most other Star Alliance airlines.
• Terminal 3: American, Virgin Atlantic, Delta and several other oneworld airlines, plus some British Airways flights.
• Terminal 4: many SkyTeam airlines (other than Delta and Virgin) and a range of independent carriers.
• Terminal 5: most British Airways flights, plus Iberia.

JetBlue and Alaska Airlines are the newest US carriers here, so check their terminal on your booking. Terminals 2 and 3 share one rail station; Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 each have their own. Travel between terminals is free on the Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line, and allow at least an hour and a half for a connection that involves changing terminals and passing security again.

Heathrow is a large airport with long walks. Arriving at Terminal 5 or 3 can mean a long walk to passport control, and lines at the staffed desks can be long at the morning peak. With eGates, most travelers are through in well under an hour of landing.

Heathrow to central London

You have three rail options, plus taxis, ride-hailing and coaches. All three trains run from the airport stations directly below the terminals.

Heathrow Express

Trains run every 15 minutes and take you to Paddington in the time it takes to read the safety card. Book in the Heathrow Express app or on its website: the advance fare from £10 (about $13) applies when you book at least 30 days ahead, and the price climbs from there. Children under 16 travel free in standard class with a paying adult. The upgraded "PREMIER+" class costs £32 (about $43) one way and adds more space and fast-track security on departure. Paddington is a good place to land if you are staying in Bayswater, Marylebone or Notting Hill, or going on to Oxford or Bath; anywhere else, you will change to the Tube or a taxi.

Elizabeth line

The purple-branded Elizabeth line is the best all-round choice for most visitors. It is slower than the Heathrow Express but goes right through central London without a change, with step-free access and room for luggage. Tap your contactless card or phone at the gate as you would on the Tube. Fares from Heathrow rose to about £15.50 (about $21) in March 2026.

Piccadilly line

The Tube is the cheapest way in and goes straight to Knightsbridge, South Kensington and the West End. It is slow and the trains have no luggage space, which makes the morning commute with two suitcases unpleasant. Heathrow Tube fares are always charged at the peak rate, currently £5.90 (about $8). The Piccadilly line runs all night on Friday and Saturday nights.

Gatwick to central London

Gatwick has two terminals, North and South, linked by a free automated shuttle. The train station is attached to the South Terminal. Three rail operators run into London, and the cheapest is not the one with "Express" in its name.

Thameslink is the smart default. It runs through the center of London, stopping at London Bridge for the South Bank, Blackfriars and Farringdon for the City, and St Pancras for King's Cross and Eurostar. You can tap in with a contactless card, and the off-peak contactless fare is less than half the Gatwick Express price. The peak contactless period from the airport is 6:30am to 9:30am on weekdays, which is exactly when many US flights arrive, so a paper or app ticket can sometimes beat it.

Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend

You are unlikely to fly from the US into these airports, but you may use them for a cheap flight to Europe, Ireland or Scotland.

• Stansted (northeast, Ryanair's main base): the Stansted Express runs to Tottenham Hale (35 to 38 minutes, for the Victoria line) and Liverpool Street (about 48 minutes). Singles are £23 (about $31) Anytime or £21 (about $28) Off-Peak, cheaper booked online. Buy a ticket before you board: the operator's own site warns that tapping in with contactless or Oyster instead can bring a £100 (about $133) penalty fare. National Express coaches to Stratford, Liverpool Street and Victoria Coach Station take about 50 minutes to 2 hours and are cheaper.
• Luton (north, easyJet and Wizz Air): the Luton DART people mover links the terminal to Luton Airport Parkway station; on its own it costs about £5 (about $7), but rail tickets marked "Luton Airport" include it. From the Parkway, East Midlands Railway's Luton Airport Express reaches St Pancras in as little as 22 minutes, and Thameslink stopping trains go through central London to Gatwick and Brighton.
• London City (Docklands, short business routes to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin and Europe): the DLR light rail takes you to Bank in about 25 minutes with contactless.
• Southend (Essex): trains run to Liverpool Street in about 55 minutes.

Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast into town

Manchester

Manchester Airport's train station sits between Terminals 1 and 2, connected to both by an indoor walkway, with Terminal 3 a short walk further. Trains run several times an hour to Manchester Piccadilly in about 20 minutes, and many continue to other northern cities, so you may not need to go into Manchester at all if you are heading to Liverpool, Leeds or York. The Metrolink tram also runs into the city, more slowly. See Manchester and Liverpool.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh Airport has no train station. The tram runs from outside the terminal to Princes Street and on to Leith in about 30 to 35 minutes, and Lothian's Airlink bus reaches Waverley station in about half an hour. Both are frequent, and you can pay by contactless. The tram also stops at Edinburgh Gateway, where you can change to trains for Fife, though for most onward rail journeys it is simpler to ride on to Haymarket. More in our Edinburgh guide.

Glasgow

The Glasgow Airport Express (route 500) runs nonstop along the M8 to the city center in about 15 to 25 minutes, serving Central and Queen Street stations and Buchanan bus station. The nearest train station is Paisley Gilmour Street, a short bus ride away, with fast trains to Glasgow Central and the Ayrshire coast. See Glasgow.

Belfast

From Belfast International, Translink's Airport Express 300 runs 24 hours a day to the new Belfast Grand Central station, every 15 minutes at busy times, in about 40 minutes. George Best Belfast City Airport is about 10–15 minutes from downtown on the Airport Express 600 bus or by taxi. From Dublin Airport, direct coaches reach Belfast in about 2 hours. Even though there are no checks at the land border, non-Irish visitors entering Northern Ireland from Ireland still need a UK ETA. More in Northern Ireland.

Connecting onward

Within the UK

British Airways connects Heathrow with Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Manchester, Newcastle and Belfast City, and if you book your domestic leg on the same ticket as your transatlantic flight, your bag is normally checked through. You clear passport control at the first UK airport you land in. Loganair, the Scottish regional airline, links mainland Scotland with Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides. For London to Edinburgh or Manchester, the train usually beats flying door to door; see getting around.

Ireland

Aer Lingus, British Airways and Ryanair fly from London and most British airports to Dublin, Shannon, Cork and Knock in around an hour. The UK and Ireland share the Common Travel Area, but Ireland still checks passports on arrival from Britain, so carry yours. Ferries cross from Holyhead in Wales and Cairnryan in Scotland. All of this, plus Eurostar to Paris, is in Ireland, Paris and Europe.

Continental Europe

From London, Eurostar reaches Paris in about 2 hours 15 minutes and Brussels in about 2 hours from St Pancras, and dozens of budget flights leave the London airports daily. Since October 2025, the EU's Entry/Exit System has been registering non-EU visitors' fingerprints and photos on their first entry to the Schengen area; at the Eurostar terminal in London it is still being phased in, so allow extra time.

Flying home

There is no US preclearance anywhere in the UK, so you clear US immigration and customs after you land at home. Airlines flying to the US run extra security checks, and agents at the check-in desk or gate may ask who packed your bag and whether anyone gave you anything to carry. Answer calmly; it is routine.

• Arrive at least 3 hours before a flight to the US from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester or Edinburgh, and more in summer and around school holidays.
• Check your terminal. At Heathrow, the train from central London stops at Terminals 2 and 3 first, then Terminal 4 or 5 depending on the train.
• Pack liquids to the 100 ml (3.4 oz) rule unless your departure airport says it has the new scanners. Rules have changed back and forth at British airports since 2024, and a connection elsewhere may still enforce the old limit.
• Do not count on a VAT refund. The UK scrapped tax-free shopping for visitors in 2021, and there is no VAT-free shopping on general goods at airports. See shopping and US customs.
• Use the free CBP Mobile Passport Control app, or Global Entry if you have it, to speed up US arrival.
• Train strikes or engineering works can close the line to the airport. Check the morning of your flight and have a backup.

Westbound flights are longer, typically 8 hours to New York and 11 hours to the West Coast, and most leave between late morning and mid-afternoon, landing in the US the same afternoon or evening. That makes the return the easy half of the jet lag equation.

Beating jet lag on the way over

An overnight flight from the East Coast gives you about 4 to 5 hours in the air after dinner service, which is not a full night. The usual advice works: sleep as much as you can on the plane, then stay up until a normal bedtime on arrival day. Plan something gentle and outdoors for that first afternoon, such as a walk along the South Bank or a ride on a double-decker bus, and leave timed tickets and theater for day two.

Most hotels hold luggage before check-in, and some will let you into a room early for a fee. Book the night before your arrival if you want a guaranteed bed at 8am; for families arriving with small children, it can be money well spent. See where to stay and planning your trip.