Stansted Airport is the third busiest London airport. Heathrow Airport is not only London and the United Kingdom’s busiest airport, but it is one of the world’s busiest airports. Heathrow hosts many of the world’s largest airlines and has flights to destinations all over the globe. Stansted serves more regional carriers, though some airlines at the airport are international in nature.

These seeming disparities are actually complementary and show why there is interest in Stansted to Heathrow transfers. The idea is that a traveler can find a good fare from London on a major airline to get elsewhere in the world, but have problems adding the leg to a near London location. Many times, it is the short leg of a trip that is expensive and not the long-haul leg to another major destination. So, it makes sense for one to get to London first and then look for a Stansted to Heathrow transfer.

Besides car services and taxicabs which would be expensive and could eat any cost savings from using a low-cost carrier to Stansted instead of flying directly into Heathrow. So, that leaves the bus or train for the most economical options.

There is no direct train route for Stansted to Heathrow. The best train route is to take Stansted Express from the Stansted Station under the airport and transfer at Liverpool Street Station. Take the tube to Paddington Station and transfer to Heathrow Express for the ride into Heathrow Airport. Sadly, this is a convoluted two transfer process.

The bus is the most direct route and simple by catching the National Express coach to Heathrow at the Stansted terminal. That trip takes about two hours.