Suitability of Heathrow as a location for an airport?

[LE Greys]

I live about 50m from the North London line/East London line (ie London Overground) near Canonbury station. I find the noise of trains, including the VERY large freight trains which run at night, FAR less penetrating than aircraft noise. In summer with the windows open it is a 545am awakening every single day as the first flights for Heathrow pass anywhere near ....would I accept even more aircraft noise - NO! Would I be contributing to legal action to stop any Heathrow expansion or relaxation of the current noise limits? Hell yes!

Do you live near any major roads? We're lucky, in that the road outside our house had been downgraded to B-road status, but it's still loud, especially in the morning. The A1(M) is still audible too, and that's a quarter of a mile away behind some houses. We keep our front windows sealed and double-glazed, even in high summer. Whenever I've been to London, traffic noise is the one thing I can always hear, in shops, in houses, everywhere except deep underground and at all times except a short period from midnight to about 04:00 (although cars still pass even then).

A countryman's perspective on London, living with that must drive you mad.

 

[flymo]

In summer with the windows open it is a 545am awakening every single day as the first flights for Heathrow pass anywhere near

I believe that every day there are up to 18 landing slots between 04:32 and 06:02 when the curfew ends (officially 04:30 to 06:00 but someone once complained as their watch was slow so they changed it). Even then there are minimal or no scheduled arrivals from 06:02 until 06:20, primarily to allow the early arrivals from the US to land I think. I've touched down at LHR at exactly 04:32 on VS201 more than one time, even slowing down and 'flying casual' on the approach to waste a bit of time.

Not that makes living near there any better of course.......

 

[Wolfie]

Do you live near any major roads? We're lucky, in that the road outside our house had been downgraded to B-road status, but it's still loud, especially in the morning. The A1(M) is still audible too, and that's a quarter of a mile away behind some houses. We keep our front windows sealed and double-glazed, even in high summer. Whenever I've been to London, traffic noise is the one thing I can always hear, in shops, in houses, everywhere except deep underground and at all times except a short period from midnight to about 04:00 (although cars still pass even then).

A countryman's perspective on London, living with that must drive you mad.

I live pretty close to a significant if not major road. Ironically you soon get used to the general noise from that and it masks aircraft noise during the day. In my view it is the absence of that background noise which makes aircraft noise stand out so much more and be so disturbing in the early hours of the morning.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

What I said is still 100% true though, it's just that the UK based tour operators offering less mainstream destinations sell flights from Heathrow. If you were just looking to for a flight to say, Santiago de Chile (random far-flung destination), you would find options from Manchester that wouldn't involve Heathrow. Note I never mentioned direct flights. Tour operators often have block bookings and so will only offer seats on certain flights.

Funny you should mention Santiago as my wife and I went to Chile on a package tour in 2009. Our tour operator Jules Verne only offered flights from Heathrow via Madrid with Iberia and LAN Chile. But they booked us add-on flights from Manchester with BA and, as all three airlines were part of the OneWorld alliance, we got through tickets and hence through luggage checking. We insisted as usual on at least a 4 to 5 hour connection at LHR as MAN-LHR flights are very unpunctual, particularly later in the day.

What alternatives did we realistically have other than to use LHR?? Our itinerary in Chile was complex with many internal flights. It was far too complicated for independent travel and Chile is much too long and thin (3,000 miles) to have a decent rail network. All we managed was a trip on the touristy "Tren del Vino" and the Santiago metro.

Coming back was more eventful. We missed our connection in Madrid (no surprise) so they put us on an Air France flight to Paris CDG followed by an Air France flight from Paris to Manchester. We were late arriving at CDG but we were met by an AF rep who took us on a fast and tiring 30-40 minute route march around T2 through numerous gates and security checks. We then boarded our plane which was the same one we had come in on!

The Spanish had by this time lost our luggage and when it was eventually found, BA refused to deliver it to our house and made us drive 35 miles back to the airport to pick it up.

I know you can get from almost anywhere to anywhere by air avoiding London if you are willing to pay the earth - or take cheap flights with non-guaranteed connections. It's the same with trains - you can get to Dover avoiding London if you really want to. But messing about like this isn't always a realistic option.

 

[WestCoast]

I know you can get from almost anywhere to anywhere by air avoiding London if you are willing to pay the earth - or take cheap flights with non-guaranteed connections. It's the same with trains - you can get to Dover avoiding London if you really want to. But messing about like this isn't always a realistic option.

Going west is probably harder and potentially more expensive than other directions. It's often cheaper to not go via Heathrow from Manchester if you're heading to Africa, Asia or Australasia thanks to the plethora of Middle Eastern carriers who flood the market with cheap(er) seats. Look at Emirates, they are sending one superjumbo (A380) and two 777s each day to Manchester!

On your trip to Santiago, your tour operator had the option of Air France via Paris CDG or Delta via Atlanta. However, I suspect they would block book seats from Heathrow for cost reasons.
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I live pretty close to a significant if not major road. Ironically you soon get used to the general noise from that and it masks aircraft noise during the day. In my view it is the absence of that background noise which makes aircraft noise stand out so much more and be so disturbing in the early hours of the morning.

Aircraft noise is particularly noticeable, although as engine technology advances, disturbance may be reduced. That may give some hope for those blighted by jets.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

You are right in principle but ... flying via the USA is often not a sensible option as (a) you have to pass through US passport control & customs with all the queueing and pre-authorization hassle that involves and (b) you get hammered on your travel insurance, particularly if you have pre-existing medical conditions