New York London
More airlines fly nonstop from New York to London than on any other transatlantic route, and the competition works in your favor.
If you live in Manhattan or north Jersey, fly Newark to Heathrow. United and British Airways both run all-day service, and Newark is 11 miles from Midtown compared to 16 for JFK. If you are in Brooklyn or Queens, JFK is your airport. British Airways, JetBlue, Delta, American, and Virgin Atlantic all fly to Heathrow from there. In the evening, departures stack up several per hour, so pick whatever time works and know you have a fallback if anything goes sideways.
If you want a flat bed, JetBlue Mint from JFK has private suites with a closing door at fares that run hundreds below Delta One or BA Club World. For the full-service experience, Virgin Atlantic Upper Class has the Clubhouse lounge at JFK and a cabin worth showing up early for. Neither flies from Newark, which is the real cost of choosing EWR.
Norse Atlantic flies JFK to Gatwick a few times a week at budget fares. You land at Gatwick, not Heathrow, and you are locked into their schedule.
You land at Heathrow around 6 or 7 AM. The Elizabeth Line to Paddington takes 28 minutes. Tap your card, no ticket queue. By 8 AM you can be at a table with coffee, functional enough to start the day.
Have a specific need? Use the decision guide below to filter by your airline, where you live, lounges, or where you're staying in London.
Pick What Matters to You
Best pair by where you're coming from
Best pair by where you're staying in London
Which pair your airline flies nonstop
| Airline | JFK–LHR | EWR–LHR | JFK–LGW |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Airways | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| KLM | ✓ | — | — |
| Norse Atlantic UK Ltd | — | — | ✓ |
| American Airlines | ✓ | — | — |
| JetBlue | ✓ | — | — |
| Air France | ✓ | — | — |
| Virgin Atlantic | ✓ | — | — |
| Finnair | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| United Airlines | — | ✓ | — |
| Alaska Airlines | ✓ | — | — |
| Delta Air Lines | ✓ | — | — |
| Gulf Air | ✓ | — | — |
| Iberia | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Malaysia Airlines | ✓ | — | — |
| Aer Lingus | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| SAS | ✓ | — | — |
| Austrian Airlines | — | ✓ | — |
| TAP Air Portugal | ✓ | — | — |
| Brussels Airlines | — | ✓ | — |
| Swiss | — | ✓ | — |
| Air Canada | — | ✓ | — |
| SriLankan Airlines | ✓ | — | — |
Ranked by on-time performance
Lounge access by airport and terminal
Ranked by flights per week
Getting to the airport
Red-eye vs daytime departures
Premium cabin options
Connecting through New York from a domestic flight
With nonstops from both JFK and Newark running throughout the day, routing through an intermediate hub only adds time. Fares between New York and London stay competitive year-round, so a connection through Reykjavik or Dublin rarely saves enough to justify the extra hours. If you are starting from a smaller East Coast city, connect through JFK or Newark and board a nonstop from there.
New York & London Airport Profiles
Each airport has a personality. Terminal quality, transit access, lounge scene, and crowd levels vary dramatically — sometimes more than the flight itself.
New York Metro
JFK spreads across four active passenger terminals connected by the AirTrain, and walking between them is not an option. Terminal 1 is the old international building. Terminal 4 is the largest, handling most international carriers. Terminal 5 is the former TWA terminal, now JetBlue's home, with the mid-century curves still intact. Terminal 8 belongs to American and British Airways.
The terminal you depart from depends entirely on your airline. Security wait times vary between them. Terminal 4 tends to be the slowest during evening international departures. Terminal 8 has improved since the co-location of its two main carriers. The TWA Hotel sits adjacent to Terminal 5 if you need to sleep before an early departure or after a late arrival.
JFK feels enormous because it is. Budget extra time for the AirTrain if you are connecting between terminals or arriving by subway. The AirTrain loop takes 10 to 15 minutes end to end.
Newark Liberty has three terminals, and Terminal A opened as a full rebuild in 2023. The old Terminal A was demolished and replaced, and the difference is dramatic. Terminal C is United's hub, massive and busy, with most international flights departing from here. Terminal B handles most other carriers.
The AirTrain connects all three terminals and the NJ Transit / Amtrak rail station. Unlike JFK, the terminals are closer together and the AirTrain loop is faster. Security at Terminal C can back up during afternoon and evening international departures.
The airport sits in New Jersey, around 10 miles from Manhattan. That proximity is deceptive because the drive crosses the Hudson via the Newark Bay or Lincoln Tunnel, and both can be brutal during peak hours. NJ Transit from Penn Station is the more reliable option.
London Metro
Heathrow has four active terminals and your airline determines which one you use. Terminal 5 is British Airways territory, the newest and most polished. Terminal 2, the Queen's Terminal, handles Star Alliance carriers. Terminal 3 has Virgin Atlantic and several US carriers. Terminal 4 is smaller and serves a mix of international airlines.
The terminals are not walkable between each other. Free inter-terminal transfers run on the Elizabeth Line or Heathrow Express between T2/T3 (which share a central area) and T5. T4 requires a separate bus. Build in 60 minutes if you need to change terminals for a connection.
Immigration at 6 to 8 AM is slow. The morning wave of transatlantic red-eyes all land in the same window, and queues back up. E-gates work for US passport holders, which helps, but the volume is real. The airport is well-signed and functional, not beautiful. Shopping is extensive if you clear customs early.
Gatwick has two terminals, North and South, connected by a free shuttle train that takes about two minutes. South Terminal is the larger of the two and handles most scheduled long-haul flights. North Terminal serves a mix of short-haul and charter carriers.
The airport is smaller than Heathrow and easier to navigate. Security queues are generally shorter except during summer holiday peaks. The walk from security to gates in South Terminal is short. The overall experience is less stressful than Heathrow, which is part of the appeal for budget travelers.
Gatwick sits 30 miles south of central London, roughly twice the distance of Heathrow. The Gatwick Express runs to Victoria in 30 minutes, which is competitive, but Victoria is not as well connected to east London as Paddington.
Stansted is a single-terminal airport designed by Norman Foster, and the building itself is worth noticing. The roof structure is a clean white canopy held up by trees of steel columns. It opened in 1991 and still looks modern. The terminal is compact and navigation is straightforward.
Stansted is a budget carrier hub. Ryanair dominates the departure boards. Long-haul service is limited. Most traffic is European short-haul on budget carriers. The airport does one thing well: move large numbers of passengers through a simple layout with short walking distances.
It sits 40 miles northeast of central London, the farthest of the four London airports from the city. The Stansted Express runs to Liverpool Street in 47 minutes, which is reasonable, but you are starting from much farther out.
Luton is a single-terminal airport 35 miles north of central London that has been undergoing expansion. The DART people-mover opened in 2023, replacing the old shuttle bus from the Luton Airport Parkway rail station. That shuttle bus was always the weakest link in getting to central London from Luton, and the DART fixes it.
The terminal is compact and functional. It serves mostly budget carriers on European routes. Any transatlantic service from New York is rare and seasonal. The airport handles fewer passengers than Heathrow, Gatwick, or Stansted, and it shows in the smaller food and retail options.
Luton works well for travelers headed to the north side of London, Bedfordshire, or the Midlands. For everyone else, the distance to central London and the limited flight options make it primarily a budget carrier airport.
London City Airport is the smallest of London's six airports, sitting in the Royal Docks between Canary Wharf and the Thames Barrier. The terminal is compact: one security area leads to a small departures lounge with views of the runway. You can arrive 30 minutes before a domestic flight and make it comfortably.
The runway is short, which limits the airport to smaller aircraft types. The approach is steep, which some passengers notice on landing. The upside of the small scale: no long walks to gates, no terminal train, no maze of corridors. A small selection of restaurants and shops sits airside.
London Southend is a small regional airport in Essex with a train station attached directly to the terminal building. The terminal handles a limited number of routes. Security queues rarely take more than 10 minutes, and the walk from the entrance to the gate is short.
The departures area past security has a few shops and food outlets. Do not expect the range of a larger airport. What Southend offers is speed: if you live nearby, you can leave home an hour before departure and make the flight.
Which Airlines Fly Which Pairs
British Airways serve both JFK and EWR to LHR — airport flexibility on the New York side.
Not all planes are the same size. The aircraft type below each checkmark tells you whether you are getting a widebody (777, 787, A350) with wider seats and a quieter ride, or a narrowbody (737, A321) with a single aisle. On flights over five hours, the difference is significant.
777-200, 777-300ER
A321neo
777-200, 777
777, 787-9
A330-200, A330neo
767-300
A330neo, A350-1000
787-9
767-300, 787-9
787-9
777-200
777-200, 777
777-200
777-200, 777-300ER
777
777-300ER
777-200, 777
777
A330neo, 787-9
767-300
777-300ER
767-300, 787-9
A330-200
767-300
A321neo
787-9