Best Airport to Land In the UK for a trip to Hull

So me dear ole mum and her sis are planning a trip to the UK for some ancestry research. Ultimate destination is the area surrounding Hull.

What's the best international airport to land in (direct flight from Canada) with decent rail connections to Hull? Keep in mind they are not very savvy world travellers, so the more straight forward the connection from the Airport Gate to a little B&B in Hull is key.

They don't drive so will be reliant on public transit the entire way. They will also be taking side trips to Bridlington and potentially the Peaks District.

Any advice?

Manchester or Birmingham i suppose Shawn

The closest international airport is Leeds. I don't think they have flights from Canada though, but they do have national flights from Heathrow and Gatwick. The latter are also well served by train (connections) to Hull, but to avoid long train rides, Manchester or Birmingham may be quicker.

Surely the closest airport would be Humberside International the call sign is 'Humberside (HUY)'

Check skyscanner.ca to search.

Getting to Peak district try Northern rail

mytrainticket.co.uk/northern-rail.php

It may well be, but Leeds has internal flights from Heathrow and Gatwick which are almost certain to have daily flights from/to Canada.

If ShawnH is looking for convenience over daily flights the simple route is Canada ( all airports via Amsterdam Schipol) to Humberside Int then a bus from airport to Hull bus station humbersideairport.com/getting-to-the-airport/bus/

or

Canada ( all airports) Heathrow/Gatwick ( Change of terminals at the busiest airports in Europe)
Heathrow/Gatwick to Leeds Int airport
Leeds Int airport to Railway station
Train from Leeds to Hull.

The Leeds option seems like an exhausting journey to me

Agreed, going via Schipol makes far more sense.

First of all, thanks to all (Roz, Vincent, Warszawski and Delph) for your input. Very much appreciated!

I think these two old gals would prefer one direct flight to the UK and as strait a shot as possible (no train changes??) to Hull.

I had a look at Birmingham and Manchester, both take direct flights from Canada.

I have heard that Heathrow is quite a confuzzling kind of airport, and am a pretty sure they wouldn't make it out of there with their sanity (based on what I've heard.....)

So based on that I think they might be good options.

I am a little nervous about them making a connection from Schipol back to the UK, although it would be much closer to their ultimate destination. If it were me, yeah, but not this pair. They'd be prone to get lost in the shuffle :-)

So, comparing connections from either Birmingham or Manchester, which has the most straight forward rail connection to Hull? Does either one have a direct (not transferring from one train to another) connection?

Once again, thanks to all, especially the mod who removed Mark081's offer.

Neither do - both Birmingham International and Manchester Airport require train changes to get to Hull.


If it was me, I'd strongly recommend this route - it will be much easier to change in an airport than to deal with the UK train system, particularly as the UK train system can melt down at times. The other thing is that if they have problems in Schipol, they'll get plenty of help (including if they miss their connection) - whereas a delay into the UK means they could miss their train and so on. If they're prone to getting confused and mixed up, then Schipol will be far friendlier than the UK :)


It's not that bad, but the real problem is transiting London.

So which airlines fly in to Leeds? Remember they would be brining in a bit of luggage (international sized...) Any with very lax weight requirements?

edit: ah, KLM Connector. that may work....

Schipol is a fantastic airport everything is in English and everyone speaks English, if it was my mother I would much prefer for her to sit in the airport waiting for a connecting flight than take a train in the UK, I personally believe it would be quicker going via Schipol. Having said that if it was my mother in law I may book her tickets via Heathrow and back via Gatwick...

Good luck with the travel plans.

I'd steer clear of the Leeds connection - getting from Leeds/Bradford Airport to Hull requires a bus to Leeds City Centre and then a train from there.

The other advantage of Hull is that you could do the trip entirely with KLM and get the luggage sent straight through to Humberside. Alliance agreements exist with airlines, but they can't always be trusted.

If they're hell bent on landing in the UK then Manchester would probably be the most favourable. Trains from the airport run every 15 mins to Manchester Piccadilly, and trains to Hull from there, run every hour duration 1hr 54mins. If they landed at Birmingham, the trains to Hull would probably go through Manchester anyway. Birmingham New Street station is not for the faint hearted as it's always busy and there are also two many platforms. In the Leeds option, there is also the possibly of getting to Hull by using two coaches, but the time will almost be the the same as the Manchester train journey.

Here is a small timetable for getting to Hull from the 5 closest airports
rome2rio.com/how-to-get-to/Hull%20City%20of%20Kingston-upon-Hull

Both Delta and KLM are part of Skyteam
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_alliance

Aren't Delta quite horrible in terms of service, however?

Just another question regarding the trip...

Would Mum and the sis be ok with a "G3 wireless International SIM card" enabled phone whilst traveling about the UK?

That's the best by far. Birmingham would be a nuisance of a journey.


Probably - but might be better to get a prepaid SIM if the phone doesn't have a Simlock. They sell them at WHSmith at the airport arrivals.

In theory they'd probably be OK with it but I'd be slightly concerned with how to put more credit on it (and with getting over-charged for calls/texts). As Jon said, the best option would just be for them to buy a prepay SIM card at a newsagents (or a Vodaphone shop at the airport).

They could always look at lycamobile.co.uk/en and you will be able to get the SIM cards sent to Canada and set up b4 they go.

Not Robin Hood Airport? I could swear thats the one I flew to when I flew from Gdansk to see friends in Hull. It was very close

Errors don't get much worse than this, I of course meant "too many":) I know this first hand as I must have broken Usain Bolts' 100mtrs record, trying to catch the last train home a few times..


good advice above, a UK 'pay as you go' sim card would be best. The best value for people from overseas, believe it or not, is an own branded sim card from the two supermarket chains,Tesco and ASDA. The latter uses the vodafone network, but somehow manages to charge 50% less than vodafone per minute, 10p per minute any network, 6p texts, and 30p per minute for international calls.

Thanks to all who added their tuppence worth!
I will get the old gals to make a bee-line to the local Asda / Tesco..

Shawn

The lady wants to fly direct from Canada. Doncaster 'Robin Hood' serves very limited destinations, mostly on 'low cost' airlines. Also, when arriving in a different continent, it's easier to pitch up in a major international airport than a car park with a bus stop in the middle of nowhere. Would be easiest for travel to Hull though.


Believe it or not, there isn't one, either their or at Manchester Piccadilly.

Re. train travel to Hull, there are 2 comfortable options. Manchester Airport to Leeds, change, Leeds to Hull; or Manchester Airport to Manchester Picadilly, Manchester Picadilly to Hull via Sheffield (takes a bit longer on the train).