If you've arrived here from Time Out, I did not say Flibco is "officially the cheapest way to get from the centre of the capital to Stansted", Time Out is prone to exaggeration, and I would never use Flibco myself.
Need to get from London to Stansted Airport? A new player has entered the market and it's very green.
The coach is operated by Flibco, a Luxembourg-based company taking its first steps in the UK. They operate to airports in Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Spain and 15 other European countries, with the long-term aim of becoming the continent's number 1 air transfer service.
Their shuttle business began 20 years ago after spotting a commercial opportunity when Ryanair started flying to Frankfurt–Hahn, an airport 75 miles from Frankfurt. The company doesn't own its own vehicles, it contracts out to local operators, focusing its energies instead on data systems and marketing. Theirwebsite reads as if an AI wrote it, or at best it's badly translated.
And at the start of the month they began regular services between Liverpool Street and Stansted via Stratford, which means I now see their green coaches passing my front door every 30 minutes. But is Flibco a competitive transport offer? Let's see.
Coaches on route FL1 run half-hourly all day, even in the middle of the night. The timetable allows 50 minutes from Stansted to Stratford and 90 minutes for the full Stansted to Liverpool Street. This just goes to show how slow pootling down the Mile End Road is.
National Express coaches operate with very similar timings, as you'd expect, because you can't magic up a faster motorway. Stansted to Stratford is again 50 minutes, with Stansted to Liverpool Street varying from 70 to 90 minutes depending on time of day. Taking the train is obviously faster with the Stansted Express taking just over 45 minutes from Stansted to Liverpool Street. In this case Stansted to Stratford takes longer, just under an hour, because it requires a change of train.
Where Flibco is really competing is on price, so how much are they charging?
Attempting to buy a ticket shows that London to Stansted on the green coach costs £13.99 one way or £18.98 return. National Express charges more, either £18.50 one way or £24.50 return, once you've added on their £1.50 booking fee. Meanwhile a Stansted Express walk-up train ticket is always £25 whether it's peak time or not, making a total return fare of £50.
So if you're travelling today...
STANSTED TO...
Liverpool St
Stratford
Stansted Express
train
£25
£25
National Express
coach
£18.50
£18.50
Flibco
coach
£13.99
£13.99
It sounds like coaches are comprehensively cheaper than the train.
But there's a catch which is that Flibco charges extra if you choose to take luggage, which if you're heading to the airport you probably are.
Just hand luggage £13.99. A suitcase in the hold £15.99. Two suitcases £16.99. The corresponding prices for a return trip are £18.98, £22.98 and £24.98.
National Express don't charge extra for one suitcase but if you want to take two they slap on a £10 surcharge. That's Easyjet levels of affrontery.
So if you're doing a return trip with luggage...
STANSTED RETURN
1 suitcase
2 suitcases
Stansted Express
train
£50
£50
National Express
coach
£24.50
£44.50
Flibco
coach
£22.98
£24.98
That puts the coach companies ahead of the train for those with one suitcase, and Flibco well ahead for anyone with two. Even if you have a railcard and can get the train fare down to £33.30 return, the coach still wins.
But there are of course cheaper fares if you choose to book ahead.
A single Stansted Express ticket can be bought for £17 a fortnight in advance, or £13, £11 or even £9.90 if you get in much earlier. The cheapest return fare is £18.60, but you need to buy your ticket about two months early for that. In good news these advance tickets only tie you to a specific day, not a specific train, and you can return any time within a month.
National Express start to reduce the price of the return leg three days in advance, but the reduction isn't considerable if you get in any earlier. And Flibco don't bother with advance fare reductions at all, you pay their lowest price whatever.
So, finally, here's a return trip leaving in a month's time...
STANSTED RETURN
0 suitcases
1 suitcase
2 suitcases
Stansted Express
train
£29
£29
£29
National Express
coach
£21.30
£21.30
£41.30
Flibco
coach
£18.98
£22.98
£24.98
If you can book one month ahead Flibco wins with 2 suitcases or just hand luggage, and National Express wins with one suitcase. But book two months ahead and the Stansted Express is suddenly cheapest (£18.60 return).
In summary blimey it's complicated, an opaque pricing structure no matter how you travel with various pre-book discounts and hidden extras. If you don't know what you're doing you could end up paying more than you need. Also you may consider time more important than money, in which case the train is both faster and more reliable, being immune to traffic jams that might critically delay your journey to the airport. Also you may want to consider company reviews - Flibco's are uniformly terrible on Tripadvisor, although it's a bit soon to tell if their UK operations will follow the European model.
Also it appears National Express are changing their Stansted coach routes next month, so if you're used to taking one route you might find it has a different number or stops elsewhere.
Currently A6: Stansted → Golders Green → Finchley Rd → Baker St → Marble Arch → Paddington A7: Stansted → Bow → Mile End → Whitechapel → Southwark → Waterloo → Victoria A8: Stansted → Tottenham Hale → Stamford Hill → Shoreditch → Liverpool St → King's Cross A9: Stansted → Stratford
From 19 May A6: Stansted → Golders Green → Finchley Rd → Baker St → Paddington A7:discontinued A8: Stansted → Tottenham Hale → Stamford Hill → Shoreditch → Liverpool St → Southwark → Waterloo → Victoria A9: Stansted → Stratford, then EITHER → Canary Wharf OR → Bow → Mile End → Whitechapel → Aldgate
I note that the service to Stratford is increasing from every 30 minutes to every 20, making National Express more frequent than the upstart Flibco. I also note that the service to Bow is currently every 30 minutes direct, but from 19th May will be only every 40 minutes and with an extra stop in Stratford. Again my conclusion is that if you're heading to Stansted Airport always pick your route carefully. Or if you don't give a damn how much it costs just carry on taking a taxi and I apologise for wasting your time.
