London-Amsterdam is an important short-haul business and tourist route. Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) airport is served by all 5 of London’s main airports – Heathrow (LHR), Gatwick (LGW), City (LCY), Luton (LTN) and Stansted (STN).

The 230 mile flights will normally take around 45 minutes flying time although they are mostly scheduled for 1 hour 10 minutes.

Airlines serving London-Amsterdam:

British Airways – The Oneworld carrier has 18x daily flights during the week from London to Amsterdam – 8x from LHR, 6x from LCY and 4x from LGW. The Heathrow flights are operated using Airbus A319/A320s. The Gatwick flights use Boeing 737s whilst the City flights use BA Cityflyer’s Embraer E170/E190s. Note, there are less Amsterdam services from City airport running at weekends.

Standard economy (Euro Traveller) fares start at around £100 return – with the Gatwick flights generally being the cheapest. Business class (Club Europe) fares start at about £260 return though special offers can be a bit cheaper. BA lounges are available at LHR, LGW and AMS.

Flights depart from Terminal 5 at Heathrow, North Terminal at Gatwick and the D gates (non-Schengen) at Schiphol.

KLM – The Skyteam airline operates 11x daily (7x Saturday, 8x Sunday) from Schiphol to London Heathrow using Boeing 737s and Fokker 70s. Economy fares are similar to BA’s and start from £100 return. Business class fares are more expensive – expect to pay a hefty £475 return. KLM also penalise passengers for booking one-way flights (£300 fares) so stick to return bookings.

Lounge access for business and elite passengers is at KLM’s Crown Lounge at Amsterdam and the Skyteam lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4 (gate 10).

CityJet – This Air France subsidiary uses Avro RJ85 Avroliners to serve Amsterdam Schiphol from London City airport. There are 7x daily flights during the week, 1x daily on Saturday and 3x daily on Sunday. Economy returns are also priced from the £100 level, whilst a flexible CityPlus fare (classed as premium economy) is offered for £460 return.

Note that Star Alliance no longer have any non-stop flights between London and Amsterdam. bmi pulled out of the route in 2010.

Easyjet – The “no frills” airline flies from Gatwick (5x daily), Luton (4x daily) and Stansted (4x daily) – flight frequencies are reduced by about half at weekends. If booking in advance, base fares start at around £55 return – but you need to add on £20 for checked luggage, £12 for credit card fees so in the end you pay about £90 return. Food and drink must also be purchased if required and there is no assigned seating – so boarding can be a scrum.

One positive aspect to Easyjet is they will allow you (subject to availability) to get on an earlier flight on the day for free – try doing that with BA or KLM and they will probably charge you for a new fully flexible ticket.

Easyjet flights at Amsterdam arrive and depart from the low-cost H pier. The Gatwick flights operate from the North Terminal.

Alternatives: High speed rail is an option with a combination of the Eurostar which goes from London St Pancras station to Brussels Zuid/Midi and then taking a Thalys train on to Amsterdam. This journey takes about 4 1/2 hours – you do need to go through security and border controls  when departing with the Eurostar. Due to the popularity of the Thalys, prices for this trip can be quite high – £320 return is a common fare. (Cheaper prices are available by taking the slower Intercity train service from Brussels to Amsterdam or any Dutch station).

Journey times will be reduced when direct London-Amsterdam train services start in 2013.

Please also see our related articles:

Amsterdam Schiphol – Airport Guide
Amsterdam Schiphol – Lounges
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Hotels

British Airways has a business class airfare sale until 27 Jan 09. Return prices in Club World on selected routes ex-London are New York £1,099, Mumbai £1,359, Dubai £1,459, Tokyo £1,999 (all 05 Feb 09 to 31 Mar 09), Barbados £1,319 (01 Mar 09 to 20 Mar 09), Jo’burg £1,999 (06 Feb 09 to 31 Mar 09), Sydney £2729 (15 Jul 09 to 31 Aug 09). Many other destinations are available. One-way upgrades to First start at £499.

Note, if you are registered with ba.com (it’s free), log in and get an additional £20 off per person on all long-haul economy and business sale fares.

Virgin Atlantic is matching its Upper Class fares with BA on routes they share.

Qatar Airways has a business class airfare sale until 31 Jan 09 for travel up to June. Fares from London include Dubai £1,179, Colombo £1,325, Jo’burg £1,609, Hong Kong £1,739 and Singapore £1,899.

Emirates has an interesting companion fare offer in business or first class which can be booked by 15 Feb 09, travel to the end of October. Use the promo code UKCOMP9. Fares per person are Dubai £1199, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Shanghai all available for just under £1,400, Mauritius £1,389, Seychelles £1,474, Colombo and Male for £1,682. The stand-out fare looks like Cape Town or Jo’burg for £1,299, with first class for £2,271.

KLM has some good biz class fares ex-London for travel 9 Jan 09 to 30 Apr 09. Delhi £940, Dubai 1,085, Nairobi £1,371, Jo’burg £1,418 and Seoul £1,568. Similar fares available from regional UK.

With oil prices having come down but with the credit crunch still stifling premium demand now is a very good time to pick up a business class airfare deal for 2009.

A few readers have asked which airlines are accepting Paypal as a form of payment for buying air tickets. In Europe there is currently only one airline: Monarch Airlines which flies scheduled and charter services around the Med. They are quite well regarded in the industry.

In the US Paypal is more widely used and the following airlines accept it:

Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Air Tran, US Airways, Delta and Jet Blue.

For Europeans you can buy KLM flights on partner Northwest using Paypal.

In Australia, Air Asia X accepts payment by Paypal – it flies from Gold Coast and Perth to Kuala Lumpur. It will fly from KL to London Stansted from 2009.

Also note that there are occasional “cashback” offers available through Paypal which might get you a small discount off your flight purchase.

You can also invest in the Ultimate Airfares & Upgrades Guide using Paypal.

UPDATE: Airlines Accepting Paypal 2011