We choose to fly from Bristol rather than Cardiff as its a little bit cheaper , includeing the toll fare, more choice of destinations and usually better flight times . i would consider flying from other airports as long as the price difference covers the cost of travelling to get there , the last time we flew from Cardiff was 5 years ago .

Where I live in South Yorkshire, I'm surrounded by airports, but they all except Doncaster have difficulties getting to them.
For Manchester it's £100 return in a taxi and the journey over the Pennines is not for the faint hearted and depending on the weather can be a nightmare, if you go over in the early hours of the morning it's probably around 1½ hours, but if you go over in the daytime it can be 3 hours due to the amount of traffic.

East Midlands Airport (£100) is about an hour in the early morning, but again that can be longer during the daytime and the only way to get to the airport is down the M1, and one accident or road works and you're snookered being stuck on the motorway in between junctions.
Leeds/Bradford (£100) is a real pain because if you were looking at a clock face, the airport is situated at number 10, so coming in from the south around number 5, you have to go around Leeds on the ring road and that's like Chiswick roundabout in London at times.
Humberside is probably the quietest route, approx 50 mins away, but it's out in the sticks and there's absolutely nothing around it and not many flights either.

Doncaster was the answer to my prayers and many other people in this area, but the flights are just too expensive, it's about 30/40 mins away in a taxi (£50 return) and there are several ways to get to it from my house.

I always said that I would never go over the "tops" to Manchester again when Donny opened, but alas I'm doing it next month around 3 am, simply because the flights were nearly half the price at Manchester than Donny"¦so it was worth it, even taking into account £50 extra for a taxi, but I absolutely hate that journey day or night.

I wouldn't go any further those airports mentioned above, unless I was going to somewhere like Australia and the flight was from Heathrow...a one off.!

Sanji

Cardiff & Bristol are also very expensive if going on a package holiday. For city breaks we can be lucky, as BMI baby flies out of Cardiff & Easyjet from Bristol, but destinations are very limited, especially for a main summer holiday. I think for both it's mainland Spain & the Canaries and not much else.

helen we flew to rhodes and tunisia and turkey from bristol and again this year to crete..lots more choice tho for weekends . Because we dont drive it would have to be coach or train to get to other airports which can bump the cost up . But if the price is right i will fly from any airport hubby is another matter

Exeter is our nearest airport which is about half an hour away We have been to Lanzarote, Algarve and Majorca from there.

Have also flown out of Bristol. In fact we are flying out of Bristol in four weeks time to Benidorm. Have travelled to Manchester Airport for Florida along with Gatwick Airport again to go to Benidorm!

For me to use local airports we are restricted where to go during certain months as i think tour operators dont fly until May .......... and then the flight supplements to use local airport is ridiculous thats another reason we choose Bristol over Cardiff . For long haul then yes would have to travel to get to airport .

Donny airport is right on my doorstep..literally 15 miles away if that and we know all the back routes to get there etc...but like Sanji said, the prices of the flights have made it damm near impossible for us to fly from there now.

East Mids and Birmingham are both about an hour, hour and half away..the taxi fare is about £80.

Manchester is a nightmare..but that is where the flights to Hurghada are from and we always end up having to go at daft o clock. The taxi fare is £100, sometimes more. Last time it were cheaper to get a park and fly deal with Premier Inn..and the same again this time. The journey is always horrendous.

When we flew to Thailand, we went from Heathrow..but generally we would not go that far to catch a plane.

In an ideal world, it would be Donny every time..but it is not an ideal world so we travel to Manchester, East Mids and Birmingham...

My closest airport is Heathrow - about 30-45mins and if I fly from there I'm lucky enough to usually get a lift (unless I have to check in at 5am!). But very few packages go from Heathrow, with the exception of some Malta, Cyprus and long haul, so it can be restrictive. And very few of the bargain packages go from Heathrow as the airlines are all scheduled and the airport taxes are high.

Gatwick is about £150 return in a taxi and Luton about £100. But the train journeys to both would be horrendous, especially with luggage. I have flown from both but only when unavoidable. If I didn't have much luggage I might consider Birmingham, as I'm on a train line that stops at a few stations there, but I'd still need a taxi once there to get to the airport.

All that said, I've managed to get some great deals on flights from Heathrow which has been great for city breaks and a bargain package to Malta, so it's not all bad and I much prefer the convenience.

I think we are very lucky as we have a choice of 3 airports which are fairly near to home.
Luton....40mins
Birmingham about 50 mins
East Midlands about 1 hour
These are my first choice's, although I don't like Gatwick or Stansted I would consider these if the price was right and maybe book a Travelodge when the cheap deals are on offer.....Flying from East Midlands this Thursday

We live about 20 minutes from Glasgow, an hour from Edinburgh and Prestwick, but have only ever flown from Glasgow.

We have flown from Manchester before as some routes only fly from there.

It does put me off though as we don't drive so would need coaches/trains and hotels.

Helen

Hi
When I hear of others having to travel hours before getting to the Airport, I realise how lucky we are only living 30mins from Manchester Airport.....so its Manchester every time
M

Last few holiday's we've had we have flown from Birmingham or Manchester. Manchester is a 4 hour train journey, we don't mind that as we like the airport. We like to stay overnight the night before at the airport anyhow, as we feel our holiday starts a day early. In June we are flying from Cardiff which is an hour and a half away. As our flight goes at 7am we are staying at an airport hotel the night before.

We live in Plymouth so Exeter is closest then Bristol and cardiff although it's always more expensive to go from Exeter and most times works out allot cheaper even with fuel and possible hotel stays at Bristol and Cardiff although have only had to use hotel once due to early check in.

I-ll only travel from leeds bradford- 10 mins away from home- cant be doing with all that travelling to and from airports!

Belly

We have only ever flown from Bristol. Live about 30 mins away so very convenient. Have often considered other airports because of flight supplements, but always figure that if we were to fly from Cardiff (about hour half away), the cost of petrol, possible hotel etc would amount to the same.

We only ever fly from Bristol it is only 20 mins away.
Many years ago we flew to Majorca from Gatwick, had to catch a coach from Bristol bus station. On our return the flight arrived at Gatwick late in the evening but the coaches didn't run until the morning so we spent the night trying to sleep at the airport and I can still remember the beep beep noise of someone playing Space Invaders on one of the machines in the middle of the night!
I certainly wouldn't do that now!

I live 2.5 hours away from Manchester and 2 hours from Cardiff and Bristol.I usually fly from Manchester and am lucky enough to have 3 family members who will ferry me to and from the airport.Next week I'm staying the night before at an airport hotel as my check-in is 5a.m. Still, it'll make a nice start to the holiday.

As I am 20 minutes from Exeter Airport we have done holidays from there when available, have used Bristol for Turkey and Dominican Republic 1 year as First Choice did have flights Bristol/Manchester/Puerto Plata.....but we have had a friend with a taxi drive us to Gatwick for long haul holidays before now which takes 31/2 hours and the last long haul we did from Manchester Airport flying from Exeter to Manchester the day before an overnight stop in a hotel then fly out next morning.

Angie.

Leeds bradford for me too as only 5 mins away but have had to use Manchester & east midlands in the past which are roughly just over 1 hour away on a good day.