Afternoon all. Don't know if this is quite right for the 'Transport' forum but I'm sure it will be moved if not.

When I am in Basel next year I want to fly to Edinburgh for a few days to catch up with relatives. Searched various websites but can't find much in the way of direct flights from Basel to Edinburgh. Lufthansa and Swiss are not too bad, via somewhere else, but if anyone has other suggestions, that would be nice. Obviously I am looking for as cheap and easy as possible. And I'd prefer to avoid Heathrow.

Easyjet does fly direct from Geneva but looks like about 3 hours on the train to get to Geneva, so more time and more CHF.

Thanks!

Pam

I have never seen any carrier fly from Basel to Edinburgh. BMI fly direct from Zurich to Edinburgh but they only fly certain days (Thursday - Monday I think). Book as early as you can and the price is ok but you can probably get cheaper going via somewhere else. I often fly with Lufthansa via Frankfurt.

Try looking at flights to Newcastle and get someone to pick you up for the 60 mile onward journey or check out train times/prices.

I've done Zürich > London Luton > Edinburgh which worked quite well. Not a 'connection' as such, but when travelling alone, sitting reading a book and drinking coffee to fill in time between flights doesn't bother me.

From Basel I think it would have to be Basel Mulhouse > Gatwick > Edinburgh. It might be worth checking though.

Rail travel in England seemed terribly expensive last time I used this form of transport. There are cheap offers on the train but I believe getting a cheap ticket means saying exactly when you will be travelling. This is a bit difficult when you cannot be sure how quickly you can get from the plane itself to the railway station.

Good luck anyway.

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Longbyt

I've done Basel to Heathrow to Edinburgh, on BA. Wasn't horrible on the transfer, just sitting around Heathrow for a while. I believe it was all in Terminal 5, no switching terminals.

BMI fly from Zürich to Edinburgh every day but the fares tend to be a bit silly. There is only one flight a day (early afternoon).

I tend to use Lufthansa via Frankfurt - a bit of a trek at FRA because you are changing from Schengen to non-Schengen so don't pick a tight connection.

You can also go via Brussels but you'll probably have to buy 2 tickets. KLM via Amsterdam are not too bad.

With all Swiss LX flights now operating thru Terminal 1 at Heathrow instead of that hell hole called Terminal 2, flight transfers and moods are so much better. I'd probably suggest ZRH-LHR-EDI for a flexible routing, getting to ZRH from BSL shouldn't be an issue for you I guess.

The othe option is KLM via Schipol. I normally check KLM, Lufthansa and BMI to see who has the best price. I avoid going through London unless I reeally, really have to and then I would go through City rather than the big airports.

Completely forgot to say that I was talking about Easyjet flights. I had no problems at all. I had to check in again for the second flight, but who cares. It wasn't high season so the queues weren't very long anyway.

They used to fly every day but now only fly Friday - Monday (I've just checked the website to be sure).

Thanks for all the info everyone. I was kinda trying to avoid having to go to Zurich or Geneva first, hence looking at Basel flights, but might look at the Amsterdam option more thoroughly than I did, and Newcastle is something I didn't think of at all. Easyjet would be fine, but that's Geneva. Lufthansa and Swiss are looking pretty good so far, via Frankfurt and Manchester respectively. Heathrow was way too nuts last time I was there so will try to skip London altogether if I can!

Plenty of time to do the research though I guess if I want the cheapest fare I'll have to book aeons in advance!

Cheers.