We describe the price of a flight from the United States to London and the market behind it. Fares are aggregate statistics from a commercial fare-search site as of 27 September 2026; taxes and charges come from UK and US rate schedules and Heathrow's 2026 charges decision; traffic from US Department of Transportation International Report data; and visits from the UK International Passenger Survey. London accounts for 98% of fare searches to the UK, so the UK-wide average of USD 820 per round trip is effectively a London price. Monthly medians ranged from USD 380 in February to USD 635 in June, a ratio of 1.67. Arrival-airport averages were lowest for Gatwick (USD 297) and higher for Heathrow (USD 479), although Heathrow handled 86.2% of the 20.18 million nonstop US–UK passengers in 2025. Government charges on an economy round trip came to USD 212.40, UK Air Passenger Duty of £102 (USD 137.27) plus USD 75.13 of US taxes and fees, or 25.9% of the average fare and 55.9% of the February median. Eastbound nonstops from New York averaged 6 h 50 min; listed return legs averaged 8 h 05 min, consistent with the jet stream. Nonstop traffic in 2025 was 92.9% of the 2019 peak of 21.71 million, which itself was 2.08 times the 1990 level, while US residents made a record 5.6 million visits to the UK in 2024 and spent £7.3 billion. The pound averaged USD 1.3192 in 2025, 65.9% of its 2007 level.
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Askew et al. (2026) studied this question.
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