Welcome to ... where?

When you're flying away on your summer break, will you know exactly where you are going to land?

Oxford airport has been renamed "London Oxford Airport" despite being more than sixty miles from the centre of London.

The operators hope the change will bring in more business.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Bratislava airport indicates it's Vienna, even though it's the capital of a different country.

There are two variations of airports at Barcelona, Stockholm and Oslo and Milan Bergamo airport is nearly an hour from the fashionable Italian city.

But does it really matter where an airport is if travellers are saving money or should operators and airlines come clean?

Tell us your stories of unexpected airport locations using the form at the bottom of the page.

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This is my first time of listening to my beloved Radio 4 after three years in Peru and… guess what? Not a lot has changed: Thanks to Ryanair's complete lack of geography, I bought a flight to Madrid three years ago. "Is that Barajas airport?" which I know is IN Madrid "Oh yes, well, it's very nearby".

It was Valladolid, which is two hours north by car and four hours by taxi and coach, which, having missed the connecting bus by a minute - whilst queuing to ask what no. bus was it - I then had to do.
Jill Bignell, Norwich, England

We experienced the 'best' case of an airport being at a place different from its advertised place when we flew to Copenhagen to stay with my daughter there at the university. Actually we knew from previous visits that anything advertised as Copenhagen-Malmo would involve being the other side of the sound, but with the then fairly recently built bridge we thought nothing of it, except that, when we arrived, there was no public transport, no car hire, and no taxis (by the time we got to the counter) and so we had to take a local bus to Lund (the university town) and then on to Malmo to catch the train over the bridge, for this airport was in the heart of Wallander country some 35 km NE of Malmo.

Not only was the Copenhagen-Malmo not in Copenhagen it was equally not in Malmo. We flew from Gatwick direct to Copenhagen the next time and not only saved time and effort but overall it didn't cost much more.
Steve Mills, Stafford, England

Similar are any Ryanair destination - at Stansted they call it Bologna. In Italy they call it Forli more than 40 miles away. My one and only flight with Ryanair!
Chris Griffin, Bewdley, England

Many years ago, our honeymoon was spent in Paris. The flight departed from Manston in Kent to Bauvais, with coach travel from London Victoria coach station and onward to Paris. Although a short flight it was memorable, especially flying over a dimly lit France late at night. We had a wonderful time in Paris.
Chris Harris, Wales

I had the unfortunate experience of flying to Dusseldorf with Ryanair only to find the airport Wisse (cant remember the name properly) was about 20 miles from the city of Dusseldorf. I caused the friend I was visiting a load of hassle as she wanted to collect me from the airport and she was unable to drive very embarrassing really!!
Eleanor Jill Watterson, Northampton

London Oxford Airport - I'm sure others will have emailed to say that Ryanair fly (or at least did when we took the flight a few years ago) to 'Vienna' but you actually land at Bratislava airport which is in a different country!!!
Marian Woolhouse, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire

Ryanair flies from Birmingham to Torp in Norway, but advertises the flight as being to Oslo - it is two hours from Oslo by bus.
Ralph Cross, Herefordshire

Travelled from Stansted to Dusseldorf with Ryanair. The airport was actually in Weeze, which is 86.2 km from Dusseldorf!!
Brian Hoolahan, London

Arriving in Reykjavik, our guide book said that the airport was five minutes from the city centre... We landed, jumped in a cab (strange, no queue), then pulling out of the airport, noticed the road sign. We were in Keflavik and it was more than 50 very expensive kilometres to our downtown hotel.
Hilary Watchman, London UK

London Oxford Airport? Will it be London Manchester Airport next?
Janie Critchley, London

Ryanair are, of course, the kings of flying people to airports that aren't where they say they are. My personal favourite is Oslo Torp, which is a lovely airport but nearly two hours' bus ride from Oslo. In their Norwegian publicity, they call the airport by the name of the nearest city, Sandefjord. Do they fly Norwegians to Birmingham and call it London, I wonder?
Mike, Cambridge, UK

Couple of years ago was on a hop-on hop-off tour bus in Dubai city. A tired traveller boarded who was in Dubai for a day stopover before flying onwards to London. He had a long morning, when asked a airport taxi driver to bring him to the centre which he did not know was a shopping centre, no where near the centre of Dubai and the centre was closed when he arrived.
Shaun Stanley, Flint. Wales

When stepping off a Ryanair plane at Dusseldorf (Weeze) I got a text message saying 'T-Mobile welcomes you to the Netherlands'. The airport is 86km from Dusseldorf.
Paul Crowe, Birmingham UK

Surely a case of 'flyer beware'. First experience with Ryanair this summer - East Midlands (which is in east midlands) to Pisa/Florence (which is five minutes by taxi from Pisa and over an hour by train to Florence). So went to Pisa then caught the train to Florence. We should just be grateful that Ryanair aren't promising us the Leaning Statue of David.
Brandon Ashworth, Sheffield

Yes well Goteborg City airport is another Ryanair adventure out in the middle of nowhere in order to avoid paying charges at Goteborg Landvetter which is a real airport. City Airport is just s cow shed with a runway, with only one bus travelling to it and arriving a couple of hours before take off and leaving an hour after landing.

There isn't much in the way of real transport links. They even advertise this as a cheaper way to get to Stockholm via their other airport in Stockholm or should I say outside Stockholm.
Peter Fodor, Brighton, UK

Why not go the whole hog? Edinburgh London, Aberdeen London and what of Shetland London? Come on Ryanair, don't hold back, Dublin London.
Charles Young, Edinburgh

Sorry folks, but you get what you pay for. Cheap airfare + expensive taxi = more than the regular airfare to the right airport.
SB, Cornwall, UK

Surely there is a trade description act to stop this confusion?
Paul Austin, Caton

Hilary Watchman in Iceland was right - and wrong. Actually, Reykjavik airport is five minutes from downtown, it is a small ex-RAF base - but international flights fly to Keflavic, not Reykjavik. Even the bus is about £12. The taxi was too pricey for me!
Andy K, Bristol

London Oxford's nothing - for a short while earlier this year Ryanair actually began referring to Stansted airport just as "London"!
Matthew Squires, Peterborough

The key is to check first. When Ryanair starting flying to Toulouse, it was actually Carcassonne airport 60 miles away, but I wanted to go 30 miles in the other direction so it was ideal for me. Don't blame Ryanair, blame yourself!
John Taylor, Northampton UK

The old adage rings true "If something is too good to be true, it usually is" Therefore, if you fly with one of these low cost airlines, you will find yourself, generally speaking, miles from where you actually want to be when you land!
Miles Davies, Surrey, UK

London Oxford - is that a new bid for the third Heathrow runway?
Richard, Woking, UK

We flew into Frankfurt Hahn in August 2003. For us, it was an inexpensive way to travel into the middle of Germany from Newcastle. The airport looked as if it had just closed after the Second World War. We felt as if we had landed in the set of the television series 'Heimat', The buses from the airport ran infrequently and left soon after aircraft arrival so there was little time to deliberate.

We chose the bus to Heidelberg and stayed in an inn dating from 1703 and ate supper in the duelling yard. This was a wonderful start to a journey along the 'romantic way' through medieval towns of Germany.

The airport was only half an hour by local bus from Bernkastel on the Mosel. The railway hadn't stopped at Bernkastel station for many years. We had attempted to visit it by rail the previous year and although we were sold a ticket for Bernkastel the train didn't go there and we arrived in Trier (a city with Roman gate, amphitheatre and packed with historical buildings.

Most of our travel is accidental. We enjoy surprises: this airport offered us a challenge.
Kathryn Farrimond, Sebergham, Carlisle, England

"Barcelona" Girona airport is a mere 102 km from Barcelona according to Googlemaps. Virtually next door.
Alan, UK

Re. your item about airlines pretending to fly to particular city but in fact flying into somewhere nearby. Ryanair seem to be the worst offenders as usual. Flights to Barcelona go to Reus or Girona, both about 100kms away. Flights to Stockholm go to Vasteras, also 100kms away.
Harry Isles, Daventry, Northants

Several years ago, we went on holiday to Italy, flying to Venice. After a touring holiday, we were booked to return from Bologna (Forli) airport. Arriving early and establishing that there was only one airport at Bologna, we ate a leisurely meal, dropped the car off at the airport, only then to find that Ryanair did not operate out of Bologna airport but Forli, which was 65 kilometres away.

Faced with a 65 kilometre journey and 'checking in' requirements, we thought we would miss the plane but fortunately got a young taxi driver who said he thought he could get there in time, for a fee of 110 euros.

Looking at the map, Forli is 65 Kilometres from Bologna but only 40 kilometres from the resort of Rimini. The ticket said clearly Bologna (Forti) and made no reference to the distance from Bologna or how to get there.

The situation we found ourselves in and the taxi ride made for a harrowing end to our holiday but fortunately, the taxi driver got us there on time which to some extent offset the unwelcome cost of the fare.
John Eaton, Theydon Bois, Epping

Tokyo's Narita Airport is miles from the city centre. Same for Kansai, near(?) Osaka.
Oliver Richardson, London, UK

I'm sure visitors to Belfast International Airport get the shock of they're lives when they realise that the airport is actually 25 miles from Belfast.
Michael, Northern Ireland

This country gets more stupid every day. Lets rename all airports; London Birmingham, London Liverpool, London Glasgow, London Torquay, London Bristol, London Norfolk, London Newcastle. Lets change London Luton and London Gatwick, back to what they were called, and should be called. Can they be sued for false advertising?
John Ross, Welwyn Garden City

Hilary Watchman, the domestic Icelandic airport is in Reykjavik as suggested by your guidebook. Keflavik serves international destinations. This is common to all airlines and nothing to do with low-cost airlines mis-representing destinations.
Kevin, Basingstoke

Don't people moan a lot? I delight by flying cheaply by Ryanair. East Midlands Airport is where you would expect it to be. Carcassonne Airport is minutes away from the city. Dinard Airport similarly is closely located, Nimes, Beziers & Montpelier Airports are also locally located nearby to the cities of the same name.

There should be no surprises, I am sure that the average air passenger has the capability to look up their destination on a map and plan accordingly. No one forces you onto a flight if it is not exactly what you want. Well done Ryanair, keep up the good work choosing great places to fly to.
Dave Lowe, Derby, UK

I don't mind Ryanair's outlandish claims - you just need to do the research to make sure you can get where you need to go. You can get to central Brussels in less time flying to Charleroi rather than Zaventem, but only because you can actually get out of the airport so much more quickly. Similarly, Friedrickshafen is much better for much of the Swiss Alps than Zurich or Geneva due to speedy airport exit.

In the same vein, Gatwick is much better than Heathrow if you are heading for the majority of the west end or for the City; and Stansted is as good as London City for the City whilst Heathrow is horrendous - even landing at Luton gives you a shorter transfer to central London than Heathrow so long as you start the clock at touch down.
Ralph Black, Colchester, England

In March Ryanair proudly announced new routes to and from "Munich West", a full 101km west of the city. Everyone else calls the airport Memmingen.
Stephen Moore, London

Pity Ryanair's Airports didn't have something like Shanghai Pudong Airport. Big and impressive, it is also twenty something miles out, but takes only seven minutes on the train (Maglev) clocking around 300 mph, all for about £8 return.
John, Aberdeen

I cannot believe that people book flights with budget airlines and do not check where the exact location of the airport is. This is one of the reasons budget airlines are so cheap - by not having to pay the landing fees of main hub airports. It is back to the old saying of 'champagne tastes with lemonade budgets' ok, it's maybe not an old saying. ;)
ajkeuropean, Perth, Scotland

London Ashford Airport at Lydd on the Kent coast has to be one of the best. By my calculation, it has to be just as close to France as it is to London.
Paul Simpson, New Cross, England

Not quite an airport, but Princess Cruises advertise their departure port as London (Southampton) with Trafalgar Square as one of the shore attractions.
Keith Roberts, Warwick, UK

There was the Japanese student who on arrival at Heathrow one evening asked how to get to Torquay. After a long journey by train she arrived in the early hours and was found wandering around town in the rain looking confused. On enquiry, the local police discovered she had been expecting to arrive in Turkey.
Frederick Appleby, London

Obvious retaliation for "London Oxford Airport" would be to open a training centre in Hounslow called "Heathrow College Oxford".
Richard Veryard, London, UK

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