Airports Near London, Ontario: YXU, Pearson, Hamilton, Waterloo, Windsor, Detroit or Buffalo - Which One to Fly From

London to Pearson & the airports · 2026-09-21 · 8-minute read

The eight, at a glance

LondonLimo.net planning ranges before HST, one way; the rates page has the SUV and Sprinter figures.

YXU first

When London International has a flight that fits - Toronto and Calgary connections, the winter sun flights - it is the easiest airport in the province: fifteen minutes, one room, fifteen minutes through security, $45-65 for the run. The YXU code article has the arithmetic against Pearson.

Pearson for everything else

Pearson is the country's largest airport with every direct international route, and the two-hour run on the 401 is the company's core work; the London to Pearson page has the rules and the cost guide the fare.

Waterloo and Hamilton for the leisure fares

Waterloo, an hour up the 401, and Hamilton, an hour and twenty by the 401 and the 403, are the leisure-carrier airports - Flair, WestJet's leisure routes, the charters to the sun - with small terminals, quick security and fares that are sometimes far below Pearson's for the same destination; the run is shorter than Pearson's and the terminal is easier, and a family flying to Orlando in March often finds Waterloo the cheapest door to door.

Windsor and Billy Bishop for their own cities

Windsor serves the southwest's own Toronto and leisure flights and is the London traveller's airport only when a Windsor day or a Detroit crossing is already in the trip; Billy Bishop on Toronto's island serves Porter's and Air Canada's flights to Ottawa, Montreal, the east and the US from downtown Toronto, and is worth the extra fifteen minutes past Pearson when the flight is Porter's and the destination is downtown Toronto's on the way.

Detroit and Buffalo for the US fares

A US domestic fare from Detroit or Buffalo is sometimes half the price of the same route from Pearson, and the drive is two and a half to two and three-quarter hours plus the border; every passenger needs a passport or a NEXUS card, the cross-border page lists the documents, and the travel desk prices the trip door to door across the border airports and the Canadian ones before the flight is booked.

The desk's method

Take the destination and the dates; search the fares from all eight airports through the travel desk; add the chauffeured fare to each - $45-65 for YXU, $295-345 for Pearson, and so on; add the family's size, the hour of departure and the bags; and show the traveller the door-to-door figure and time for the two or three that make sense. A business traveller with a 7 a.m. direct from Pearson takes the run; a family of five to Cancun in March takes YXU or Waterloo; a couple to New York takes Buffalo or Billy Bishop; a student to Vancouver takes YXU via Calgary. The travel desk page describes the service.

The airports beyond: the network

For a London traveller arriving at Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg or Halifax, the airports hub has each with a network operator's chauffeur at the far end, booked on the same engine; the network page explains how.

Three choices, as the desk made them

A family of five to Orlando, March. YXU's sun flight was full; Waterloo's Flair flight was $210 a head cheaper than Pearson's; an SUV to Waterloo at $210-260 each way against Pearson's $345-395; Waterloo won by $1,300 on the trip.

An executive to Frankfurt, Tuesday. Pearson's direct at 6:10 p.m.; the 401 run at 2:20 p.m.; nothing else came close.

A couple to Nashville, October. Buffalo's Southwest fare was $340 a head below Pearson's; the sedan to Buffalo at $460-560 against $295-345 to Pearson; Buffalo won by $500 on the trip, with the passports checked.

Booking it

Enter any of the eight airports on the reservation engine with the flight number in the notes; the fixed rate from any London address appears. The airports hub has each airport's page.

The border airports, in more detail

Detroit Metro is Delta's hub with two terminals - McNamara for Delta and SkyTeam, Evans for the rest - reached from London by the 401 to Windsor and the Ambassador Bridge or the tunnel, then I-94 to the airport; Buffalo is a single terminal reached by the 401, the 403 and the QEW to the Peace Bridge or the Queenston-Lewiston bridge, then I-190. Both crossings need every passenger's passport or NEXUS card, both add twenty minutes to an hour at the booth depending on the day, and the CBSA and CBP publish the rules the chauffeur follows; the cross-border page has the documents and the return crossing.

The leisure airports, in more detail

Waterloo expanded its terminal in 2023 and Flair and WestJet use it for sun and domestic leisure routes; Hamilton is a single terminal with WestJet, Flair and the charters and the country's largest cargo hub beside it. Both are reached from London by the 401 - Waterloo via Highway 8, Hamilton via the 403 - and both have small lots and quick security; the run to either is shorter and cheaper than Pearson's, and the rates page has the SUV and Sprinter figures for each.

The airport for a Toronto day

A London traveller with a Toronto meeting and a flight after it books the Toronto day by the hour with the chauffeur waiting, and the airport at the end is Pearson or Billy Bishop by the flight; the city-to-city page explains the day and the Billy Bishop page the island's tunnel and ferry.

The pickup at each, on the return

Every airport on this page is met the same way - a chauffeur with a name board at the spot each airport page names, the flight tracked, sixty or ninety minutes of wait included - and the airport pickup guide is the general procedure; the border airports add the return crossing into Canada, with the CBSA's declaration made by the passengers in the car at the booth.

Three questions the desk is asked about choosing an airport

Why not always fly from YXU? Because its map is short and its fares on the Toronto connection are sometimes higher than Pearson's direct; when its flights fit, it wins on everything else, and when they do not, the run to Pearson is the company's core work. Is Detroit really worth the border? For a US domestic route with a large fare difference, yes; for a difference of a hundred dollars a head, no - the crossing's time and the passports' hassle eat it, and the Detroit airport page says so. Can the desk book the flight as well as the car? Yes - the travel desk books the flight through BookingWorldwide.net and links the chauffeur to it, so that a change to one changes both.

The pickup times, by airport

YXU: ninety minutes before a domestic departure, two hours before an international one, plus the fifteen-minute run. Pearson: three hours before a domestic flight, three hours and forty minutes before an international one, plus the two-hour run. Waterloo and Hamilton: two hours before, plus the run. Billy Bishop: ninety minutes before, plus two and a quarter hours. Detroit and Buffalo: three hours before a US domestic flight, plus the run and the border - the cross-border page has the crossing's timing. The airport limo page sets out the rules.

Booking checklist, once the airport is chosen

The airport and the flight number; the pickup address; the passengers and the bags; the passports for a border airport; a car seat; the return flight; the account or the card; and the phone numbers. The reservation engine takes any of the eight airports as an address, and the rates page has the fare to each.

The two airports most Londoners forget

Windsor, because it seems too far and serves its own city, and Billy Bishop, because it is past Pearson; each has its trip. A London family driving to Detroit for a Tigers game and flying home from Windsor on a Sunday evening, a London executive with a Toronto meeting downtown and a Porter flight to Ottawa from the island afterward, a Sarnia-side traveller for whom Windsor's Toronto flights are an hour closer than YXU's - the Windsor page and the Billy Bishop page describe each, and the desk brings them up when the trip fits. The Detroit destination page covers the game and the Toronto page the meeting.

The seasons, and which airport each favours

Winter: YXU and Waterloo for the sun flights, Pearson for Europe and Asia, and the 401 driven with the winter rules. Spring: Pearson for the convocation families flying in, YXU for the students flying home. Summer: Pearson for Europe, Billy Bishop for the east-coast trips, Detroit and Buffalo for the US road-trip flights. Autumn: YXU via Toronto for the business trips, Hamilton for the charters south. The events page has the year the airports follow, and the airport limo page the rules that apply to all of them.

A note on the border airports and the return

A London traveller landing at Detroit or Buffalo on the way home crosses back into Canada in the car, declares to the CBSA officer at the booth from the rear seat, and is home in London two and a half to three hours after the hall; the chauffeur handles the vehicle's documents and the passengers their own, as the cross-border page explains.

Book a run to the right airport