Direct flights from Birmingham to Berlin
There has been no direct service between Birmingham and Berlin since the demise of BA Connect. It might seem like a logical choice to link Britain's second city with Germany's capital, but business links have always been much stronger between Birmingham and major cities in Western Germany. However, Ryanair do offer daily cheap flights to Berlin Schönefeld from East Midlands airport.
Connecting flights to Berlin from Birmingham
Theoretically, there are virtually endless options for flight connections between Birmingham and Berlin, as there are so many German cities you can travel through in addition to Paris, Amsterdam, or even Zürich. You will often find that flight connections might involve a mix of different airports, for example Lufthansa might offer you outbound flights via Düsseldorf and return flights via Frankfurt, and they might also offer you flights where one leg is operated by Swiss, who are one of their subsidiary airlines. Note that if you're offered flights branded as Bmi, these will almost certainly be operated by Lufthansa. Air France and KLM may also offer you outbound flights via Paris return via Amsterdam, or vice versa.
February 2009 price sample on Birmingham to Berlin flights
We searched for Berlin flights from Birmingham using various online travel agents. The dates of travel picked at random were for one-week trips leaving Birmingham on April 16 and August 13. All prices are per person and include taxes and charges.
All flights operate to Berlin Tegel airport (TXL), unless otherwise stated.
April
No Ryanair flights were available on the sample dates, but flights from East Midlands to Berlin Schönefeld (SXF) were available one day before for £43 return*.
August
Result -- when it comes to value, there's not much we can say to defend taking flights from Birmingham, when Ryanair's flights from East Midlands are so much cheaper, but time conscious travellers might take a different view. Generally, we always suggest taking a direct flight rather than having to make a connection, but if you want a decent airport environment and a pleasant on-board atmosphere to work in, then any of the connecting options above have to be leaps and bounds ahead of either going up to East Midlands and enduring the Ryanair experience, or travelling down the M40 to Heathrow. We're not here to suggest that value conscious travellers should spend any more than they need to, we can at least say that we've experienced all of the above mentioned airports, and Zürich and Munich are two of our favourites. But, if like most people, you are not airport geeks and just want to get to Berlin, and to do so at a reasonable price, then Ryanair are still the best deal here. If Ryanair started cheap flights from Birmingham to Berlin, then we're sure they'd be onto a winner.
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