Heathrow Express 90 day advance ticket pricing

I have a question for all of you Londoners. I am returning to Southampton from a cruise in August. It will be on a Saturday. I have a private car picking us up at the port early in the morning and taking us to our LHR hotel. I have an early flight out on Sunday morning so I booked a hotel at LHR.

I will have an entire day to spend in London. I was thinking of taking the Heathrow Express into and back from London. I went to look at the price to purchase a 90 day advance ticket and found that I could purchase a ticket out of LHR into London for 5.50 GBP or $7.00. Then I looked at the return train and it is 37.00 GBP or $49.80. Could this possible be right? Am I looking at it wrong? No 15 minute train ride could ever be $49.80. If this could possible be right, could I just purchase a one way ticket out of LHR for 5.50 GBP and then take the slower local train back from London to LHR?

I have been to London before and was planning on taking the Hop On Bus around and just getting off at different places and walking around.

I hope you will tell me I am looking at the ticketing for the Heathrow Express all wrong.

Thank you.

Yes, you're looking at the ticketing all wrong.:p

I just dialled in Heathrow to Paddington on a random August Saturday. £5.50 in the basket

I then added Paddington to Heathrow, same date. Another £5.50

Basket total £11.00

£37 is the on-line "saver" for travel within 14 days. You want the "advanced express saver "

Best that you try again, being careful about the date.

BTW, since you'll not be burdened by luggage, for about the same money you can travel by tube instead of the HEX. Takes about 40 minutes to central London compared to 15 minutes by HEX, but means you're not tied to Paddington. To and from Heathrow you have a choice of a couple of dozen or more central London tube stations. And no need to commit months in advance to get that price.

JB :)

Hi John,

Thank you such a quick reply. I now see where I was going wrong. I was looking at where it said return and got that price. Now I realize that I had to put in Paddington to LHR. I couldn't believe that there was such a difference in pricing.

I have been reading a lot of London posts and your information has been so helpful. I have booked one of the private car companies, Smith for Airports, that you recommend for my transfer to and from Southampton. So far they have been excellent to deal with and responded to my emails almost immediately. Thank you for their recommendation.

I really just want to take the Hop on Bus around London this time. I remember the last time I was in London and took the tube, the Hop on Bus was right outside of the tube so when we got off the tube we just went right on the bus. I can't remember what tube stop we were at. Where would the easiest place to get off of the tube and onto the bus? Is there a stop near the Paddington train stop?

Thanks again for all of your very useful information.

Karen

Both The Big Bus and Golden Tours HoHo buses pass Paddington. Choose your route and buy tickets in advance for a discount.

https://www.bigbustours.com/en/london/find-a-bus-stop-london/

https://www.goldentours.com/userfiles/file/hoho-map-from-1st-oct-2016.pdf

No 15 minute train ride could ever be $49.80.

However, it is possible that the Tube may well provide the absolute winner in that mile-for-mile competition: paying a cash single fare for Leicester Square to Covent Garden, or Embankment to Charing Cross (on the Northern Line) might beat every other contender.

Thanks everybody for the quick replies. Cruise Critic posters are the best!!!

Where would the easiest place to get off of the tube and onto the bus? Is there a stop near the Paddington train stop?Thanks again for all of your very useful information.

 

Karen

Hi again, Karen,

One of the Big Bus routes calls at Paddington station, but not London Original

https://d12dkjq56sjcos.cloudfront.net/pub/media/wysiwyg/bbtpdf/London%20Map%20August%202016.pdf

https://www.theoriginaltour.com/media/2098/original-tour-map-from-30th-dec-hr.pdf

I'd be inclined to avoid Golden's hop-on.

They're a reputable and long-established tour bus operator, but they're new boys in the ho-ho business and their service and frequency don't match the other two.

Best places on the direct tube train (Piccadilly line) to pick up a ho-ho are probably Hyde Park Corner or Green Park or best IMHO is Piccadilly Circus. A 5 minute walk to the sales & information kiosk & start point of the Original yellow route (live commentary, English only) on the corner of Coventry Street & Whitcomb Street

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5104283,-0.1314318,3a,37.5y,293.16h,88.93t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sDUEcdWqdBdyEmVsCRlRgSA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!9m2!1b1!2i40!6m1!1e1

JB :)

HEX has gotten really expensive. For my most recent trip, I used a shared transfer service from LHR into London and it was only $23 for door-to-door service unlike HEX. Still, having done the HEX, it can be REALLY crowded at times and there's not much room for luggage either (for those of you reading that may have luggage - be warned and use it during off peak times if possible).

OP-Buying the tube pass is the most economical way of getting into, and out of, London. Also, be aware that commuters rely heavily on the tube early in the morning and in the evening from about 3:00-6:30pm. It can get really jam-packed on some of the more popular routes. If you have claustrophobia, I would really avoid riding the tube during these times. At one point the last time I was in London, it was literally wall-to-wall people just trying to exit the tube station. You couldn't move more than about an inch at a time. I kept thinking how unsafe that whole situation was.

Just be warned that The Big Bus (one I've used before) doesn't let you just hop on at any point to start. You have to go to specific locations and they aren't always convenient. Once you've started the tour, you can get on and off wherever they stop. It's the starting part that is specific so make sure you read about that.

Wow, "Drives like Mario", you have really given me something to think about. I just might have to think about doing something different for the day. We have stayed in the Windsor area so I don't want to go back there again. Maybe we might just go to Hampton Court and look around there.

That's why I love Cruise Critic. All the posters give you their personal opinion and experience and it helps so much for people not familiar with the area options. Thank you all of you who have given me your thoughts.

Karen

I did Hampton Court last time and it was really, really worth the visit. Make SURE you watch the re-enactment of Thomas Culpepper with Henry VIII. My 23 yr. old son was surprisingly enthralled. I think it starts at about noon. Without that, it wouldn't have made such an impression on me. Allow at least a couple hours to visit. You take the train there from London and it's a short ride (in Zone 6 if you have a tube pass). Once there at the station, it's about a 1/2 mile walk. IMO, it is WAY better than Windsor!! Here's some more info.:

http://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/visit-us/getting-here/#gs.PRty6Cg

I will be at our LHR hotel. How do you get to Hampton Court from there?

HEX has gotten really expensive. For my most recent trip, I used a shared transfer service from LHR into London and it was only $23 for door-to-door service unlike HEX. Still, having done the HEX, it can be REALLY crowded at times and there's not much room for luggage either (for those of you reading that may have luggage - be warned and use it during off peak times if possible).

I use the Heathrow Express on a pretty frequent, if irregular, basis and honestly can only remember one journey when it was crowded. And there are large luggage racks in the carriages. I wonder if your experience was during a period of disruption, or even when they were using the Heathrow Connect rolling stock because of faults discovered in the Express trains design.

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I will be at our LHR hotel. How do you get to Hampton Court from there?

From the airport itself you would take the tube to Hounslow East and catch a 111 bus to the Palace. Will take an hour or so, plus however long it takes you to get from you "LHR hotel" to the airport.

Transport for London has an excellent journey planner at TfL.gov.uk - be sure to use Hampton Court Palace as your destination, not just Hampton Court. There may be a better bus option from your hotel, depending where it is.

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From the airport itself you would take the tube to Hounslow East and catch a 111 bus to the Palace. Will take an hour or so, plus however long it takes you to get from you "LHR hotel" to the airport.

Or 20 minutes in a taxi.

Any idea how much a taxi would cost? Depending on cost, that would be my preferred way to get there.

https://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=London

Try this website. From Paddington, it would be about 64.81GBP IF traffic isn't too heavy. Train fare is a heck of a lot cheaper. What might work better for you is a half day car & driver hire. We used Ray with https://www.london-transfers.com/ for a half-day tour. We choose where we wanted to go and how long we wanted to spend there. We also used him for our airport transfers too.

Bob, what is customary for taxi tips? The last couple times I've been there, I haven't used them but plan to do so this time as it will be just slightly more than buying a tube pass for a short amount of time.

Any idea how much a taxi would cost? Depending on cost, that would be my preferred way to get there.

DLMario's figure is from Paddington.

From Heathrow or a nearby hotel to Hampton Court Palace, about £20 one-way though it does depend which terminal or hotel. (and do check out the actual location of "Heathrow hotels" - some are miles away).

Next door to the Palace is Hampton Court rail station. And by rail from Waterloo is the simplest & cheapest transport from central London - but not from Heathrow area.

JB :)

How much I tip taxi drivers depends entirely on how helpful they are. On a recent trip to my local airport, the driver didn't even get out of his car to knock the door. He did open the boot so I could put the cases in (only two small ones but...) and the same at the airport. He got £0.

If he had been more obliging he would have got the fare rounded up to the nearest £5 This would be a little less than 10%. I would see 10% as the maximum for a simple door to door ride, with maybe more with a lot of luggage and a helpful driver.

Thanks, Bob, that helps. I don't want to be an uncouth American by over-tipping. :D

The train station at Hampton Court isn't right next to Hampton Court, just so you know. I thought that too until I actually took it. You have to walk about 1/2 mile to the entrance of the castle itself. You go out of the train station, across the street, over the Thames bridge, go about 200' or so, enter the complex of Hampton Court, then there's a long drive or "promenade" (for lack of the proper word) to the castle entrance.

Buying your ticket online ahead of time is best. Even if you do that, you have to make a stop at the second big side building on your left as you're walking up the promenade to the castle to get a "real" ticket for your printed one from home. This was as of Nov. 2015, so unless it's changed, just remember to stop and get your ticket exchanged so you don't have to back-track like we did. :rolleyes:

Of course, the other option, if you want to visit London... is to stay in London. I have long contended that the hotels adjacent to Paddington station are just as convenient to LHR, if not more, than any Heathrow-area hotel. Travel up to London, stay at the Hilton Paddington or nearby (there's another hotel just the other side of the street from the station entrance IIRC), then travel to LHR by the HEX that morning. The first train out of Paddington is at 5:10 am, so unless your flight is before 7:30, you should have plenty of time.

Of course, the other option, if you want to visit London... is to stay in London. I have long contended that the hotels adjacent to Paddington station are just as convenient to LHR, if not more, than any Heathrow-area hotel. Travel up to London, stay at the Hilton Paddington or nearby (there's another hotel just the other side of the street from the station entrance IIRC), then travel to LHR by the HEX that morning. The first train out of Paddington is at 5:10 am, so unless your flight is before 7:30, you should have plenty of time.

Good advice. That's exactly what I did when I had to rely on the HEX. Worked out well.

Bob, what is customary for taxi tips? The last couple times I've been there, I haven't used them but plan to do so this time as it will be just slightly more than buying a tube pass for a short amount of time.