Is it worthwhile to buy advance train tickets from Heathrow into Paddington Station London in case your overseas flight is delayed? Advanced seems like it would save the trouble of trying to buy tickets in an already confusing airport and if we allow an hour (not checking bags) it might work out. Can advance tickets be refunded if the flight is late?
Also is it worthwhile to have both an Oyster Card and a "two together" or "senior" railcard while in London?
Thank you
Jenny
Maryland USA
if you are talking about the Heathrow Express then yes. They are generally cheaper in advance and can be used on ANY train that day so a delay would not matter
Discount tickets on the Heathrow Express, which you have to buy months in advance are 15 GBP. The Elizabeth line, which runs on the same tracks as the Heathrow Express, and take a few minutes longer, cost 12.80 anytime. You don't have to buy these in advance.
The "two together" rail card cannot be used on London transport (tube, buses, dlr). These are for trains. (While lots of people call the underground "trains" they are not the same.)
The senior discount can be added to an Oyster Card. It can't be used on its own. You geet 1/3 off on off-peak travel. Off-peak fares apply between 09:30 and 16:00 and after 19:00 on weekdays, and during weekends and bank holidays.
Depends where you are staying, if you will be staying near Paddington, then yes, you save money by buying ahead for the Heathrow Express, but the Heathrow express is much more expensive (looks like 15 GBP ahead, 25 GBP if you wait.
You can also take the Elizabeth line into Paddington in about the same time cheaper and just use your credit card or phone to tap in and out, no buying ahead.
The advantage of the Elizabeth line is that it extends into the city, so there may be a stop closer to your lodging.
For within London the "two together" or a railcard is not needed, the underground is all you need. Again using your credit card or phone with contactless is easier and cheaper than paying for an Oyster card, then having to load it, manage it, and potentially seek a refund for any unused amount.
The Early Bird £15 tickets on HEX are for a specified date but not any particular time; it is good for any train on that date. They are limited and do sell out. And are non-refundable (unless there is a strike or service is otherwise canceled that day).
I have found them already sold out for some May dates but not June.
A Two Together card will only give you a discount on a full fare HEX ticket ( £25), not on the discount fare.
https://www.heathrowexpress.com/tickets-and-offers/railcards#/
Also, a Two together card does not give you a discount on London transport services such as the Tube, bus, or Uber boats. It is for travel on National Rail trains.
https://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/
The Oyster Card is a payment card for the London transport system, not a discount card. But you can just use your credit card to tap and pay if it is enabled for contactless payment, so you do not need to buy a separate Oyster card
Do you need to go to Paddington or are you going somewhere after that?
If you tell us where you are actually going in London, we might be able to tell you a better way to get there than what has so far been written.
Also bear in mind that the Elizabeth line fare can be used against your daily cap for transport, unlike the HEX. So, if you plan any other journeys on arrival day you won’t pay much more in total.
I understand that the Two Together Railcard can be used against Elizabeth Line services, but I don't remember from the ticket machine how that works. The Elizabeth Line is considered a train line not a tube line.
More about our destination. We are flying in to Heathrow and immediately headed to Oxford for a few days, Cotswolds 3 days, Bath 3 days, Salisbury, Brighton 3 days, Canterbury, London 4 nights and back to the US. We are renting a car when we leave Oxford and we will have it until we get to Canterbury and turn it in and head on to London for several days. I am a bit fearful of Heathrow and figuring out trains. I think we will be tired when we arrive and I'd like to have all that worked out for our trip to Oxford in advance. Thank you kindly for any advice. Jenny
The easiest way to get from Heathrow to Oxford is National Express bus. Straight there, no changes, unlike the train.
If you are then going to have a car until Canterbury then there will only be one train journey Canterbury to London. So no point in any railcard.
No point in any Oyster cards either assuming you have contactless cards or phone or smart watch pay.
If going to Oxford from Heathrow, the bus is the better, and easier option. It's about a 90 minute journey
I believe the Oxford Bus Company actually operates the service. It runs every 20 minutes and is called "The Airline." You can buy the ticket from them or from National Express
No need to go to Paddington or into London.
If you buy through National Express take careful note of what journey you have booked as National Express do run some journeys themselves on this route. So you need to know whether you are looking for one of their own white buses (which will have a destination of Wolverhampton, Birmingham or Liverpool- not that your ticket will tell you that) or one of the Blue Oxford Bus Company route-branded buses which do run to Oxford only.
On the National Express booking system you can tell them apart as the OBC journeys are always £25, the National Express journeys are always a different (variable but normally lower) fare.
That advice to book through anyone other than the Oxford Bus Company is just a way to confuse a jet lagged mind, a classic example of why not to book through a third party.
Book through the Oxford Bus Company on this link- https://www.theairlineoxford.co.uk/ to keep things simple
The only things I would add to the above is:
Check whether where you are staying to see if an intermediate stop might be better than going right through to Gloucester Green coach station.
Advanced booked tickets from Heathrow are valid for 24 hours either side of the booked time, without the seat guarantee. The number of seats reserved on any service is a little under half at most so there are in general seats available for walk-ups although no guarantee about this either.
Thank you to everyone, this is so incredibly helpful. I feel like you are saving us a great deal of time figuring this out.
The options for Heathrow locations to catch the bus are below. Is any one better than the others based on coming in from an international flight?
Heathrow Airport, Central Bus Station
Heathrow Airport, Compass Centre
Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5
Stand 10
The Compass Centre will be no use to you, as that is a British Airways office building.
If you are arriving into Terminal 5 use that stop- any other terminal use the Central Bus Station. That facility is between Terminals 2 and 3 with easy access to both.
From Terminal 4 use the free tube Line to Heathrow Central (tap in and out with your credit card) but no charge; or the Elizabeth Line (get a free ticket from the special free ticket machine which is very prominent).
At Central Bus Station there is a good waiting room with information screens, and free restrooms.
Which terminal are you flying into? If you're not sure, tell us the airline and if British Airways where your flight arrives from.
Then we can tell you the nearest place to catch the bus.
Just telling us "an international flight" doesn't work as there are four terminals at Heathrow all of which have "international" flights.
That advice to book through anyone other than the Oxford Bus Company is just a way to confuse a jet lagged mind, a classic example of why not to book through a third party.
Unless you choose to take a coach operated by National Express then you are not booking through a third party.
I would take the "Airliner" and book thorugh them but I wanted to give you all your options.
I don't have a need to make snide remarks.
And I really don't think you need to prebook the coach to Oxford. I've used that service many times and I've always just bought the ticket from the driver and that was never a problem, at least not before the pandemic.
Our British Air flight comes in to Terminal 5. It looks like we can catch an underground or Eliz line or HEX free of charge from Terminal 5 to Central Bus Station where we can get the Oxford Bus Co Blue bus to Oxford.
Why don't you just get the coach to Oxford at Terminal 5? It's at Stand 10 which is just outside the terminal. No need to go anywhere else.
Sorry to be dense, what is a coach? Bus, Train, underground...?
A coach is what we call a bus. The difference is in the UK a bus is what you take within a city or town. A coach is an intercity type bus....more comfortable, etc.
The Oxford bound "bus" is a coach.
You can get the Oxford Airlne bus/coach right outside Terminal 5. No need to go to the central bus station.
Yesterday I bought two adult round-trip tickets for August on the Heathrow Express. Our Two-for'One railcard brought the price down from £60 to £39.46, so it does work on the cheapest tickets.
(I know there are cheaper methods, but we like the daytime flight from Boston which arrives at midnight our time and just want the easiest, fastest way to get to our hotel near Paddington.)
That is good to know. My comment above was based on the language right on the hex website:
Two Together Railcard
The following discounts apply on full-fare Express Saver and Business First tickets:
Adults 34% off
The two named adults on the card must be travelling together in order to receive 1/3 off when they travel >together by train.Discount is available on Heathrow Express after 09:30 Monday- Fridays and at any time on weekends and >public holidays.
I Just assumed they meant “only” on full fare Express Saver tickets. But you know what they say about the word “assume”. . . .
