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Heathrow Express Early Bird Single Rate

I was replying to a thread that was deleted before I submitted However the information may be useful to others so here it is.

The "Early Bird Discounted Single" rate of £5.50 is only available from the Heathrow Express site and these are valid through the whole day you book for.

However this needs to be booked WAY in advance.

Posted by
443 posts

Or more. I bought our tickets for late June and late July at the beginning of February.

Posted by
17567 posts

Thank you, Marco. I too was writing a response to that question when it disappeared. I wanted people to know that the £5.50 advance tickets are good for a whole day; no specific time is needed. And they can only be bought from the official website, as you said as well.

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/#/

Posted by
8212 posts

The original, now deleted thread, just received negative thoughts, rather than answering the question posed. For those who missed it the question was about the Trainline offering the cheap ticket only on certain trains in the day.
And that really illustrated the perils of using a 3rd party website to buy your train tickets (any 3rd party consolidator, not specifically Trainline), as I too have encountered fares being offered by such websites that don't exist.
Whatever you see as the merits or otherwise of HEX (and I am on the record of not being in favour of them) the facts of the matter are -
1. That fare, if found for the day of travel, is valid on any departure of the day. If the original thread was correct then Trainline were mis-representing the facts, and selling a ticket they are not entitled to sell.
2. In the peak periods and with this fare HEX can be the cheapest way into London (especially with a National Railcard), even after the enforced change at Paddington, onto the underground network.
3. Many people on this forum like to buy their train tickets on longer lead times than locals do. If they can buy this fare at the same time as their plane ticket let us respect their choice.

Posted by
443 posts

I bought our tickets so early because of a thread where the traveler had waited until 90 days before they wanted to travel and were unable to get the least expensive tickets. Our tickets cost less than £5 each with our railcard, but even though the tickets say they're good for all trains, I'm assuming we cannot travel before 9:30 a.m. since I used a 2 Together card and early travel is one of the restrictions of the card. If anyone knows that the HEX is an exception to that rule, I'd love to know.

Posted by
8212 posts

The normal time restrictions apply to the 2T railcard, but other railcards have no time restriction-

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.

It is interesting that you have been lucky. Reading that wording and a test booking the reduction is no longer given on the 90 day, 30 day and 14 day Advanced Express Saver tickets, only on the full fare tickets.
So a 'Peak and Off Peak Express' fare comes down to £14.10 Single/£24.40 return and a Business First to £19.10 Single/£34.90 return.
There are also Carnets of 6 and 12 return tickets to bring the cost down further.

Posted by
443 posts

Well I hope it's luck and not a mistake. I bought them after you commented on the discount in the other thread. Worst comes to worst, it's the Piccadilly Line for us.

Posted by
17567 posts

Why is anyone still using the HEX?

Because I suffer from mile claustrophobia and cannot tolerate the Tube. I am miserable riding it. And since we plan our trips a year in advance, it is no problem to get the cheap HEX tix—-I now buy them 5 months ahead. It makes arrival at Heathrow and the trip into London a pleasure rather than an ordeal.

My attitude was reinforced when we arrived in London last September, after a long-delayed flight from Venice that caused us to miss lunch (there was no food or water on the flight). It was a day when the HEX was out of service, along with the Elizabeth line, due to a fire somewhere. So we had to take the Piccadilly line. We boarded early enough to get seats, but by the 3d stop the car was so crowded with people standing in the aisle that it was difficult for anyone to move to the exits to get off the train.

We had been advised to change at Hammersmith to the District Line but that one does not go to Paddington. Looking at a tube map now it appears we might have caught the Circle line, but either it was not running that day ( it was the day of the Queen’s funeral and some services were limited) or there were no maps on the platforms to help us. Or maybe we were just so tired, hungry, and thirsty we made the wrong choice. But we boarded the next Piccadilly train, barely managing to squeeze into one car, and rode to Earl’s Court to change.
The journey took us an hour and a half instead of the HEX 20 minutes. But we did get a prompt refund of what we paid for the HEX tix.

So yes, we still use the HEX and will continue to do so.

Posted by
96 posts

Do the £5.50 fares sale out? Would there be a reason why the early bird discounted single rate would be £16.50 instead of £5.50 for a date that is greater than 90 days away? That’s what I’m getting for end of August.

Posted by
17567 posts

Yes, the lowest fares do sell out. That is why I book them 5 months in advance. I have seen that they can be unavailable 90 days out. But keep checking—-once Insaw them release more low fare tickets later.

Posted by
332 posts

Because I suffer from mile claustrophobia and cannot tolerate the Tube

Elizabeth Line isn’t the tube, is overground to Paddington and there is more space on the train than tube or HEX.

Posted by
332 posts

yes, we still use the HEX and will continue to do so.

Until it goes out of business.

Posted by
8212 posts

Stroudy 60 has not read Lola's post and certainly shows no sympathy with her.
From the sound of it she would have taken the Elizabeth Line had it been working, but it wasn't due to the lineside fire.
The question of whether it is a "tube" is one of pedantry- something this forum is very good at. It runs underground in the Central Core Section. Maybe for all I know Lola with her specific condition can cope with the larger, more open, cars better than those of the underground. And crush loading would be very unusual on the Elizabeth Line.
The load factors looks to have been the real problem for Lola that day. Enormous sympathy from me at least.
I personally won't use the Elizabeth Line all the way to Heathrow, changing instead to bus at Hayes etc, because I object to the premium fare to the Airport. But such premium fares are common round the world. That is my choice, I'm not imposing that on others, equally I don't need to be judged for my choice, especially if I choose one of the more "exotic" rail/bus routes to the airport like Ruislip, Uxbridge or Harrow- all of which are good in their own ways. I take those routes from knowledge and just the wish to change scenery.
There are equally good reasons why others may just prefer the HEX, and they should not be having to explain them here- especially with luggage, and/or jetlagged. By now everyone knows the various available routes, leave it to people's personal preferences and needs as to which they choose. There is no "right" or "wrong".
A little more thought, a little more care, a little less judgement would go a long way.

Posted by
53 posts

Thank you for your thoughtful reply isn31c. It's human nature to mistake "right for me" to be "right for everyone". There's a very personal line between frugal and cheap, and folks shouldn't be attacked for how they choose to navigate that. I like how you say, "A little more thought, a little more care, a little less judgement would go a long way."

Posted by
5468 posts

We had been advised to change at Hammersmith to the District Line but that one does not go to Paddington.

The reason you would have been advised to change at Hammersmith (or for that matter Barons Court) onto the District is so that your subsequent change at Earls Court is another level cross platform change (for that matter it may even turn out to be the same platform)., rather than having to change level.

There are actually a few services that do go directly from Hammersmith to Edgware Road early in the morning, this is for operational reasons for stock originating from Ealing Common. Although I don't think this was the reason for the advice.

The Heathrow Express revenue is only two-thirds what it was in 2019 according to reports, despite Heathrow now being back to the same level of passengers.

Posted by
17567 posts

Yes, thank you to isn31c for understanding. We would have taken the Elizabeth Line that day, had it been running, but it was affected by the same vault fire as the HEX. It was a bad luck day for us all around.

I am happy to hear the Elizabeth Line has larger, more open cars than the Piccadilly Line. We will be taking it on our next trip, in September, as we have booked an apartment at Broken Wharf, near the north end of Millennium Bridge. We will take the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon Station, and walk or catch a black cab from there.

Posted by
82 posts

I tried buying the early bird ticket for 5.50 pounds yesterday for early August, but apparently they have already sold out!

Posted by
1244 posts

isn31c - it maybe that crushing is not an issue on the Elizabeth line from LHR to Paddington - I have as yet not travelled that bit.
But it certainly is not the case in the central core and heading out east, which I guess visitors should be aware of. We regularly commute from Euston to Stratford via Tottenham Court Road and the Elizabeth line and we are lucky to get seats and on one occasion a few weeks ago, almost couldn’t get on.