London travel - Oyster Card or Travelcard

It depends what day you arrive. The PAYG Oyster card has a weekly cap, but it only applies for a Monday-Sunday calendar week. If you are arriving later in the week, a seven-day Travelcard will be cheaper.

Phillip, will be arriving on a Friday morning and leaving on the following Friday morning.

I see from another post there are three adults traveling. The paper 7-dat Travelcard has the advantage of providing access to 2-4-1 offers for many London attractions. We used them for Kew Gardens, the Churchill War Rooms, HMS Belfast, Courtauld Museum, and others. Of course one of the three will still have to pay full, but perhaps you could rotate using the offers.

Travelcard 2 for 1's:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g186338-c195600/London:United-Kingdom:2.4.1.Travelcards.Step.By.Step.html

More info:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g186338-c133479/London:United-Kingdom:Paper.And.Oyster.Travelcards.2.4.1.Offers.html

The information in the first tripadvisor article suggesting the use of 'decoy' tickets it outdated as attractions now have the right to refuse a discount for tickets that clearly have been bought in that manner (cheap tickets for two close-by stations within London not used for travel to the attraction). You might get away with this deception, then again you might not.

We used the Oyster Card when we went to London 3 years ago. It was so easy & convenient. Have a great trip!

"The information in the first tripadvisor article suggesting the use of 'decoy' tickets it outdated as attractions now have the right to refuse a discount for tickets that clearly have been bought in that manner (cheap tickets for two close-by stations within London not used for travel to the attraction). You might get away with this deception, then again you might not."

As yet there haven't been any reports of "decoy tickets" being refused but I suspect as it gets more well known that may change.

It is though clearly now in the terms and conditions of the product so when the trigger is pulled on it there need not be any warning. These would not have been put there is abuse of the offer had not been considered.

They aren't difficult to identify. The only ones that could be caught out are those legitimately travelling say from Battersea Park to Victoria or Queenstown Road to Waterloo.

With a 7-day Travelcard there is no need to try the "decoy ticket" ploy.

We did use regular train tickets for the 2-4-1 offer at Kew Gardens, but it was not a decoy ticket. We rode the train from Waterloo Station to Richmond to get there. Our return ticket back to London was good for another 2-4-1 admission that same day.

Note that if using rail tickets rather than a Travelcard, you must retain the ticket after exiting the station. The regular turnstiles will eat a one-way ticket, so go through the manned gate and ask to retain the ticket.