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Making sense of Heathrow Express and just making sense

Posted by (Gulf Coast, usa) on

Forgive me if this is redundant- but rather than resurrect another post, situations have changed so here we go with new scenarios -

We are spending one day and night in London. Originally a friend and I were flying from Paris to London arriving at 8:30 am on a Friday, checking in to an airport hotel, then taking the Express in to London, then the bus or Hoppa to Terminal 2 the following morning (Saturday) for a 9 am flight.

Now my son is going to join us for the tail end of our journey and meet us in Paris for one night before we head to London. Last minute airfare for him (we bought very discounted fares early on) is quite high. I looked at the Eurostar and three of us could travel cheaper than his one last minute ticket. So the plan is to either bite the bullet and put him on the same flight as us so we all arrive together (we have 1:15 Buckingham tour that day) or take Eurostar. If we take Eurostar we could get a locker, leave our luggage at station, do London, then late afternoon either take a private car or the Express to Heathrow then I guess a bus to the hotel. Yes, I know all about Picadilly - done it enough times to know I really don't want to spend up to an hour getting there. The other alternative is to take a hotel room for the night near Paddington, then Express it in to Heathrow in the morning on the first train for the 9:00 am flight. I was just reading and saw that the Express is quite the hike from the station to Terminal 2.

If this doesn't make your head spin, I don't know what will. Mine certainly is. Any easy suggestions to make our last night on our trip painless, easy and fun with out a lot of hassle?

Posted by
16353 posts

My head is indeed spinning so I just have some random thoughts:

Immigration/passport control on arrival at Heathrow can mean long lines, maybe an hour or so. By contrast, with the Eurostar you go through while checking in for your train. Maybe we were lucky. . . But there was no line at all. And then we arrived IN downtown London, at St. Pancras, with no long ( tube) or expensive ( HEx) trip into London.

However. . . There are no lockers at the London train stations (you can probably figure out why). There is left luggage storage for £6 per bag for a few hours, more for longer. They screen the luggage to ensure safety.

Why not book a hotel in London, drop your luggage,,enjoy London, and then take a car service to the Airport in the morning? I am saying this without knowing what early morning traffic is like going OUT of London. The locals can advise you on that----and maybe suggest an area with good access to a fast route out of the city. There are road works that clog traffic in some areas so you need to avoid those---and I am not sure where they are in the Kings Cross/ St. Pancras area.

I totally understand your feelings about the tube to the airport---we do not use it either. But three last-minute tix on the HEx might not be much less than the car.

Posted by
16893 posts

Are you traveling on Friday, August 26? Through www.skyscanner.com, I see 7:30 a.m. flights on both British Airways and Air France between CDG and LHR for $125. I really doubt your ability to buy 3 Eurostar tickets for that price this close to departure (but didn't check).

Posted by
1161 posts

Lola, good point about immigration - didn't even think of that when I booked our two tickets to Heathrow from Orly for around $50. The flying and taking a car to London and staying in London then car back to Heathrow sounded like a good plan - until immigration was mentioned - Ug

Laura - as of a little while ago I could get three tickets on Eurostar for $195 - of maybe exaggerated a tad on cost - but we are flying in to Orly, and for him to be on the same flight British Air is now charging $160 for the one way flight. There are other cheaper fares, but he would have to leave a bit later arriving around 11 ish (we get in at 8:30 and planned to head out asap) or fly from CDG on a cheaper fare getting in a tad earlier than us - but then that requires another cab fare to CDG leaving Paris instead of us all travelling together.

Guess this is what happens when you think you have it figured out and a third person joins in!

Posted by
3779 posts

"for him to be on the same flight British Air is now charging $160 for the one way flight."

I would choose this. I would just bite the bullet, pay the $160, and everyone is set to travel together. It's going to mess everything up to try to re-route everyone just to save a few dollars.

It's just one of those things that happens with travel. Unexpected detours, or extra expenses. When my husband and I were in England this past May for three weeks, there were a couple of times we had to make changes to our itinerary. This cost extra money we weren't counting on. But....these things made the trip easier and more enjoyable. When making the decision to spend more money or choose more hassle, we chose "spend a little more money".

I would go with your original plan.

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