Oyster Card - daily cap - purchase location

The Gatwick express is separate ticket. You can not use an oyster card to ride it.

Most Tube stations in the London area sell Oysters through the ticket machines.

There is a train from Gatwick that you can use your Oyster on, it is not the Express. The non Express is covered under the cap. The Express is totally separate ticket and not part of what you can do with an Oyster.

To get a child Oyster if you don't live in London requires submitting the application online and has a £15 to £20 fee in addition to the other Oyster costs. It is not refundable.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/11-15-zip-oyster-photocard

also one for your older children:

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/16-plus-zip-oyster-photocard

and don't worry about the opening time of th visitor center. It will probably take that long from arrival to get through everything anyway (getting off the plane, making it to immigration, collecting luggage, and so on).

Thank you both. I just could not find the info regarding the daily cap and the Gatwick Express. And I obviously missed the very high application fee for the child oyster; adult oyster for everyone then. So, for the 4 of us it will cost us £45 from Gatwick to Essex. The question is, am I willing to pay £30 to £50 more for an uber? I know, I know, by the time we get out of the airport I will probably give blood for a quick ride.

The Oyster fare from Gatwick to mid London is only £8.30 off peak so 4 times that is £33.20.

The cap price is for ALL your rides in a day, it does not mean you will be charged that much any day if you don't ride that much.

Also, is one Uber going to be large enough for 4 people and all of their luggage? I have not used Uber that much, so I don't know if you can request a larger vehicle. Seems you would need a van.

Another thing to consider is if you have credit cards with the contactless capability (ones you wave at the terminal and not have to insert for the chip or slide for the magstripe) and you have enough for each person to have one (4), those will work in place of the Oyster and give you the same daily cap. Nothing extra to purchase or worry about refunding.

You can ask for the Young Visitor Discount to be applied to your 15yo card. It lets them travel for 1/2 price for up to 2 weeks. A TfL attendant can do this.

I will be going from Heathrow airport to London via the Tube to South Kensington station. Can I purchase the Oyster Card at the airport station before I get on the Tube there?

Thank you. I am not going until May but want to get my ducks-in-a-row.

Another thing to consider is if you have credit cards with the contactless capability (ones you wave at the terminal and not have to insert for the chip or slide for the magstripe) and you have enough for each person to have one (4), those will work in place of the Oyster and give you the same daily cap. Nothing extra to purchase or worry about refunding.

I can't imagine who has four separate contactless cards, but given the delay in swiping in (and out!) this way each time, I would find this to be way more of a hassle than purchasing and using four Oyster cards.

The Gatwick express is separate ticket. You can not use an oyster card to ride it.

Oyster Card (or contactless) has been accepted to travel on the Gatwick Express for two years now. It isn't in Zone 6 though and might have little advantage.

I can't imagine who has four separate contactless cards,

I have 8. There is very little additional delay over using an Oyster Card (although there is with Apple/Google/Whoever mobile pay). However, you can't add young people discounts apart from on Oyster.

"Also, is one Uber going to be large enough for 4 people and all of their luggage? I have not used Uber that much, so I don't know if you can request a larger vehicle. Seems you would need a van."

Thank you, Mark. But even though I will be traveling with my wife and two daughters. I've made them watch Rick's "Pack light" videos. We will traveling with 3 convertible carry-on backpacks (small 22x14x9 - from Rick's Headquarters here in Seattle) and a couple of his small carry on bags (smaller than backpacks). No luggage will be checked in. Any European sedan serving an airport should be able to accommodate us (and we are small people too).

It's a long, slow drive from Gatwick to central London. My recommendation is the Gatwick Express and then buy OysterCards once you reach London. I was in London for the first time in September and because we were nervous about finding our way to our apartment in Covent Garden, we hired a car for 75 pounds that took us directly to our place. The drive took about 90 minutes. Convenient, but slow. Knowing what I do now, I'd take the train.

Gatwick Express goes nowhere near Romford. I'd recommend train to London Bridge, tube to Stratford, train to Romford. Taxi/uber from London Bridge if you cannot cope with the train transfers.

Correct. Gatwick is South of London, Romford is East, an Uber would avoid central London all together. And we will be arriving on a Saturday; hopefully traffic is lighter (?). Still, looking at the very helpful suggestions for train/tube on this forum. Thanks everyone.

Marco — eight cards!! Wow!! I stand corrected.

Good to know about the delays with ApplePay etc.

Yes, it makes sense that any Uber to/from the airport would assume luggage and be right sized. As I mentioned, I have used Uber very little, actually only when someone else's doing the request and I'm just along for the ride so far. Still a lot to learn.

As of today, I have 5 contactless cards! Chase just sent me replacements for all of the cards I have with them and they all have the contactless capability. Already had a Capital One with contactless and my work credit card too. Last week I was in London I did use my contactless Visa from work. It was not noticeably slower than a standard Oyster. Previously I had used (or attempted to anyway) my iPhone with Apple pay; that was not a great experience due to the lag.