Switching at Heathrow from plane to train (and vice versa)

Getting from United baggage claim to the HEx platform is not difficult. There are a lot of signs and even people to ask. The only thing is that it is quite a long walk and involves going up and down elevators/stairs a few times. There are long queues for the elevators, but with multiple and/or large pieces of luggage, you would have to use the elevators. Twenty minutes seems a little tight. Are you training back from Exeter the same day as your flight? I would be a little hesitant to do that as I would be concerned about something going wrong and would prefer to spend the night near the airport or London, but that's me.

Dec 19-20 should be fine re Christmas closures.

Enjoy your trip!

You can take either the Heathrow Express or the Elizabeth Line to Paddington. (The Elizabeth line takes 15 minutes longer but costs a lot less.)

The entrance to the HE is in the underground passage between Terminal 2 and 3. You follow the signs to the Underground/HE/Terminal 3. You can get to the underground passageway via either the elevator/lift or escalators.

You will first come to the entrance to the Underground/Tube. Keep walking. Then you will come to the entrance of the HE/EL.

Once on the lower level, it's about a 5 minute walk to the HE. Part of it is via moving sidewalks.

To return, just follow the signs to T2.

I do this a few times a year. The last time was three weeks ago.

We've got 3 hours going out, but on our return only 20 minutes between HE arrival and United check-in time.

What check-in time are you referring to? If you are referring to the recommendation to arrive 3 hours before your flight, you will be fine. If you are referring to United’s 60 minute cutoff time before departure, 20 minutes in advance is very risky. You can check in online with United, but if you have bags to drop there is still a cutoff.

We're travelling on December 19-20. Any warning flags for a date so close to Christmas? I've never travelled in the UK at Christmas before.

Just that it will be a busy travel time.

Laura -
Yes, I'm talking about a 3-hour lead time. I agree with you: we'll probably be fine.
As far as the online check-in: so far I haven't been able to do that. I suspect they want to physically see my Canadian passport. If they see it on the outbound flight (from Toronto), they'll probably be fine for the return, and I might be able to do it online.
Thanks

There are a couple of alternatives to getting from Heathrow on to an Exeter train to the route you're considering but I will assume that that's the way you want to go unless advised otherwise.

What I would absolutely not do is plan to leave Exeter on the same day you plan to fly home. If everything goes according to plan you will be fine but so much could go wrong with a journey of that distance in an English mid Winter that I would not risk missing the flight and having to but a new one at the walk-up price, which is what you would have to do.

You can also go from Exeter to Heathrow on the route to London Waterloo, changing onto a dedicated express bus to the Airport at either Basingstoke or Woking.
That is my preferred route to London, even if it takes longer. Far better quality trains, and they call at Exeter Central as well as Exeter St Davids. Also far cheaper fares at least off peak.

As far as different routes or different trains -- the tickets are already booked. We booked LHR to EXD and we got Heathrow Express + GWR. I'm not going to change that. My question is just about navigating a connection within the Heathrow station and what to expect.

If you have no connection time at Paddington (that is are just jumping straight off the Exeter train onto a Heathrow Express) then this is a foolhardy plan in mid winter irrespective of the arrangements at Heathrow. That is a sideshow.

Just west of Exeter is the Dawlish sea wall. If a wind storm arrives as is highly likely at that time of year the railway either gets closed entirely or heavily disrupted as services get turned round short at Exeter, due to the sea breaking over the railway line.
Also in the few miles just east of Exeter (on the way to London) are two of the worst places for flooding on the whole Great Western Network, If there is heavy rain and those sites flood there are no trains, full stop. With luck it is a bus (if they can find any) around the floods. At worst it is a Do Not Travel Notice, with no service at all operating. It can and does happen every winter.

Either way, and that is before any kind of issue further east, this is a plan fraught with risk.

You really need to consider travelling the day before, and staying overnight at Heathrow. Both in terms of buying new train tickets now and hotel prices that is very affordable. Otherwise be willing to buy a new train ticket on a much earlier train if there is significant disruption. Going the day before, if the Paddington route is closed then hopefully the Waterloo route would be open.

I would also book, as an insurance policy, a ticket on the overnight National Express bus from Exeter to Heathrow direct. The bus may not be a popular option, and leaves at an ungodly hour of about 2am, but it is preferable to buying a new air ticket on the spot.
The bus ticket should be no more than £15, maybe less so far in advance.
If there are no trains the bus will sell out faster than you can book it.

Thank you, isn31c. I'm a belt and braces man myself.

If what you say about the line around Exeter is likely, I somehow think that travelling the day before would not be sufficient to avoid disaster. "The day before" what? And how/when would we know? The best plan would be to have travelled last summer.

Our philosophy is che sera, sera. The locals we are in touch with tell us not to worry. If the worst happens, we will get off/on (depending on whether we are outbound or returning) at Tiverton or Taunton, and drive the rest of the way.
We'll let you know how it works out.

I somehow think that travelling the day before would not be sufficient to avoid disaster. "The day before" what? And how/when would we know?

All we can do here is to advise, from experience.

An incoming storm usually has 2 or 3 days notice, so anyone with local rail knowledge can foresee potential problems, and GWR keep you up to date on such incidents. They may even pro-actively close the railway if the warnings merit it.

Going back to days when I had a seriously obnoxious manager I have 32 years of delay information for rail, bus, ship, air and driving journeys in which time I have done 642,000 UK rail miles. The long term average delay by rail is 1 minute delay for every 9.75 miles travelled, the annual figure for 2024 is 7.87. It is 173 miles from Paddington to Exeter. So, besides storms, I would expect to average to be delayed by around 18 minutes on that journey (closer to 20 this year). Of course this comes in lumps and bumps. The last 2 months have been good, after several terrible months.
Trains break down, people trespass or intentionally go on the tracks to self harm, vehicles hit bridges- the list of potential delays is long.

What I meant was that if you are flying on 8 January, plan to travel up on 7 January. As well as the 2 rail routes (arguably 3 or 4) there are at least 4 routes by coach-bus from Exeter to London, and several possible routes by city-bus which I can recite without thinking about it.

If all of those failed then you have a open and shut travel insurance claim

In truth the original advice, before booking air tickets (and for the benefit of others) might have been to investigate flying Aer Lingus into Exeter Airport via Dublin. That works for some US destinations, whether for Canada I don't know.