Taxi fare Heathrow to Paddington

It may be cheaper and more convenient to take the Heathrow Express which goes from Heathrow to Paddington. https://www.heathrowexpress.com

Thinking of taking Heathrow Express. Not
Able to get discount tickets so fare is 50 pounds for two. Wanted to get some idea what a cab might cost

For fun, I plugged your journey into Addison Lee's site. Cost is £85.44 ($107.54 USD). Addison Lee don't get mentioned much on this site, but they're a very large and reputable firm running private hire taxis in London. My former employer held an account with them and I believe they are very popular with large institutions across the city (and City) in providing "business class" private hire car services. They may be a little more expensive. Googling for "taxi at Heathrow" or "private hire taxi Heathrow" will give many, many results from private hire taxi firms with online quote systems to compare and book.

What do you mean not able to get discount tix for the Express….? Too close to your travel date?

Remember you can also take the Elizabeth Line to Paddington.

https://www.toptiplondon.com/transport/airports/heathrow-airport/train-from-heathrow-to-london#:~:text=The%20journey%20from%20Heathrow%20to,your%20card%20is%20£14.90.

I was going to suggest the Elizabeth line too.

About a year ago i was going to add Addison Lee to my list of heathrow mini cabs. A quick google search turned up trip advisor reviews which were mostly very negative. I ended up using blackberry cars to Heathrow. It’s favorably mentioned often in the forums.

https://www.blackberrycars.com/

I just Googled "taxi fare from Heathrow to Paddington", and the response was 44 GBP.

Just speaking from my own personal experience, my interactions with Addison Lee have always been pretty positive. They turned up on the dot when I had a late finish at work, I was always impressed by the quality of their cars (late model Mercedes, BMW or the like) and professional drivers. They are a big operation doing a lot of business, so other people's experience may differ from mine. Also, I wasn't paying :P

When I saw 85 quid for Addison Lee in the quote (T2 international arrivals), my immediate thought was it should be about half that, so £44 is probably more your average.

The Elizabeth Line is profoundly more sensible, but the thought of chilling in a nice car if I had the funds to cover it appealed to me.

According to the taxi calculator, the taxi fare will be between £65 and £80.

A prebooked car service should be cheaper.

If you want to take the train, since it's too late to get discounted tickets on the Heathrow Express, take the Elizabeth Line. It's half the fare of the HE but only takes 15 minutes longer.

Just take the Heathrow Express. Only takes 15 minutes.

To me, the Heathrow Express feels a little redundant these days, what with the Elizabeth Line. I wouldn't think about taking the Heathrow Express to central London destinations now. I would imagine the rail experts on here will have covered their pros and cons at some length.

What do you mean not able to get discount tix for the Express….?

Probably means that Heathrow Express tickets purchased less than 5 months out from travel date is £25, while more that 5 months out the ticket fare is £5.50

Although for two people it is £55.50 for a round trip (Duo Saver) if booked at least the day before. I see that is too late now though. Also 15% off with the code SUMMER until the end of this month.

Probably means that Heathrow Express tickets purchased less than 5 months out from travel date is £25, while more that 5 months out the ticket fare is £5.50

The £5.50 is a quota not time controlled offer. When the quota has gone it has gone, which could be more or less than 5 months. The tickets then move up to the next quota- £16.50 seems to be a frequent next stage which can be available reasonably late, and £20 is another quota step.

Also don't forget that anyone with a national railcard gets 34% off HEX- so £25 full fare becomes £16.50 and £20 quota advanced fare becomes £13.20.

As the National Railcard is also valid in 1st Class (Business Class on HEX) £32 Business Class full fare becomes £21.10

Firstly do you actually want to go to Paddington? If it’s to stay there for me it’s not the best location for tourism. If it’s to take a train elsewhere then there may be better routes.

If Paddington is your destination then the Elizabeth line will get you there comfortably in a few minutes less for about half the full HEX cost. And it also carries on right across central London. I can’t see any point in the HEX if you haven’t got a discount on the cost.

To come back to the price of taxis from Heathrow to Paddington, I tried Googling "airport cars Southall" to see what fares local neighbourhood private hire car firms were doing.

England Transfers are doing it for £62 (cash?) or £83 for their executive car, which is probably more akin to the service I quoted for Addison Lee earlier.

Air Express Car charge £50 for their standard service and £110 for their executive service. Both quotes are from Terminal 2 to Paddington Station.

The £5.50 is a quota not time controlled offer. When the quota has gone it has gone, which could be more or less than 5 months... 

I'm curious, has this always been the case? Afterall there has always been a caveat of "limited availability". But it was touted as buy 90 days out for discounted ticket, then late in 2022 it became 5 months before date of travel for the £5.50 fare.

The Heathrow Airpot site still incorrectly says 90 days -- https://www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/by-rail-or-train/heathrow-express

By booking your Heathrow Express journey at least 90 days in advance, you could get a one-way ticket from just £5.50*.

And an example of the various discussions cross forums about the "change" from 90 days to 5 months is this thread from February 2023 -- https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/heathrow-express-price-not-as-advertised

Next to last post the OP reported/quoted and email from Heathrow Express as saying --

Thank you for contacting Heathrow Express. According to our changes on advanced tickets, the £5.50 price is for bookings made 5 months before the travel takes place.

Thanks

The current T&C's of Hex advances are here: https://www.heathrowexpress.com/home/tickets-and-offers/fixed-date-fares/fixed-date-fares-terms-and-conditions

Nothing about 3 or 5 months any more, just that they are available from 12 months out in limited quantities. Also note that they can release more cheaper tickets closer to the day on "rare occasions".

It is fair to say that Heathrow Express fares now have become less opaque- and seen to have become semi-dynamic. A company who seem to be regularly changing their mind to try to keep market share.
For years it was simple- one fare standard class, another premium class.
If you look 5 months out from now- which is February next year you can find the £5.50 fares- but the T's and C's suggest that is merely because the quota hasn't been taken up, but the £16.50 next tier you can find as close as 4 weeks from now.
What seems to be beyond their business minds is that bargain fares 5 months out is totally ludicrous, and far out of kilter with the rest of the UK rail industry on advance fare availability by a margin of 16 weeks or more.
On any other UK train I now book 2 weeks ahead at most (when I know trains are running, around strike days)- and keep getting stunning bargains.
HE need to recognise that honest and straightforward pricing is what is really needed to maintain market share- the same as every one of their competitors.

And it is still in HEx T's and C's that no refund can ever be given on advance fares issued months ahead- not because your airline mucks you about, or you fall seriously ill, or even (and specifically) that we go into another Covid lockdown. That last one really irks me for the contempt it shows to it's passengers.

Given that Heathrow Airport on the airport website are totally up to date on coach and local bus routes from the airport, it is surprising they are not up to date on train fares.

Perhaps someone should write to the airport to point out the mistake.

As a local, I've always viewed The Heathrow Express with some cynicism. The fact that you're jumping through hoops with silly advance tickets just to make it not-a-ripoff, for what should be straightforward journey within London is ridiculous. The price gouging at least made more sense when it was the only game in town for a quick transfer into central London.

Now that we've got the Elizabeth Line priced within a normal Transport For London scale the Heathrow Express makes even less sense to me. I haven't been as far out as Heathrow as yet, but the Elizabeth Line is the number one public transport "experience" in London, or even the UK, at the moment with the absolutely cracking new stations and smart trains.

I won't be sad to see the inevitable demise of Heathrow Express. Now that TfL has expanded so far west with the Elizabeth line it's even more of an anachronism in how public transport is headed in London. Don't get me started on Gatwick Express either!

As an aside I won’t have anything to do with Addison Lee ever since the guy who founded the company told his drivers to ignore bus lane rules as he didn’t like his firm not being allowed to use them and also blamed cyclists for getting injured and killed on London’s roads rather than motor vehicles. He subsequently sold the business but his son has since bought it back.

Heathrow Express won't disappear before 2028 at the earliest unless Heathrow Airport want it to.

Its main markets these days are foreign tourists (both those savvy to book ahead early and those that aren't and just use it on the day), business travellers to a lesser extent, & people who work at Heathrow. The latter get 75% off (airport & airlines) and free travel evenings & weekends (airport staff only).

I did not know that about Addison Lee. That's not good. I'd bet there's quite a few "interesting" characters that you wouldn't want to be friends with involved in the minicab and private hire taxi business up and down the UK. It was one of those industries where there used to be a lot of cash moving that would attract n'er do wells.

I feel slightly more charitable towards Heathrow Express now I know they offer such large discounts to the workers :)

although it has handed off the operations and running of the trains to GWR, Heathrow Express continues to be owned by Heathrow airport who make all the decisions.

They do a lot of advertising and marketing and are obviously relying the general ignorance (not pejorative, they just don't worry about checking or looking for alternatives beyond what comes up first on the search or who has the bigger sign) of the travelling public especially non-locals.

Charge an exorbitant amount and people will pay it because "everybody" uses it and that must be right.

one other thing helping HE with their marketing is the name they have chosen. Put the name of the airport together with the term express and what's not to like?

I took Uber from the Paddington area to Heathrow twice in the past year. Each cost around 50GBP. I used the same app that I use in the US, no need to download anything different.

The first time was in Sep 2022 at about 6am, from Paddington station to T2. I was told to step out of Paddington station to call the Uber, otherwise the surcharge charged by Paddington station would apply. I don't know if this was true or not, but I ended up paying just under GBP42 for the ride, which included the new Heathrow drop-off fee of GBP 5.

The second time was in Feb 2023 in the middle of the night (2am) from Bayswater to T3. I prebooked this ride, which incurred a "reservation fee" of GBP 7.50 and of course the Heathrow terminal drop-off fee of GBP 5 - in total it came to GBP 51.

These amounts do not include tips.

In an aside, I am not a great fan of HEx. I have lost money when I bought tickets months in advance and then my plans shifted by a couple of days. However, they finally refunded me the money for a ride they cancelled due to a strike, but it took almost 6 months.

I too recommend the Elizabeth Line.

Have a great trip to a great city!

One reason that Heathrow Express gets as many foreign tourists as it does is that its use is pretty easy for the first time traveler to the UK. The other reason is, well, the number of options can be confusing. If a person posts a question on this forum about transport to London, they are likely to get several different suggestions due to the number of options. One person says use the tube and go to "this" station and transfer to "that" line. Another will say Elizabeth Line. The next will say hire a driver. etc. This is quite daunting for the first time visitor.

It took me until my 2nd trip to the UK to feel confident enough to really make my way around Heathrow between the terminals and to understand the various methods of transport. I understand why sometimes visitors feel a bit overwhelmed when it is actually pretty straight forward. There are people stationed all around Heathrow to answer questions and help a traveler find the way. I have found these individuals very cheerful and willing to help.

There are several factors in play on arrival. Time of day, how the traveler is feeling, budget, group size and destination. I usually have a plan "A" which is for when things have been going well and I am feeling pretty good. This plan is one where I take public transportation that may be just a bit longer, but less expensive. Plan "B" is for when things aren't going as well as I had originally planned. Flight delayed, I'm not feeling great, late at night, etc. This is when a taxi might come into play.

I think the key here is know your options and then flex as needed.

Carol now retired - very well put.

The Uber ride in Sep 2022 was my Plan B, while the Uber ride in Feb was the Plan A all along.

I also wanted to add that the Uber rides each took about 35-40 minutes - the one in the morning slightly longer as there was traffic already at that time in the morning.

GerryM, welcome to the forums. I always appreciate the locals taking the time to provide their expertise and perspectives.

Regarding the HE. I would have thought the competition from the Elizabeth line to cause them to offer more discounts. Their trains their rules. It will be interesting to see how this works out. I guess it could end up to be similar to the Gatwick express.

Thank you for the welcome Rocket. I went down the rabbit hole of watching Rick Steves' videos on Youtube a while back and came over here to lurk and read. I thought it may be fun to contribute now and again.

I may have been too hasty in wishing for the demise of Heathrow Express. Other posters, better informed about the rail industry, lead me to believe that they may be around for some time yet. You'd think that they seriously need to look at their pricing structure though eh? A public transport service run end to end by TfL seems to be what works best for getting around London. The other operators that currently run trains with varying degrees of success can take a hike as far as I'm concerned.

Carol now retired - The number of options for getting around London can be daunting. Off the top of my head, I can think of four or five routes I'd regularly take when I had a daily commute to the Pimlico area from home in an inner London borough. It was really dependent on my mood and how much time I had. It was nice to walk to Victoria, grab a burger and then sit for an hour plus on a 38 bus, just looking out the window when I had time on the way home sometimes.

Citymapper, the TfL app and Google Maps help a lot these days. Citymapper especially is always pretty spot on with transport options and the TfL app is nice to have for live bus arrivals and the like sometimes.

Coming back to the OP's original enquiry, and for those who are still reading in the future, it seems that from Heathrow T2 to Paddington Station you're looking at:

Private hire taxi - £50 - £60
Uber - £50
Black cab - £65 - £80
"Executive" class car or a seven seater - £80 - £110

That's going to give you a ballpark figure for other Heathrow terminals and central London locations.

Heathrow Express offers advance ticket sales up to 90 days before traveling. Found 2 of us could travel via HE roundtrip for less than one on the Tube. 20 minutes from Paddington.

Jmburda - that’s not true. The £5.50 tickets are now demand managed so you might find them 90 days out, but equally you might not find any 5 months out. And even if you do, they are 10p cheaper than a tube ticket, not half the price. And of course most people don’t actually want to go to Paddington - it’s not very central or interesting and you can avoid it if you plan to take a train these days anyway.

Hello All,

Have been reading your helpful posts re: Elizabeth Line vs. HEX. Is the Elizabeth Line considered a commuter train? We’re flying into Heathrow in early October and had planned to take HEX. Want to avoid a train full of commuters trying to get to work and getting the stink eye for traveling with luggage, which happened once during a trip to Paris. Would appreciate any responses.

Thanks in advance.

There will be a number of inner suburban commuters using the Heathrow Elizabeth line services but none from further out. I would suggest sitting in the longitudinal rather than transverse seating with luggage.

Last week I was opposite two Americans (from their conversations) who between them had 3 large suitcases, two rucksacks and 2 shoulder bags. Noone said anything ...

all the commuters from Reading and other intermediate stops will be on the branch of the Elizabeth Line which originates in Reading - or more likely the much faster GWR trains from the west. The train you will be joining originates at Heathrow so nobody before folks from the airport.

Don't worry - just use the train. You have as much right to as anybody else. Somebody doesn't like it? That's their problem..