Travel from LHR - Paddington

Have you checked out all the discounted fare options for the Express? Buying in advance, being a couple etc? Are you staying in the Paddington area or going somewhere else immediately after that?

"Customs" Usually takes seconds (just walk through), it's immigration that could hold you up.

Are you sure it is 8 PM? Most transatlantic flights are early morning arrivals. Or it may be at night, but worth checking....

I usually take Heathrow Express. If you buy your ticket well in advance you can get a substantial discount and the ticket is not for a specific departure but is valid all day long.

But I agree that unless you are staying in the Paddington area the tube might be a better solution.

However if you land at 8PM you will be through migration between 9pm and 10 pm. If you are jet lagged and it is your first visit in London, navigating the tube (or Heathrow Express) might not be what you really want to do, so you might want to explore the limo options. I haven't used that myself in London, but there are numerous comments on this board with opinions. Try to search for Heathrow in the search option (Looking Glass and the word "Search" on top of the screen)

Nigel, BA has an early morning flight from Boston that arrives at Heathrow between 7:30 and 8:00 pm.

ok - thanks.

Would a person from Portland usually connect in Boston?

There are overnight flights sold from the West coast side as connections to the daytime flights from the east.

Assuming the destination is somewhere around Paddington the drawback with the Connect is it only being twice an hour.

I would say that for first timers, especially those from Portland, who think they will be exhausted, the Express will be the fastest, nicest and easiest way to reach Paddington even if you have to wait a bit longer for the train. Story: I've only taken it once, so I'm not tied to it. I usually take the subway...but I'm just on the Boston to London leg, and I am usually sleeping in Victoria area.

I see the request for Paddington but don't see anything saying that that is the destination neighborhood. It is possible that Khrisi has heard that the train is a good idea but may be staying less than a convenient distance from it.

Customs is a walk through so unless you're making declarations, just keep going. It's immigration where the lines come into play.

Heathrow Connect is the easy way to Paddington and is about a 25-30 minute ride. A one way ticket is £10.30 and £20.70 roundtrip. You can buy it from a ticket machine.

There is the faster Heathrow Express on the same platform but gets into Paddington in just 15 minutes. Buying in advance online is the way to go as you will save a lot of money than buying at a ticket machine. Here are the fares depending upon if you travel on a weekday or weekend and how far in advance you buy the ticket.

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/tickets-deals/prices-fares?tid=WEXT12182&CMP=PSB014&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Brand&utm_term=heathrow%20express%20cost&gclid=Cj0KCQjwprbPBRCHARIsAF_7gDZ1dSnojGqUQEO8zxhbgfPe3_Bi_OHR6BfRksRqcajalFy9GSBPghgaAq9qEALw_wcB

You don't need business class; the regular cars are quite comfortable. Look at the fares for 30 days in advance for the best prices since you are traveling in December. You will see how weekends are even cheaper.

Whichever you choose, taking Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect gives you a one-seat ride to Paddington. That's easy.

Hope this helps.

Thank you all for the comments. I really appreciate the advice.
Nigel, our flight routes through DC and ends up at LHR at 8:50 p.m. I'm wondering if Uber would be a good idea since it will be so late and with the jet lag and new country/city. We are staying in the Paddington area in a budget hotel. Most of our time will be spent in Edinburgh and vicinity so the budget accomodations are fine with us. We don't mind navigating the tube to get around London or using buses etc. We figure, the more we see, the better. :-) We are only in London a couple days so will be finding some Christmas markets and doing a couple of touristy things as well as just walking about and taking it all in.

If you want to do car service instead of rail, Uber is one of the more expensive ones. True it's cheaper than black London taxis but that's not saying much! I recommend either Simply Airports or Just Airports for car service.

https://tfl.gov.uk/

You can enter your hotel address and see your transport options. This site will be useful all the time you are in London.
Google Maps is increasingly efficient at providing similar help.
If your UK trip ends in Edinburgh, I hope you are shopping for a flight home from there using a multi-city search function. Saves time at little or no extra cost.

I fly yearly from the Left Coast to London.

Stay in the Bayswater neighborhood. Always budget and purchase tix in advance for the Heathrow Express.

Why?

It's clean, quick and when I arrive at Paddington I can top up my Oyster, get some pounds and grab a coffee before taking a 10 minute stroll to my accommodation.

Comfort, expediency and ease are why. Sometimes paying a bit more is worth it.

As a fellow West Coaster, I must agree with Claudia. On our first trip to London, my wife and I took Heathrow Express to Paddington and strolled over to our hotel in Prince's Square. We stayed near Russell Square on our second trip but even then with transferring at Paddington to the Tube I believe it was quicker than just taking the Tube from Heathrow.

In looking at the Heathrow Express website, and figuring that you are more than 30 days out from your departure, your cost would be approx. 14€ each or 12ish€ if you're 90 days or more. It you need to go back to LHR within a month, you could get the round-trip Duosaver fare for 55ish€ for both of you.
Coming from the PNW, we usually take the HEX. I've done the Connect, but at the end of a long flight, it doesn't have the user friendliness of the HEX.

As someone who is a frequent victim of Murphy's Law, know your options I.e what time is the last HEX, the last Connect and the last tube, especially if your trying to keep to a budget. A delayed flight can affect your options.