Oyster Card pickup at Heathrow

You can purchase the Oyster card at the airport Tube station, at the regular ticket windows. The windows should be open at 7:30am.

Depending on your length of stay a Londond Travel Card might be better. The Travel card gives you unlimited travel on the tube, red buses and the Thames river boats. I beleive it comes in either a 3, 5 or 7 day version.

Yes, you can buy an Oyster at Heathrow. A 7 day travelcard loaded onto Oyster may be a better deal if you are staying 4 days or longer, depending on how often you use public transport and at what time. (3 day travelcards were discontinued.) While Oyster has a daily cap, it will not automatically cap to a 7 day travelcard.

I use the Oyster Card in London. Since I rarely ride the Underground or bus more than twice a day, I just put 10 GBP at a time on the card. That will last 2-3 days. When I leave London I make sure there is enough left on the card to get me into London from Heathrow. That way I can go directly from passport control to the Tube without lining up for a ticket or to put more money on my Oyster.

The Travel card gives you unlimited travel on the tube, red buses and the Thames river boats. The TfL website states that for riverboats: "Travelcards You can get a third off single tickets if you have a Travelcard, whether it's a paper one or on your Oyster card." I am not aware of any operators who accept a Travelcard as full payment.

we rode the Heathrow Express into Paddington Station and bought our Oyster Cards after getting off the train. Attached 7 day travel cards to them and away we went! you should be able to do the same thing at Heathrow, though your trip into London on the tube will require an extra supplement, as the 7 day travelcards only work in Zones 1-2.

Except for the trip from Heathrow into London, it is rare for the typical tourist to get outside Zone 1 & 2. The current cost for a 7 day travel card is about 27 gbp (~$45). That makes it the cost favorite for 4 days or more if you are planning to take 3 or more tube trips and a bus or two per day. That's pretty typical for me. I'm not aware about the the ability to get money added to the Oyster Card for the trip from Heathrow. I'm also not sure if you can somehow use the travel card to get a reduced fare. I've never take the tube from Heathrow. I've just received the 7 day travel card and it's paper. It isn't anything like the Oyster.

7 day travelcards work for whatever zones you pay for. Zone 1-2 is most popular at £27.60, zone 1-6 is available for £50.40. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14416.aspx (For most tourists it is cheaper to buy a zone 1-2 travelcard and pay the extension fare to/from Heathrow in zone 6.) Click on travelcards in the link above to see the note about 1/3 off on boat services. Note too that ANY travelcard is good for unlimited bus rides in ALL zones.

Chris, there are a zillion variations of the Oyster Card/TravelCard schemes. It will hurt your head if you try to figure them out. Any possible savings amount to only a few pounds.It all depends on where you go and when you go. If you want an Oyster Card, get one. They're simple and easy to carry.

The Oyster card is great! I used it on my recent trip to London. I wish I could know that I'd be returning to London again so in that case I could just keep the card with the balance for the next trip as wisely suggested by another respondent here. But since I can't be sure I'll return anytime soon, I planned to cash out my card at Heathrow after using it for the tube ride out there. All went well until I arrived at the Heathrow airport ticket station and a loooong line. Fortunately, I had allowed 30 minutes and that was just about how long it took. So my tip is to either allow plenty of time at Heathrow or cash out your Oyster card in town and get a separate ticket for that last trip out to the airport.