please empty your brain below
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The nudge to using an expensive express service is pretty standard for airports around the world - surely there aren't many travellers who get stung by it more than once?
The Heathrow website is pretty even-handed about the service levels, though doesn't mention fares.
martin | 03.05.19 - 7:18 a.m. | #
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I arrived at Terminal 3 recently and was shocked at what could almost be described as a con trick being played upon visitors to the UK.
Heathrow Express salespeople were stationed at several locations before getting near the platforms selling tickets for London, without any mention that they were just one of (and the most expensive) several possible choices. There were no outright lies but a choice has been made to mislead by omission.
Announcements on the platforms seem to have been carefully designed to maintain the fiction rather than fully inform the traveller.
Also, what an absurd system which potentially hits visitors with a penalty fare if they have a Heathrow Express ticket but accidentally travel on TfL Rail. They've bought the most expensive ticket and are travelling on a slower service along the same rails but could still be penalised. I know the reasons why this is the case but it's a daft result of the way we run the railways in this country.
What a welcome to the UK!
multilevel | 03.05.19 - 7:34 a.m. | #
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Are Heathrow Express paper tickets valid on TfL rail? Obviously in Heathrow Connect days the revenue all went to the same place but this isn't true any more. It wouldn't be fun for someone who shelled out £loads to get a penalty fare.
Wolf | 03.05.19 - 7:35 a.m. | #
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Presumably this entire con trick is the key to Heathrow Express surviving in the Crossrail world. But got to think that the plan to move operation over to GWR and use their trains could also have the de-premiuming of the service as a possible option.
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 03.05.19 - 7:54 a.m. | #
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Why the 10p difference between peak and off-peak on TfL rail? This is hardly enough to persuade people to wait for an off-peak train. In any case, I imagine airports busiest times do not necessarily correspond to the typical rush hours.
Robbob | 03.05.19 - 8:09 a.m. | #
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The TfL Service is not shown on the tube map on the TfL website, either.
dg writes: Yes it is. Heathrow Express is not shown.
Liz | 03.05.19 - 8:12 a.m. | #
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April 10th 2019. Terminal 2, a friend of mine was walking to the tube station, he said some people did take notice of the calling about the FAST train. Whether or not many of them did take the fast expensive route he cannot say.
YDU | 03.05.19 - 8:57 a.m. | #
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So, this stretch of London rail track (to Hayes) still remains the only one untravelled by yourself if I read your words carefully.
Ken | 03.05.19 - 9:07 a.m. | #
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If DG travelled by TfL Rail from Terminal 3, as he told the staff he would, he has now travelled the stretch to Hayes
Timbo | 03.05.19 - 9:47 a.m. | #
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If you book 90 days in advance for a weekend or English bank holiday, you can get a HEx ticket for £5.50 (or £12.10 on weekdays). If it's 30 days then it becomes £8.80 / £14.30.
This might be a good deal for some people.
The HEx has saved me from missing a flight twice, though obviously I had to pay the full fare (discounted with railcard), so I appreciate the option being available. It's cheaper than a taxi at least, though Paddington is not the place to start from if you really need a taxi to Heathrow.
John | 03.05.19 - 10:16 a.m. | #
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Talking about conning visitors, the worst "airport premium" service must be in Vienna, where firstly the non-premium services (which are both local and intercity) arrive at more convenient platforms for onward connections.
But mainly, if you just missed a premium train, the next ordinary train will have nearly arrived in the city centre by the time the next premium train departs.
John | 03.05.19 - 10:22 a.m. | #
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There's a somewhat similar situation if you want to get from Heathrow to one of the nearby airport hotels. The hotels offer a shared shuttle service called the 'hoppa' which costs 5 pounds for a single journey. However, most of the hotels are within the free travel area, so you could instead take a regular London bus and pay nothing.
dg writes: Particularly bad at Terminal 3, where signs for the £5 buses are very prominent, and signs for the central bus station very much aren't.
Alan | 03.05.19 - 10:24 a.m. | #
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I'm going to Oslo next week and a similar trick is played at the airport there, but with even more minimal difference in service provided.
The flytoget Airport express departs six times per hour, taking 19 or 22 minutes to Oslo on alternate services. It costs 196 Krone(~£18).
The Norwegian State railways service departs four times per hour, taking 23 minutes. It costs 108 Krone(~£10).
Nigel | 03.05.19 - 10:36 a.m. | #
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Anyone who can afford to fly has a certain level of disposable income, so it's not surprising to see businesses flocking around the honeypot to grab their share.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.05.19 - 10:40 a.m. | #
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Interesting analysis, but only once you take parameters as "Zone 1" rather than somewhere specific and that you are buying a walk up ticket. As others have said, buying in advance and if your destination is in/around/near Paddington and you might have a very different view than the one DG takes.
Jordan D | 03.05.19 - 10:50 a.m. | #
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Who owns/manages the platforms and the track up to where it joins the main line?
scr | 03.05.19 - 10:52 a.m. | #
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The other way of looking at this is that railways are generally heavily subsidised- levying higher fares on the more affluent in society ie airport users is a progressive tax which should be widely supported by non-airport rail users.
Or | 03.05.19 - 11:03 a.m. | #
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No use for people just arriving and paying there and then, but you can get SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper HEx prices by paying in advance, especially if you book a LONG time in advance, but then people usually book their holidays well in advance anyway. Theoretically this means that the occasional traveller holiday maker benefits whereas the business traveller who travels on short notice coughs up the full amount.
Railcards also are valid on HEx off peak, including Network and Gold cards
Mikey C | 03.05.19 - 11:16 a.m. | #
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scr - I think it's Heathrow Airport who own that section
Mikey C | 03.05.19 - 11:17 a.m. | #
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At T5 does the train still come in to the platform with London Paddington shown on both the front of the train and the departure screens but with staff shouting not to get on until they've done a (cursory, pointless) security check?
dg writes: Yes.
Andrew S | 03.05.19 - 11:34 a.m. | #
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If you book three months in advance, sure, you pay a lot less. My post is about the battle for people who haven't paid in advance.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 03.05.19 - 12:00 p.m. | #
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Looking at the first blue sign in the article, I'd expect a Free train transfer all the way to London.
MKIan | 03.05.19 - 12:18 p.m. | #
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I did like using it when it first opened. I could get a cheap room nearby for a night or two before my flight. I would check my bag with British Airways at Paddington the morning of the flight and avoid the long lines at Terminal 4 and have several hours to walk around London before catching the train.
It amazes me that they can sell First Class tickets for a 15 minute train ride.
Bob | 03.05.19 - 12:21 p.m. | #
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A similar situation applies to Gatwick. GEX only goes to Victoria and is only slightly quicker than Thameslink which gives a much better choice of destinations.
kev | 03.05.19 - 12:33 p.m. | #
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The one subtle difference at Gatwick is that all the companies that serve the airport and run to London, are part of the same railway company. They're all part of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise.
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 03.05.19 - 1:42 p.m. | #
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Another bit of news which is hidden away (on the tfl maps for Over 60s Oyster and Freedom Passes) is that for London residents aged 60 and over, the tfl service is FREE at all times all the way to Heathrow (and not, like an Oyster valid in zones 1-6 only, only to Hayes & Harlington. Door to door, this could be a good option for many such people once Crossrail serves Central London too.
Martin | 03.05.19 - 2:21 p.m. | #
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Does this kind of thing go on at Stansted, where there's no premium fare for the express service (so they're basically only competing against the coaches)?
I remember them getting into trouble for quoting journey tines to London that were actually to Tottenham Hale.
Gregg | 03.05.19 - 2:51 p.m. | #
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Heathrow is firmly in Zone 6 for Travelcard purposes (whether on Oyster, paper ticket or ITSO) by TfL Rail. It's only HEx that doesn't take Travelcards.
Andrew S | 03.05.19 - 5:50 p.m. | #
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While the Oyster daily cap of £12.50 applies to all Heathrow staions and is the same as other zone 1 to 6 travel, the Pay-as-you-go fares on Tfl trains to Heathrow using Oyster are those which DG quoted: £10.20 peak; £10.10 off-peak (not the regular Zone 1 - 6 fare). But Oyster 60+ and Freedom Passes are valid on Tfl services in all zones at any time without any payment.
Martin | 03.05.19 - 6:50 p.m. | #
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OMG I have so much to say on this...
i) @MKIan, I noticed that sign when I was at Terminal 3 recently. Whilst careful reading and understanding the implications of the "via" (rather than "to") it is certainly misleading. I wonder if anyone has had a nasty shock when asked to pay £27 (on board fare) on what they expected to be a free service? Maybe a word with Advertising Standards?
ii) Yes, there is the self-interested argument that fleecing unwary foreigners keeps the fares down for us locals, but goodwill has a value too.
iii) The times DG quotes are minima - because of the service intervals, the ranges are
Hex 15-30
TfL 30-60
Tube 40-45
So the Hex is always fastest, and the Tube is a slightly better bet than TfL. (I assume DG's figures for the Tube are to Earls Court - the first Zone 1 station on the Piccadilly Line. Paddington would take longer).
However, if the first train out is a TfL, waiting for the Hex will only save you ten minutes. If the first train out is a HEx, waiting for the TfL will cost you 25 minutes, or 40 minutes if the second train is another HEx. Forty minutes might be worth paying the extra tenner for.
iv) Different people value their time differently, but £10 for 40 minutes is nearly twice the minimum wage.
timbo | 03.05.19 - 10:45 p.m. | #
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I paid the heathrow express fare even though I got off a Piccadilly line train at Earls Court because my contactless card failed to register my exit. The b******s at heathrow express online customer support team never did refund me the money for the trip.
Lesson learnt. Make very sure your card registers on exit on a journey from heathrow
Jon Allen | 03.05.19 - 10:48 p.m. | #
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IMHO HEx will be out-competed by the Elizabeth Line once it opens. Changing trains at Paddington will very likely negate the travelling time HEx saves.
Elizabeth Line should simply take over HEx and brand them as "fast trains". Non-stop to Paddington then all-stations already suffice. 30 minutes to Canary Wharf (the current pattern probably takes 40) will be irresistible. (Probably only a helicopter can beat it)
Patrickov | 04.05.19 - 2:51 a.m. | #
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@DG my issue was with your first sentence. "Only the rich, the rushed or the under-informed" ...or people who book well in advance.
John | 04.05.19 - 6:58 a.m. | #
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Better still in "Ripoffs" were back in the day when Picc was closed and you could travel on HEX if you had an oyster (that HEX could not read)
Did not stop the helpfull travelling HEX ticket people selling tickets to tourists who could have gone round the corner and got an oyster and travelled for far less
Phil | 24.05.19 - 3:19 p.m. | #
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