Heathrow Express Advance Tickets

[John R]

Worth noting that the booking window for the £10 advance tickets has been shortened to 30 days. These undercut Liz Line fares and are valid for any train on the day selected.

Signs that HEx is struggling to compete maybe?

 

[Watershed]

They're only cheaper than the Liz line if you're travelling to/from Paddington. Which admittedly a lot of HEx's "usual" customers might be (the kind that would be taking an Uber/black cab to/from Paddington) but the families you see on the Elizabeth line are likely to be going to, or via, Zone 1. In which case there is price parity at best.

Of course the expensive Liz line fares come within the daily cap so any other travel you make that day is effectively free (or vice versa, depending on how you view it).

 

[Tetchytyke]

Signs that HEx is struggling to compete maybe?

I'd say so. HEx lost most of its differentiation when it replaced the 332s, which even in standard had a luxury spec, with 387s which are the exact opposite of luxury.

IMO they're obviously struggling- the sales people in arrivals seem even more pushy than ever before.

 

[John R]

They're only cheaper than the Liz line if you're travelling to/from Paddington. Which admittedly a lot of HEx's "usual" customers might be (the kind that would be taking an Uber/black cab to/from Paddington) but the families you see on the Elizabeth line are likely to be going to, or via, Zone 1. In which case there is price parity at best.

Of course the expensive Liz line fares come within the daily cap so any other travel you make that day is effectively free (or vice versa, depending on how you view it).

Yes, very good points.

And families is an interesting point as under 16s travel free on HEx, making the comparison even more complicated.

 

[Starmill]

There is a promotion at present for 25x Heathrow Rewards points than usual for buying their tickets on their website. There have also been a significant number of avios related promotions including via Qatar Airways, as well as promotional credits via the British Airways branded American Express cards.

 

[Djgr]

HEX passenger usage is 30% down on peak 2018/9.

 

[Starmill]

I'd say so. HEx lost most of its differentiation when it replaced the 332s, which even in standard had a luxury spec, with 387s which are the exact opposite of luxury.

IMO they're obviously struggling- the sales people in arrivals seem even more pushy than ever before.

They also moved from mostly 9 car to mostly 8 car with fewer seats. And they're still well down on utilisation.

 

[John R]

HEx will lose even more differentiation if TfL is able to expand its service to T5 to 4tph.

 

[Watershed]

HEx will lose even more differentiation if TfL is able to expand its service to T5 to 4tph.

Yes, at the moment that is a key downside of the Elizabeth line. That said you can take the Heathrow Express between terminals for free, so there are more Elizabeth line-priced journey opportunities than most people realise.

If heading to T5 using the Elizabeth line and the first Heathrow-bound train is for T4 (likely as it's 4tph vs 2tph to T5), it's still quicker to take that and to change at T2&3 for the HEx immediately behind. The same principle works in the opposite direction - always take the first T5 departure, even if it's a HEx.

 

[John R]

Yes, at the moment that is a key downside of the Elizabeth line. That said you can take the Heathrow Express between terminals for free, so there are more Elizabeth line-priced journey opportunities than most people realise.

If heading to T5 using the Elizabeth line and the first Heathrow-bound train is for T4 (likely as it's 4tph vs 2tph to T5), it's still quicker to take that and to change at T2&3 for the HEx immediately behind. The same principle works in the opposite direction - always take the first T5 departure, even if it's a HEx.

Yes, and indeed just two days ago I was helpfully trying to explain just that to a large group of US lads who were staring blankly at the information at the top of the lifts at T5.

Whether they did what I suggested (and what we were doing) though, who knows. I might have lost them at advice to use contactless…