From Cambridge to Heathrow Terminal 5

[Mikaila]

Hello,

On the 1st of April I will travelling from Cambridge to Heathrow Terminal 5; I will come back on the 7th of April.

If I buy a Off Peak Return, which says "Via Any Permitted Route", may I use it on the Heathrow Express?

Thanks,

Mikaila

 

[soil]

Yes you can.

Note this ticket is ridiculously expensive (£79.20). You could reach Heathrow, far, far cheaper!

 

[Joe Paxton]

Yes, the Off-Peak Return (at £79.20 undiscounted) is valid on the Heathrow Express (HEx), and also on the Tube to get between King's Cross (or Liverpool Street) to Paddington to catch the HEx.

Make sure you use the destination "Heathrow Terminal 5" (or any of the other terminals - it doesn't matter) or "Heathrow Rail", and do not use the destination "Heathrow Underground" (that's for using the Piccadilly line Tube to get to Heathrow). Your ticket should be printed with a destination of "Heathrow Rail" regardless.

You might also wish to consider splitting your tickets and buying the Heathrow Express portion separately - they now offer various "Advance Saver" tickets which can be used at any time on a specified day. Search on the HEx site for your outward and return journeys separately, i.e. as two singles (using the 'buy another ticket' option having selected your outward journey) and they will show up.

If you do the above, then the Tube journey between Kings Cross and Paddington would not be included - it would cost £2.40 each way if using Oyster or a contactless card.

(Though if an employer is paying the through ticket is less fuss!)

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Hello,

If I buy a Off Peak Return, which says "Via Any Permitted Route", may I use it on the Heathrow Express?

If you look up the journey on National Rail enquiries, it wants £ 79.20 for an Off Peak Return without railcard discounts.

By contrast if you just specify London Paddington, it wants £ 42.20.

Consistently for once, it then wants £ 37.00 for Paddington to Heathrow.

Cambridge to Hayes would cost £ 39.20 which is less than the cost to Paddington. Hayes to Heathrow is £ 12.60 return (or two singles).

So you can use the Heathrow Express, but it's included in the price of the ticket. To use the slower Heathrow Connect at the cheaper price, you will need to split tickets.

Cambridge to Kings Cross is £ 36.20. I'm not sure how much it would be to Oyster or contactless from there to Hayes, but that would mean touching in or out at Hayes in both directions.

Hayes is the last station on the main line before the junction for Heathrow.

 

[soil]

Or just take the Piccadilly Line direct from Kings Cross for £3.10 (or possibly £5.10) each way.

 

[swt class 450]

Hello,

On the 1st of April I will travelling from Cambridge to Heathrow Terminal 5; I will come back on the 7th of April.

If I buy a Off Peak Return, which says "Via Any Permitted Route", may I use it on the Heathrow Express?

Thanks,

Mikaila

There are much cheaper and better value options if you use the Heathrow Connect (it only takes around 8 to 12 minutes longer but is much cheaper) or the London Underground (it takes a bit longer but is even more cheaper). Unless you don't mind being ripped off and paying rediculous prices it is best to avoid the Heathrow Express services.

The following options are cheaper:

Cambridge to Hayes & Harlington - http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=CBG&dest=HAY&expert=on&flow=0&multi=0&fare=3&ldn=1&tkt=SVR - £39.20 (Open Return) + Hayes & Harlington to Heathrow Airport - http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?...pert=on&flow=0&multi=0&fare=1&rte=700&tkt=SOR - £12.60 (Open Return) = £51.80 total cost. This option involves taking any train from Cambridge to London (using either Abellio Greater Anglia or Govia GTR Great Northern services) and then the London Underground to London Paddington and then the Heathrow Connect to Heathrow Airport. This option will hardly take much longer than Heathrow Express services. Heathrow Connect is still a very fast service.

If you want to get it even cheaper you can get a Cambridge to London Terminals - http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=CBG&dest=1072&expert=on&flow=1&multi=0&fare=13&tkt=SVR - for £36.20 (Any Permitted Open Return). Or a Cambridge to London Terminals - http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=CBG&dest=1072&expert=on&flow=1&multi=1&fare=6&rte=20&tkt=SVR - for 33.00 (Abellio Greater Anglia Only Open Return). You can then buy two London Underground Single tickets (Open Return tickets are not available) for £6.00 each. This will bring your total to either £48.20 total or £45.00 total. However this option does involve using the London Underground Piccadilly Line services (which takes roughly 50 to 55 minutes between Kings Cross St Pancras and the Heathrow Airport terminals.

Hope this helps.

 

[soil]

You can then buy two London Underground Single tickets (Open Return tickets are not available) for £6.00 each.

The best option is to use contactless credit/debit cards, which would cost £3.20 at most times for this journey. No need to buy any ticket as such.

It's a shame that contactless payment is not yet available on rail lines.

 

[swt class 450]

The best option is to use contactless credit/debit cards, which would cost £3.20 at most times for this journey. No need to buy any ticket as such.

It's a shame that contactless payment is not yet available on rail lines.

Yes that is true but i just dont know yet if the OP has a oyster card or a contactless debit or credit card. If they do then that will definitely be the best option should they wish to use the London Underground services.

 

[Joe Paxton]

It's a shame that contactless payment is not yet available on rail lines.

Well contactless payment is available for almost all rail journeys within Greater London and sometimes a bit beyond (the London pay-as-you-go area) - but I guess you mean for journeys outside of the metropolis?

Also given the subject it's very much worth noting that contactless and Oyster is not valid on the Heathrow Express or on the Heathrow Connect between any of the Heathrow stations and Hayes & Harlington - these being the exceptions to the above statement!

 

[Joe Paxton]

There are much cheaper and better value options if you use the Heathrow Connect (it only takes around 8 to 12 minutes longer but is much cheaper) ...

... This option will hardly take much longer than Heathrow Express services. Heathrow Connect is still a very fast service. ...

Just on the issue of Heathrow Express (HEx) versus Heathrow Connect. Two things worth bearing in mind...

(1) The obvious point that the Connect service only runs every half hour whilst HEx runs every 15 minutes.

(2) Heathrow Connect runs through from the Terminals 2&3 station (what used to be called 'Heathrow Central') on to Terminal 4. Meanwhile HEx runs from T2&3 on to Terminal 5 - which is where the OP is heading.

Therefore the total journey time using Heathrow Connect from Paddington to T5 is 43 minutes, which includes a 7 minute wait on the platform at T2&3 for a connecting HEx train on to T5.

Meanwhile on the direct HEx from Paddington to Heathrow T5 the journey time is 21 minutes - so it is half the journey time when using HEx from Paddington to T5 compared to using the Connect. And yes, a lot more expensive too!

The money saving option is without doubt the Tube - and coming from King's Cross it shouldn't take that much longer than getting over to Paddington then the Heathrow Express.


On the subject of money saving...

... Cambridge to Hayes [& Harlington] would cost £39.20 which is less than the cost to Paddington. ...

swt class 450 also mentions this... this is compared to £36.20 for the Cambridge to King's Cross Off-Peak Return. This means that anyone coming from Cambridge who wants to get the Tube across to Paddington and back again another day can do so for an effective cost of £1.50 for each Tube journey, cheaper than the £2.40 cost using Oyster/contactless (and even less with a Railcard).

 

[bspahh]

I live in Ely. Personally, if I need to get a morning flight from Heathrow, I prefer to travel the evening before and stay in a hotel. Then I can use a Network card for the train and take the Piccadilly line. It works out about 10 minutes slower than on the Heathrow Express, but is less fiddly, and if there are delays, I'm not stressing about missing a flight. The buses are free in the Heathrow area. The combination of train and hotel can cost around about the same price as a train ticket in the morning peak.

When I'm travelling on expenses, I'd get 1% cashback on a train ticket and at least 6% on a hotel room along with 1 free night after every 10 nights away.

 

[matt_world2004]

I think if you are getting to Hayes & Harlington to get to Heathrow Airport, Your better off going outside and getting the 140 anyway. Most of the time due to the low frequencies of the connect it is quicker than the connect service and cheaper.

 

[Joe Paxton]

I think if you are getting to Hayes & Harlington to get to Heathrow Airport, Your better off going outside and getting the 140 anyway. Most of the time due to the low frequencies of the connect it is quicker than the connect service and cheaper.

The 140 bus is good for Terminals 2 & 3 (the 'central terminal area') as it goes there direct, not so good for T4 or T5 as it doesn't.

But the £1.50 London bus fare is much better value than the £6.30 Heathrow Connect wants for a single for the three and a half or so miles from Hayes & Harlington to Heathrow T2&3!

 

[Dom395]

It's a shame that contactless payment is not yet available on rail lines.

Southeastern are introducing contactless payments on their TVM's (if they'll actually finish them).

 

[soil]

Southeastern are introducing contactless payments on their TVM's (if they'll actually finish them).

I was thinking on the gateline really.