The cost of reaching Heathrow

In RAIL 875’s The Fare Dealer I dealt with the benefits of buying tickets to London International, but omitted to say that such tickets include the Tube from whichever station you arrive to St Pancras.

It’s worth adding that nor are tickets to London International limited to travelling by Eurostar. They also include the Tube to Liverpool Street, provided you possess an onward ticket from London to Hook of Holland via Harwich International.

In theory, they could be used with a through ticket from Charing Cross or Victoria to Europe via Dover, but I understand that currently the only through tickets cover travel just to French ports. Because no international rail travel is involved these aren’t ‘CIV’ tickets, and this means tickets to London International ( which are always ‘CIV’) can’t be used in conjunction.

Tickets issued to stations in the Republic of Ireland are ‘CIV’, but these don’t involve use of London International because through bookings are available from any station in Britain anyway.

While on the subject of the Tube, I recently took a trip to Heathrow, as I hadn’t made this journey on the Piccadilly Line for a few years. The journey from Waterloo took only 65 minutes, changing at Piccadilly Circus.

Owing to the frequency of the Bakerloo and the Piccadilly Lines, 65 minutes would be consistent. The fare is a mere £3.10 (£2.05 for me as I have a railcard added to my Oyster, but I’ll quote full fare prices here).

It set me thinking as to how times and fares compared on the other two options: TfL Rail and Heathrow Express (HeX) via Paddington. I’ll consider travel to Terminals 2 & 3.

If I opted for TfL Rail, I’d take 55 minutes if I arrived at Paddington just in time for a halfhourly TfL Rail train. But if I just missed it, I’d take 85 minutes.

If I opted for HEx I’d take 40 minutes if I arrived just in time, otherwise it would be 55 minutes. Putting this (and one-way costs) together we have, for off-peak travel: ■ Tube, 65 mins, £3.10. ■ TfL Rail, 55-85 mins, £10.10. ■ HeX, 40-55 mins, £24.40. So, TfL Rail isn’t worth considering as it could take longer than the Tube and costs £7 more. HeX saves between ten and 25 minutes, but for an extra £21.30.

I know it’s different if you’re starting at Paddington and will vary all over London, but I wonder how many would want to pay so much extra to save such a small amount of time.