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Heathrow Express fares and T&C changes from May 20th

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swt_passenger

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Copied from the Heathrow Express website:

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/new...s-to-heathrow-express-tickets-from-2-may-2018

From 20 May 2018
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TFL Rail, a new stopping service, will operate from London Paddington to Heathrow Terminals 2,3 and 4. This will replace the Heathrow Connect service.

In preparation for this, Heathrow Express will be changing some of its terms and conditions to bring it in line with other national rail services.

For tickets purchased on or after 2 May 2018, the following changes will apply:
Travel Direction

Tickets must be used for the direction they were booked. For example, a ticket from Paddington to Heathrow cannot be used for travel from Heathrow to Paddington.

Single Ticket Validity

All single tickets are only valid on the date of travel specified on the ticket when purchased

Return Ticket Validity

All return tickets are valid for:
Outbound journey: Must be made within 5 days of the date of travel specified on the ticket when purchased.
Return journey: Must be made within 30 days of the date of travel specified on the ticket when purchased.

Peak Travel Times

Heathrow Express Peak hours will now be:
Morning Peak 0630 – 0930
Evening Peak 1600 – 1900

Ticket Barriers Installed at Heathrow stations
From 20 May 2018 ticket barriers will be in operation at Heathrow stations. You will still require a ticket to pass the through the ticket barriers. Heathrow Express will accept Contactless and Oyster from September 2018. Tickets can be purchased online, at a ticket vending machine or from one of our sales agents.
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Also, to put to bed the questions a few weeks back about free inter-terminal travel with barriers in place:
Terminal 4 and Terminal 5
Free shuttle trains run between Heathrow Central station (Terminals 2 & 3) and Terminal 4 or Terminal 5. There are four trains an hour. Please note from 20 May 2018, to travel on the shuttle trains, you can get a free Inter-Terminal Transfer ticket from the machines in the station. You can also use an Transport for London Oyster card or a contactless payment card which will not be charged when travelling between terminals.
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Joe Paxton

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I wonder, with the introduction of contactless & Oyster acceptance at the gateline from September, if HEx will continue with their tiered pricing policy whereby tickets are cheaper the further in advance they are purchased.

Contactless & Oyster acceptance at Gatwick when heading towards London is great, no need to engage with the (now somewhat diminished) scrum at the bank of ticket machines. I can see it being popular at Heathrow's rail stations too, though some of those passengers on expenses might find it a faff and so prefer another option.
 
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Muzer

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I wonder if this will include acceptance of boundary zone tickets + travelcards... I'm guessing not ;)
 
Starmill

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No, but it is good that the stopping trains will be valid with Travelcards end-to-end in the normal way, as this removes one of the long-standing exceptions to Travelcards.
 
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gray1404

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Will the tube using contactless/oyster retain the cheapest way to get to Heathrow or will this new TFL rail service be the same price but quicker?
 
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Joe Paxton

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gray1404 said:
Will the tube using contactless/oyster retain the cheapest way to get to Heathrow or will this new TFL rail service be the same price but quicker?
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Tube will remain the cheapest way. TfL Rail / Crossrail single fares to/from Heathrow will charge a premium.
 
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gray1404

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Sticking to tube then. By the time I bother getting to Paddington on the tube, it is quicker to get the tube from Euston to Heathrow changing at Green Park.
 
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adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
Muzer said:
I wonder if this will include acceptance of boundary zone tickets + travelcards... I'm guessing not ;)
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Starmill said:
No, but it is good that the stopping trains will be valid with Travelcards end-to-end in the normal way, as this removes one of the long-standing exceptions to Travelcards.
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Last October, I had a Zones 1-6 Off Peak Travelcard and a Boundary of London Zone 6 to Heathrow Rail "Route: Not via London" and used the Heathrow Express in both directions without any problems at all. It is noted that I purchased both tickets from the tall freestanding machine in the booking office at Paddington, with the origin of the Travelcard being from London Paddington.

However, had the Travelcard been from a London Underground station on pink stock, there would have been highly likely a problem, as HEX state that London Underground and Oyster cards are not accepted.
 
Starmill

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For the record I've used one of those too, but they insisted that it was not valid. That meant that I was given a free journey back to Paddington, and thus got two trips on Heathrow Express for the price of one!
 
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Joe Paxton said:
Tube will remain the cheapest way. TfL Rail / Crossrail single fares to/from Heathrow will charge a premium.
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Depends what you mean by charge a premium? There is not a premium charged in the way that there is for journeys from St Pancras International to Stratford International or between London Victoria platforms 15+16 to Gatwick Airport. The zonal caps and apply in the normal way. The single fare is higher but that's not so unusual. Unless you think that there is a 'premium' for travelling from Bethnal Green [NR] to Chingford, rather than Bethnal Green [LU] to Buckhurst Hill. The scale of this difference is bigger though.
 
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swt_passenger

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Please chaps, can we possibly avoid yet another discussion about the various Oyster PAYG fares? We have covered this in depth already just a few weeks ago.
 
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Joe Paxton

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adrock1976 said:
Last October, I had a Zones 1-6 Off Peak Travelcard and a Boundary of London Zone 6 to Heathrow Rail "Route: Not via London" and used the Heathrow Express in both directions without any problems at all. It is noted that I purchased both tickets from the tall freestanding machine in the booking office at Paddington, with the origin of the Travelcard being from London Paddington.

However, had the Travelcard been from a London Underground station on pink stock, there would have been highly likely a problem, as HEX state that London Underground and Oyster cards are not accepted.
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That combo of tickets is not valid on the Heathrow Express. I think you got lucky having it accepted on the day.
 
Starmill

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swt_passenger said:
Please chaps, can we possibly avoid yet another discussion about the various Oyster PAYG fares? We have covered this in depth already just a few weeks ago.
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I don't really see the problem? This thread is, after all, about the changes to Heathrow rail services and the PAYG issues are pretty bound up in those changes.

If you're annoyed by it, nobody forced you to read it. I'm not sure what else you were expecting.
 
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swt_passenger

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Starmill said:
I don't really see the problem? This thread is, after all, about the changes to Heathrow rail services and the PAYG issues are pretty bound up in those changes.

If you're annoyed by it, nobody forced you to read it. I'm not sure what else you were expecting.
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I started it. Would be difficult not to read it as well. Maybe I should have just added it to the end of the previous thread about Oyster and Crossrail...
 
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Brucey

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I see the new TfL Rail map puts Heathrow Terminals 1-3 and 4 inside Zone 6. Does that mean that a paper outboundary Zones 1-6 season would now be valid between Paddington and Heathrow on TfL Rail?
 
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Brucey said:
I see the new TfL Rail map puts Heathrow Terminals 1-3 and 4 inside Zone 6. Does that mean that a paper outboundary Zones 1-6 season would now be valid between Paddington and Heathrow on TfL Rail?
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Does indeed! Successfully did exactly this earlier today, though outboundary travelcards aren't yet being accepted by the Heathrow barriers - no issue with staff letting me through at T2/3, the gateline assistant at T4 looked confused but did eventually let me out - I've fed this back to Heathrow Express who operate the gatelines.
 
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Mike395 said:
Does indeed! Successfully did exactly this earlier today, though outboundary travelcards aren't yet being accepted by the Heathrow barriers - no issue with staff letting me through at T2/3, the gateline assistant at T4 looked confused but did eventually let me out - I've fed this back to Heathrow Express who operate the gatelines.
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Might be worth feeding this back to TfL Rail too (web contact form).
 
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Brucey

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methethpropbut said:
Would a Z1-6 travelcard be valid using TfL rail to T2/3, and then using the free shuttle to T5?
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Interesting question. Probably not, would be my conclusion. You would either have to obtain a free transfer ticket at T2/3, or use Oyster/contactless between the stations.
 
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Brucey said:
Interesting question. Probably not, would be my conclusion. You would either have to obtain a free transfer ticket at T2/3, or use Oyster/contactless between the stations.
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Zone 1-6 travelcards are valid, it was explicitly stated in the original TfL announcement and was discussed in the thread at the time.
 
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swt_passenger said:
Zone 1-6 travelcards are valid, it was explicitly stated in the original TfL announcement and was discussed in the thread at the time.
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But to Heathrow Terminal 5 on the Heathrow Express? I cannot see that being accepted.
 
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Brucey said:
But to Heathrow Terminal 5 on the Heathrow Express? I cannot see that being accepted.
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You didn’t ask about Heathrow Express. But that remains outside the zonal and Oyster systems until later in the year, but will retain special fares.
But any inter-terminal travel is free, as per the linked article at the start of this thread.

The general case for Travel-cards was covered here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/oyster-and-crossrail.160567/page-2#post-3379229
 
Mike395

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Brucey said:
But to Heathrow Terminal 5 on the Heathrow Express? I cannot see that being accepted.
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Not valid from Paddington, but you could use TfL Rail to T2/T3 then use the connecting HEX transfer service to T5 - the transfer between terminals is still free (though you now need to print yourself a free transfer ticket if entering the system at an airport station just to transfer).
 
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Looks like I've opened up quite a can of worms here :D

I guess my question now boils down to - would a Z1-6 travelcard be valid on the free shuttle, or am I expected to get a free inter-terminal ticket? Strange one I know, but I'd rather get this out in the clear before someone rocks up to T5 with a travelcard having done it legitimately and being accused of taking the express!
 
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