Purchasing Oyster card at Heathrow 2 & 3 Rail (rather than Underground) station

[LittleRedTrain]

Hi all,
I know this should be in theory be an easy Google, but I'm struggling to find a definitive answer, especially from post-Elizabeth Line opening:

I've got some friends visiting the UK for the first time, flying into Heathrow and staying near Paddington.
I'm trying to give them appropriate advice in advance to stop them being suckered into paying the extortionate Heathrow Express fare, and instead use Oyster on the Elizabeth Line.
They'll want to use Oyster for further travel around London anyway, rather than Contactless as they don't have fee-free cards.

What I'm struggling to find out is if they'll actually be able to easily purchase an Oyster card from ticket machines or a counter at Heathrow Terminal 2/3 Rail Station, as opposed to having to walk over to the Underground station first (where they will definitely be available from a standard LU machine).
I know the staff had a reputation for a 'Hard Sell' on HEx, so want to make sure they don't get talked into buying the wrong thing.

I know about Visitor Oyster Cards, but the £2 saving on the deposit would be massively outweighed by the postage cost.

Thanks in advance for anyone who can offer any info.

 

[hkstudent]

Hi all,
I know this should be in theory be an easy Google, but I'm struggling to find a definitive answer, especially from post-Elizabeth Line opening:

I've got some friends visiting the UK for the first time, flying into Heathrow and staying near Paddington.
I'm trying to give them appropriate advice in advance to stop them being suckered into paying the extortionate Heathrow Express fare, and instead use Oyster on the Elizabeth Line.
They'll want to use Oyster for further travel around London anyway, rather than Contactless as they don't have fee-free cards.

What I'm struggling to find out is if they'll actually be able to easily purchase an Oyster card from ticket machines or a counter at Heathrow Terminal 2/3 Rail Station, as opposed to having to walk over to the Underground station first (where they will definitely be available from a standard LU machine).
I know the staff had a reputation for a 'Hard Sell' on HEx, so want to make sure they don't get talked into buying the wrong thing.

I know about Visitor Oyster Cards, but the £2 saving on the deposit would be massively outweighed by the postage cost.

Thanks in advance for anyone who can offer any info.

The ticket office of Hex would not sell oystercard.
As I have remembered, there are new style TfL ticket machines (blue coloured) in the concourse of Heathrow Central Rail Station, but not certain about whether they do sell oystercard as like in other LU stations.

Note: the "deposit" of oystercard is now changed to a non refundable fee of £7.

Worst case scenario, just buy a Off Peak Zone 1-6 day travelcard from the ticket machine, which is just about £3 more than a single Elizabeth Line fare, and be not more than £1 over the daily capping of zone 1-6.

Alternatively, using contactless payment card (or saved in mobile phone wallet) is also an option. Most overseas card are OK to use in TfL system, with some exception cases of the card being blocked by the bank to use in the TfL system on the day after (which would requiring to call the bank to unlock).

 

[LittleRedTrain]

Thanks. We'd rather they used Oyster as they don't want TfL putting lots of little charges on their card, each with a Foreign Exchange fee, much better if they can just top up once.

It would be helpful if anyone with recent experience could please confirm whether Oyster Cards are available from the machines in the HEx/Elizabeth Line station.

 

[BlueLeanie]

Thanks. We'd rather they used Oyster as they don't want TfL putting lots of little charges on their card, each with a Foreign Exchange fee, much better if they can just top up once.

It would be helpful if anyone with recent experience could please confirm whether Oyster Cards are available from the machines in the HEx/Elizabeth Line station.

There won't be "lots of little charges" on their cards though, they'll probably reach the daily max so a single charge will go through. F/X fee won't matter either as it's usually a percentage rather than a fixed fee. Besides, won't they be using an f/x free card like most normal tourists anyway?

 

[Pushpit]

Yes, Oyster Cards are sold via the well marked machines at T2-T3, as well as T4 and T5. At T5 it's best to buy at the Arrivals level rather than the platform level since there are only a couple of machines on the platform level. The only thing to watch is on the first screen where it asks how much you want to add to the card's value - there is the cost of the Oyster on top. This admittedly is clearer on the follow-up screens.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

There won't be "lots of little charges" on their cards though, they'll probably reach the daily max so a single charge will go through. F/X fee won't matter either as it's usually a percentage rather than a fixed fee. Besides, won't they be using an f/x free card like most normal tourists anyway?

This will be the first time they've travelled outside North America, and as slightly less tech-savvy folks, aren't as familiar with the fee-free options available with things like Revolut or mobile device payments, so will be simpler to just keep it to Oyster topped up by cash so they don't get any surprises.

Yes, Oyster Cards are sold via the well marked machines at T2-T3, as well as T4 and T5. At T5 it's best to buy at the Arrivals level rather than the platform level since there are only a couple of machines on the platform level. The only thing to watch is on the first screen where it asks how much you want to add to the card's value - there is the cost of the Oyster on top. This admittedly is clearer on the follow-up screens.

Thanks for confirming.

 

[BlueLeanie]

This will be the first time they've travelled outside North America, and as slightly less tech-savvy folks, aren't as familiar with the fee-free options available with things like Revolut or mobile device payments, so will be simpler to just keep it to Oyster topped up by cash so they don't get any surprises.

Contactless is quite common in the USA. New York new uses a similar system to London with simply tapping your Card with a daily fare cap. I just use my Virgin or Halifax card abroad as if I'm at home with transactions processed at Mastercard Rate.

Think about what they are doing though. If they are buying an Oyster Card at £7 each, and even if they have some shocking 2% turn on their FX, they'd have to spend over £700 on TfL to come close to breaking even from simply tapping.

 

[hkstudent]

If the cards are from the State, got to be a little cautious here, as some of the LU barrier rejected cards at touristic stations are those from the states for being blocked by the banks in the second+ time of the usage, or needing to do pin+chip transactions elsewhere to unblock. So if using the cards, better notify the bank in advance about the usage in the UK.