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How much time should we allow to get to St. Pancras from Heathrow on a week-day afternoon?

How much time should we allow to get to St. Pancras from Heathrow on a week-day afternoon?

Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 01:07 PM
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How much time should we allow to get to St. Pancras from Heathrow on a week-day afternoon?

Greetings all... After receiving a ton of good advice here on airfare, our traveling party has decided to take the Eurostar from London to Paris. We have a direct flight from Seattle to London booked on Northwest. Our estimated arrival at Heathrow is 4:15 pm. The departures for Eurostar are 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, and 8:00. Which one should we take?

We are also a bit concerned about getting into Paris late at night and having to take the subway to our apt. Is it safe to take the metro at 11-ish? I have taken the metro before, but not that late, and I'm not familiar with the Paris Nord area. My big concern is that we will have our luggage, and also a large amount of cash (1600 euro) for the rest of the payment and deposit on our apt. Is there a better option for getting to our apt, for example, sharing a cab (there are 4 of us traveling together).

Thank you in advance for any advice!
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 01:42 PM
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8 PM - but as I have already said, you have a good chance of not making it.

Definitely take a cab, but make sure you are in the authorized taxi lineup.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 02:09 PM
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We're planning on taking the Eurostar, not another flight out of Heathrow.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 02:26 PM
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I know that, but you have a very good chance of not making it, regardless (less chance of making the Eurostar than if you stayed at Heathrow and took an 8 PM flight). And walkup tickets for Eurostar for the next day are exceedingly expensive.

But if you want to proceed, I'd take a taxi once you arrive in Paris.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 02:41 PM
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You need to allow up to one hour to clear immigration/passport control and up to another hour to get to St. Pancras International. There is a 30-minute check-in deadline for the Eurostar. If your plane is late, you will need all the cushion you can get. If you buy Eurostar tickets that are exchangeable, you could take a chance and book the 7:00 p.m. train--with the option of exchanging them for the 8:00 p.m. train. If your tickets aren't exchangeable, book the 8:00 p.m. train.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 02:55 PM
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There's also landing and then actually getting to the gate and into the terminal at Heathrow - a process that can take 90 minutes or longer in my experience. In general, the later in the day the flight is, the more chance of it being late. My experience with Heathrow and with Northwest (in separate circumstances) makes me see any supposed landing time as hypothetical only.

I'd also expect it to take more than hour to get to St. Pancras, as even if all goes well, the original poster would be traveling at the height of rush hour.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 02:56 PM
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IMHO the only one you have a tinker's chance of making is the 8 p.m. And if you miss it - then what?

4:15 is not when you start for London - that is when your plane is scheduled to touch down. You could be out on the tarmac 15-30 mins. Then another 15 mins to de-plane a jumbo. Then a looooong walk to arrivals, immigration, luggage collection and such. So if everything goes like clockwork - you can start to look for the HEX station by about 6 p.m.

Then a long walk to the HEX, 5-15 mins wait for the next train, 15 mins to Paddington, then queue for a taxi at Paddington. You could be in your cab by 6:45.

You have to check in for the Eurostar 30 mins ahead of time - so for 7:00 to work at all you'll need to win the lottery.

And if your flight is even 20 minutes late - the 8:00 train would be really difficult. I'm sorry you are so set against flying from LHR to CDG. You could be IN PARIS before even boarding the Eurostar in London.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 02:57 PM
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I'd overnight in London and book the Eurostar for the following morning...much less anxiety producing.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 03:05 PM
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I absolutely agree w/ azzure - if the Eurostar is a MUST, stay the night in London and take an early a.m. train to Paris.
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 03:09 PM
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I was advised repeatedly in another thread that taking the Eurostar was a better option than taking another flight from Heathrow. Staying in London is not an option. Should we try and fly out of Heathrow?
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 03:26 PM
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Uh - yes. That is what we've been trying to say. Taking the train is wonderful IF you are already in London. But you are not going to be IN London, you are going to be at LHR. You'd have to rush across all of London to get to St Pancras. Instead you can just change terminals. And most likely be able to check your bags all the way through . . . . . .
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Old Feb 22nd, 2008, 04:29 PM
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I assume there is some reason you are not flying to Paris when your destination is Paris? I too would fly LHR to CDG instead of taking the Eurostar. BA has flights to Paris from LHR that go every 2 hours or so and the cost is reasonable for most flights if booked in advance. You do have to allow for delays in getting to your LHR-CDG flight but thats nothing like having to go through customs and immigration and taking your baggage and rushing across town to catch the train.
I should further note that I have a good friend who has a sister who lives in London and travels there to visit every year. In 2007 he flew into LHR in the afternoon at the same time flights from Nigeria and India etc came in. Took him almost 4 hours to get through non EU immigrations and customs.
Take a taxi when you reach Paris. You will be tired and you have baggage and there are four of you so the cost of a taxi is quite reasonable per person.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2008, 12:09 AM
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I can't for the life of me even begin to imagine why you're going into London during the rush hour to get to Paris.

Anyone who suggested that is completely bonkers, If you really did get such a fatheaded piece of advice on this forum, quote the URL so we can suggest to whoever's so deranged how they can seek help.

You want to get booked on an Air France flight from LHR to Paris, if there are any left after April 1. That way, NW will through-check your bags and you'll just transfer without having to go through immigration. The likelihood is that NW won't through-check your bags onto a BA flight, but if that's all you can get booked onto, since AF are cutting back their LHR-CDG flights to get slots for things like the flight you're on, it'll mean going through immigration, retrieving your bags and getting the train to T5 to recheckin. But that's still better than doing all that and then having to cope with central London.

If for whatever reason you're determined to stay with this ridiculous train plan, you should also ignore the equally ridiculous advice of getting a taxi, either from LHR or from Paddington (Have any of these people tried driving along the Euston Rd in the early evening? And got to their destination in the same decade?).

The fastest way from T4 to St Pancras isn't comfortable, but here goes:
- Free Heathrow Connect to Heathrow Central
- More or less same-platform HEX to Paddington
- Bakerloo Line tube to Oxford Circus. Look carefully for the signs to the NORTHBOUND Victoria Line
- Victoria Line to Kings Cross. Follow the exit signs for St Pancras International.

This routing takes 40 mins from the time you get on the Heathrow Connect to the time you get to the St Pancras checkin turnstiles. It involves several sets of steps, both at Oxford Circus and Kings Cross, and is not suitable for the frail or for people with cumbersome baggage. But the combination of the HEX/Connect, Bakerloo and Victoria Line constitutes the single most reliable form of transport in London.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2008, 12:16 AM
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PS: One piece of mild reassurance.

One side-effect of the massive re-allocation of terminals at Heathrow is that there will be virtually no flights to Terminal 4 (used by NW) from countries with a high incidence of illegal immigrants: practically all flights will be from the US, EU or Korea.

So your chances of finding yourself in an immigration queue behind 150 Ghanaian "football supporters" for a year or three will be lower than at any other terminal.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2008, 09:39 AM
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We're flying to London instead of Paris because we got a $650 direct flight to London. I reread the other thread, and people seemed to be saying that the St. Pancras connection was less likely than flying out of Heathrow, and both have a snowball's chance in hell.

If we carry on our bags, would this make the connection at Heathrow more likely? I'd rather fly through British Air since I just checked the Air France price from London to Paris and it was $670 per person whereas British Air is about $100.
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Old Feb 23rd, 2008, 10:09 AM
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Only marginally more likely, as the difference between checked or carry-on is only a few minutes. The bags tend to get delivered to a carousel while you're queued at immigration/passport control, therefore you don't have to wait for them - merely to collect them.

I think the 8:00 Eurostar would be a slam-dunk, but as other have suggested, if the downside risk is excessive, don't try it.

The Métro is safe up to the minute it closes around 1h30 (with the exception of a few dodgy locations you'll probably never see) - but with that much moolah in your jeans, I suggest you take a taxi from Gare du Nord.
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Old Feb 24th, 2008, 07:02 AM
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If you don't have checked luggage (or it's checked through) then you don't have to go trough UK immigration to catch an onward flight. This will save at least an hour getting between flights

Just follow the signs to "Flight Connections Centre"
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Old Feb 24th, 2008, 07:29 AM
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What time is the flight you can get for Heathrow to London? Since that's ticketed differently, if you miss that flight you'll have to pay for another ticket out of ticket. But granted, if you miss your Eurostar train if it happens to be non-refundable, non-exchangeable, the effect will be the same.

Try checking flightstats.com to see what the historical on-time information for your flight has been.

I'm not sure if Eurostar really strictly enforces the 30 minute deadline. I think that it may not, but obviously I wouldn't count on it. I also seem to recall if you buy First Class, the deadline is shortened. There're occasions when First Class is nearly the same as Second Class (depending on restrictions -- for example, it could be that you can only buy a Second Class with more liberal cancellation policies when you book, but you can buy a more restrictive First Class ticket at that time for nearly the same price).
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Old Feb 24th, 2008, 07:31 AM
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If you're concerned about the Eurostar checkin deadline, you should verify that information online or calling Eurostar directly, by the way.
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Old Feb 24th, 2008, 08:14 AM
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If you're concerned about the Eurostar checkin deadline, there's too little slack in your schedule.

Book the 20:00 and hope for the best.
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