Liz5959

We are arriving LHR at 10:45pm (thanks to gardyloo who suggested that as a good flight time to help with jetlag). But, I can't seem to really find out how late the tube runs. And, can I buy a 7 day Oyster card then and add whatever additional funds I need for the trip to/from LHR (the following Sat)?

I have a reservation with Checker Cabs for £42.50 and one with London-Transfers.com for £54. The checker cabs you have to go find, London-Transfers is the kind that stands up with a sign and waits.

I have to assume that after arrival, getting through passport control etc. we won't be at the tube stop at Heathrow until quite late. I really would rather take the tube and save the $. Any help or advice appreciated.

asalamy

This site from TFL will have the timings for the tubes and you can play around with the Journey Planner:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1129.aspx

From Journey Planner it looks like the tube isn't a feasible option for you at this hour.

laurie_ann

The real problem we found out on a similar flight to London is that the connector train that gets you from the terminal to the tube also doesn't run late enough. If you are interested there are buses that run from LHR all night I believe. You can find those also on www.tfl.gov.uk. On my quick search using journey planner feature there and the time of 12:15 am it is the bus N9 you want. Takes about 45 min to one hour. Leaves about every 20 minutes. (On our trip we were just going from T3 to T5 to spend the night before our onward flight so when we missed the connector train we just took a cab directly to the hotel.)

If you don't want the bus are you sure there isn't a cheaper car service to order in advance? www.justaiports.com which I and many others on this board recommend would be only about 30 pounds plus 6 pounds parking fee.

Liz5959

Thanks. I tried the justairports.com link the other day and the website must have been down. I assumed it was the same price as London-Transfers.com, but it is much less expensive. I tried again today and was able to book a cab for £30 + £6 parking fee. They will meet us at the Hertz counter in Terminal 3.

Iowa_Redhead

I took that flight time the first time I went to London (it's excellent for preventing jet lag) and due to a slight flight delay and then getting through passport control, everything was shut down by the time I was ready to leave the airport. I was also going to the High Street Kensington station.

There is a night bus (N9) that picks up right outside the airport and goes to the High Street Kensington area. It was fine and I don't remember it taking very long at all. Use google street level to get an idea of your route from the bus stop to your hotel/apartment as it's hard to get going in the right direction in the dark. As others have suggested, use tfl.gov.uk to find bus times, rates and stops.

I ordered an oyster PAYG card before I left home. You could easily just pay cash for the bus and then get the oyster card the next day.