CarolA

I am flying into LHR and spending the first few days of my vacation in Paris, returning to London and then flying home.

Land at LHR around 10:30 A.M

My original plan was to take the Eurostar round trip, but having done some "playing around" I can get round trip air for about $30 more then the train. The real advantage to this is that I don't have to haul my "jetlagged" body into London for the train. Of coursee I think have to get from Heathrow to London when I return, but at least I will be awake!

So what are your thoughts on plane vs train for this route and how long would you want to connect (remember it's an unprotected connection) I am thinking 4 hours......

Feedback welcome Thanks!

janisj

I'd fly from LHR to Paris and then take the train back to London.

jent103

Ditto. I'm guessing at least three hours between flights but four may not be a bad idea.

If the round trip flight is a lot cheaper than a one-way ticket, getting from LHR into central London is pretty easy.

CarolA

I looked into flying one way and taking the train the other.... It gets somewhat more costly. (A one way ticket to Paris is $300! Round trip $150?) I could throw away the return and take the train, but that's another $50 to $60 so.... decisions!

(The best part... The airfare is $11... yes ELEVEN DOLLARS. The difference between $11 and $150 is taxes!)

Seamus

Carol, into which Paris airport?

CarolA

I can do either Orly or CDG. I will probably do Orly since it's closer to my hotel (which is just down the road from the Orly Bus stop, easy commute I have done it in the past)

uhoh_busted

Which airport does the London flight leave from...are you sure it is LHR?

alanRow

The best thing to have done was arrange an open jaws / multicity ticket so you flew into Paris and out of London. This would ensure that it's the airline's problem if things go wrong anywhere in the process.

Second best is to arrange a flight from Heathrow to Paris with the same airline or a partner airline - this MIGHT save you the hassle of having to pass through UK immigration, collecting & recheck luggage.

Third best is a flight with a non-connected airline from Heathrow. In this case you will go through immigration and collecting / rechecking luggage.

For the above 2 options you'd be foolish allowing less than 4 hours between flights unless you can get guarantees that your luggage will be checked through

Don't even think of getting Eurostar to Paris as you'll have the hassle of getting to central London for the train - which means you need to allow 90 more minutes to do the transfer by which time you could have been in Paris and unpacked

CarolA

While I realize that it might have made more sense to fly open jaw... if you knew the airfare we were getting vs the additional cost to CDG you would know why we made this choice. (It's costing us less to fly Business Class to LHR then it would to fly coach to CDG, no brainer in my book)

I have actually done the Eurostar to Paris on this same routing. And no I won't be in Paris and unpacked... IT's the same 4 hours.. Plus the time I spend getting to St. Pancreas is about the same as the time I will spend getting from the airport in France. Either way there's a delay. (My luggage will not be checked through, of course it also won't be under the plane so it's not really an issue. I can do 3 weeks out of a 21" carryon... a 7 day trip is a breeze! ) The advantage to the Eurostar vs. the plane... the train has a better "on time rating" (I have flown CDG to LHR... every time I have hit a delay!)

Actually we are now thinking of just "rearranging the trip" Do London first. Go to Paris, take the LATE train back to London and just keep going to LHR and spend the last night there. (I have some Starwood points= Free room at the Shearton Heathrow)

I am sure my options leave out of LHR. (I travel a lot, I am good at airport codes which are really useless to know but there you go)

Thanks!