I'm traveling from Heathrow to Islington section of London and would like a recommendation on a car service. Any ideas on how much this would cost? I have a large piece of luggage and am arriving during rush hour so the subway would be difficult to negotiate.

In April a taxi was quoted to me around 60gbp for central London.

We used a service at Heathrow called Dot2Dot that was around 19gbp. Look up the areas it serves. It seems to slightly overlap with Islington but it's a little hard for me to tell.

Companies that get good reviews:

http://www.london-transfers.com/
http://www.justairports.com/
http://www.swisscottagecars.com

Cost will be in the 30-40 pound range, I believe.

We have used justairports.com a few times and have been pleased.

I also recommend justairports. Used them many times the year I lived in London one year ago. If you have the postal code for your destination in Islington (probably N1) you can find the cost on their website. Note additional charge for pick up at airport (for their parking). Those rates are cash (you can do credit card for a higher price although I don't know how much higher I always paid cash).

I took the Just Airports private car two days ago--price was 40 pounds to The City including parking charge and luggage fee. We are being picked up today and taken to Heathrow for 31 pounds. Thank you to Laurie for recommending this service!!

I always use Ray at http://www.london-transfers.com/. He is very reliable.

Dot2Dot won't go to N1, N5 or N7 addresses.

It WILL go to Kings Cross station, so if you're going to N1 addresses immediately by the station you might be OK (tell the system you want Kings Cross). It'll go to WC1 and EC1 addresses in Islington - but not north of the line between Kings Cross and City Rd tube. If you want one of those nice canal-side houses just off the City Rd, it might be worth calling Dot2Dot to see how strictly this rule is applied, since it's half the price of a conventional car service.

ekscrunchy,

Did you make your reservations on line? I requested a reservation on the justairports.com website 2 days ago and have had no confirmation. I also emailed them early this morning with no response.
Did you find them to be quick with their response to you?

Beth

Hi bethyk - although I'm not ekscrunchy, I did recently make reservations with Just Airports. Because we have a group, I used the "contact us" form on their web site, as opposed to the "book online" option. No response for several days. I sent another message via the form, stating that I had already emailed once and would appreciate a quick response. That did get me a response, and once we were communicating via "real" email, they were more responsive. I'd try again and mention that this is the second attempt.

Beth: I did book online and received a quick response; I would suggest resending your request. Use this e-mail; that is the address I had:

[email protected]


On the way home yesterday, I phoned them the night before to book a car for the trip to Heathrow. Great service! 31 pounds from central London to Heathrow.

Thank you jent103 and ekscrunchy.
I just sent an email to them using the above contact info.
Hopefully I will receive a reply soon as we will need transportion next week.

Beth

Make sure to check the spam filter, Beth. Let us know what happens. My friend who is living in London was amazed at their low prices to the airport. Also nice drivers, who actually wear coat and tie!

ekscrunchy,

No response from justairports. I tried filling in their form on line, sending a request through their link AND emailing them direct per the email address above.
Frustrating.
I have checked my spam filter as well.

Any other recommendations for another car company?

Beth

scroll back up, I and someone else recommended http://www.london-transfers.com/

Beth: I wonder what could be the problem?? They seem to be much less costly than London Transfers...


If you want to try one more time, resend your e-mail using the e-mail address I posted above, and put "Attn: Pradip Neupane" in the subject line. He was the person I communicated with last week.

ekscrunchy,

Justairports success finally. I tried sending our request from my husband's computer and it worked.
We did get a response from Pradip Neupane. The cost will be 81 pounds for round trip from LHR to our hotel near Hyde Park.
We are a family of four with 4 big bags and each have a small carry-on. The hotel was going to charge us 78 pounds one way so I guess that's a pretty fair price.

One question...they are allowing 30 minutes for us to clear customs. After that we will be charged for the overtime. Does that sound like enough time? We'll be flying first class with our FF upgrades.

Thanks for your help.

Beth

I just flew First with Justairports picking me up. Half hour is plenty of time. You should be fast-tracked through passport control & your luggage should be there by the time you arrive at baggage. I was also charged 3GBP for the parking lot.

Oh, and don't worry if the plane is delayed arriving. Justairports monitors the flights.

Right--they monitor the flights. We had carryons and were definitely out in 30 minutes. The driver was waiting with a sign at the Hertz booth. If you do have to pay for parking, I think the fee will be very small--maybe 2 pounds or so..

We were charged 40 pounds to the city and 31 back to the airport. They take credit cards but I think there is a small supplement for using them.