hlphillips2

I've been trying for a week to purchase an Oyster Card for public transport in London. I initially thought we'd just do contactless travel, but because it was already a challenge to create an account outside of the UK I thought I'd just go ahead and purchase the online cards and have them shipped to us.
What a challenge!
I'm unable to create an account, nor am I able to purchase a card on the TFL site. I thought it was my browser, but I've tried via Chrome, Safari, and Brave with no luck getting Tube tickets in advance.
Any help is appreciated. Has anyone else had issues? We arrive in London around 11 p.m. in just a few weeks, so I'd really like to have our passes sorted before arrival if at all possible. If not, I suppose we'll taxi into downtown and then figure it out the next day.

janisj

No its not your browser. But not to worry . . . I would not bother with pre-purchasing an Oyster, even if arriving late. It is soooooo easy to just buy one at the machine ay LHR

However, if you decide you don't want to deal with an Oyster after flying overnight . . do NOT take a taxi. It would cost a king's ransom. Pre-book a car service -- Just airports is probably the best. https://www.justairports.com

Arriving that last at night I'd be inclined t use a car service in any case (and I already have an Oyster from previous trips). The tube is a lot less frequent late nights.

rialtogrl

Unless you arrive on a Friday or Saturday night, you might be cutting it pretty close as trains stop running at around 11.30 pm.

‘Book a car service like Janis suggests or, If you are traveling on a Friday or Saturday night and want to wing it, just use contactless to get into town the first night, and buy cards the next day. If it was me I’d 100% be booking a car service at that hour.

PatrickLondon

If you have a contactless bank card, you don't need Oyster, the system will treat it in exactly the same way - one charge made at 0430 each morning, at no more than the daily cap for your pattern of travel in the preceding 24 hours.

And you really don't need the Visitor Oyster.
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KayF

If you decide to get an Oyster card on arrival at Heathrow, ask any of the staff working in the tube/ticket area for assistance. Last year after a very long flight my brain had stalled and the helpful staff got my card in less than 5 minutes. Just say you want an Oyster card (one per person) and put maybe £20 on it, more if you think you'll use it. The card itself is £7.

PatrickLondon

Should have added this link from the horse's mouth;

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-...-pay-as-you-go

Heimdall

As PatrickLondon wrote, if you have a contactless (tap and go) card you don’t need Oyster. Check whether your bank has foreign transaction charges. Rather than going through the fuss of obtaining an Oyster Card I just use the card I already have.

ChgoGal

If you land at 11 pm with carryon, I wouldn't count on getting to the tube within 30 min. Consider deplaning (+10-15 min if in economy), walking to border control (+5-10; this can be a long walk), queueing for border control (+10-30-?), navigating arrivals lounge to tube station in 30 min. Also, you have to add more time for baggage claim if checking bags. (At 11 pm, I expect arrivals have slowed quite a bit so the border control line may not be that bad.)

Also, many travelers get a tiny bit of cash (pounds) from the arrivals lounge ATMs. If you plan on doing this, you may want to add a bit of time for that, too.

A car service or an airport hotel might be a better idea. Especially if the airport hotel is cheaper than a city one. And if your flight is already a long one, do you want to spend another 45 min or so on the tube? You don't want to be stressing about getting to the hotel on your flight over, especially if flight is delayed a bit. And the good thing about landing at night rather than the a.m. from the US, there's a little less jet lag to deal with.

hlphillips2

Thank you for the great advice!
To clarify, will every Tube station have a terminal where we can purchase the card on site? I assume it's like buying the card for the DC Metro or New York's subway. We're near a Tube station that's a bit off the beaten path, and I know some such stations in other cities only have digital terminals at the larger locations.
Contactless credit card would work if we had one for each member of the party (four of us and only two cards). Plus one in our family is 15 so it would be nice to get that discount.

janisj

Every station has ticket machines that issue Oyster Cards -- including LHR.

Since there are four of you I'd definitely consider a car service. (Must be pre-booked) Will probably be 2/3 of what taxi would charge (or less). At that time of night a car would actually be faster than the tube because there is less traffic -- and again, if there are any delays you'd miss the last Piccadilly Line train . . . unless it is is a Fri or Sat.

As ChgoGal mentions -- do consider a hotel at LHR. They can be had for MUCH cheaper than in central London and you can be checked in in minutes. By staying at LHR and taking the tube or Elizabeth Line the next morning you could easily save between £150 and £300+ the first night depending on which hotels you use. (the only two 'expensive' hotels at LHr really are the Hilton Garden Inn at Terminal 2 and the Sofitel at Terminal 5)

subirnag1965

Are Visitor Oyster Cards different from normal Oyster Cards?

I will have contactless Visa cards with pre-loaded GBPs in those cards. Will those work? Any experience?

janisj

Yes - they are the same. But what nationality are you? Pre loaded ££? Why is that?

subirnag1965

I am from India.
Using my Indian Bank issued Visa cards or India issued Amex entails paying significantly higher currency markups and fees. "Forex Cards" is a very popular and significant innovation supported by Visa and MasterCard.

janisj

Just a hunch but if this is a special pre-loaded India-issued credit card it likely isn't touchless. It is very easy to just buy an Oyster in any tube station so nothing to worry about.

subirnag1965

It is contactless, like any modern credit or debit card.

janisj

OH - yes - now I see you mentioned it is contactless earlier in the thread. If it was me -- just me, I'd still plan on buying an Oyster Card. Depends on how comfortable you are using the visa card twice on every tube journey (tapping in and tapping out) sometimes at quite crowded stiles.

Many people are totally happy using their credit cards, but I personally prefer using Oysters . . .