We're landing at Heathrow next week at Terminal 2, then heading for the night to a little hotel walking distance from the Chalk Farm tube station. Looking to pick up two oyster cards at Terminal 2 to catch the TFL into London (well, Ealing Broadway, then to the Central Line to the Northern Line). Websites I've looked at suggest one can purchase and load the Oyster Card at Terminal 2, but in the Underground station. Don't know if that and the TFL is connected. If it is not, where does one pick up and load the Oyster Card if taking the TFL?

It's been years (20+) since I've taken public transportation from or to Heathrow, and because we always stay in Brentwood with a friend, we've never had need to get an Oyster card. We either rent a car and take the M25 or one of my friends picks us up, and we purchase the day pass from Brentwood when we go into London.

This time, however, like I said, we're in town for the night, and later that afternoon, taking the tube to my Uncle's in Chiswick and back, then taking the Tube to St. Pancras station the next day, so we finally need an Oyster Card!

Second question, would a load up of £20 per card be sufficient?

Thanks in advance.

TFL (Transport for London) is a body that runs public transport system in London, including the underground (tube). Just go the underground station (combined one for Terminal 2 & 3) and go to one of the ticket machines, and you can buy your Oyster Card and add credit. £20 is more than sufficient.
Or if you aren't going to use Oyster much, you can just use contactless card (without foreign use fee), which charges you the same fare. Then you don't have to worry about the deposit or topping up.

Thanks Alec. When I said TFL, and I apologize, I was referring to the rail line (formerly called Heathrow Connect) that runs from Heathrow to Paddington, with a stop at Ealing Broadway.

Since I take rail between Brentwood and Liverpool St all the time, I know at Liverpool Street, the rail line is separate from the Underground Liverpool Street station. In the same complex, but different areas of the station. So, I was wondering if it was the same at Terminal 2. Does that make sense of my confusion?!?

The train station (for the Heathrow Connect and Express trains) is a separate place (they aren't far apart though). Just follow the signs for the Underground. There are many ticket machines and usually not much id any wait. There are staff hovering who can help you.

. . . But do you really want to schlepp that?? You can book justairports or similar for not a lot more than the oysters+deposits. aand it would be from the exit from arrivals door to door. Would be approx £45 cash price. A lot easier after an overnight flight from the west coast.

(BTW if you do take the tube -- no need to change at Ealing Bdwy unless it is a weekend when there is work being done on the Piccadilly line)

Hey Janis, how goes it! Thanks. Yeah, rather than take the Piccadilly Line to the Northern Line, I wanted to take the train then cut over to the Central line to the Northern Line for 2 reasons: (1) I didn't want to spend over an hour on the tube; and (2) I did not want to change trains at Leicester Square. It's been awhile, but my recollections if there's a lot of huffing and puffing changing tube lines at Leicester Square. So I thought it would be easier to catch the Central Line at the TFL train stop at Ealing Broadway, then transfer to the Northern Line at Tottenham Ct. Road. Although that station may be as difficult as the change over at Leicester Square.

Tell me if I'm wrong. If it is going to be a schlepp, then I'll book with justairports and go that way. If I do justairports, what do you suggest we tip?

Thanks again, great advice!

Hi

Three problems -- 1) The schlepp: from T2 to the stations (whether you use the Connect/Express or the Tube), the sclelpp changing, and getting through the various stations, and then the schlepp from the station to your hotel.

2) Unless things have changed - Oysters are not valid on either Connect/Express so you'd have to stop at the Underground machines to buy your Oysters and then press on to the train station (its not much of a detour)

3) even IF none of that is daunting - what if you exit Chalk Farm station and it is raining sideways? Not fun.

Compare that to - exit Arrivals, see driver holding an iPad with your name on it, s/he takes your luggage, escorts you to the car park, settle in with a bottle of water and relax until the car pulls up in front of your hotel.

Thanks, Janis. Will go with your suggestion.

As for point 2, Oysters ARE now valid on both Connect and Express. It has been for a while on the formerly named Connect. Since February, 2019, both Oysters and contactless payments may be made on Express.

I checked and with a credit card, justairports is 56 quid, and from what I've seen on old threads, it's cheaper if payment is made in cash.

Good to know -- I almost never travel in via Paddington so hadn't used the Connect in years.

What was the Connect service is now taken over by TfL and temporarily rebranded as TfL Rail, along with some other suburban rail services. The Heathrow bit will eventually (some time next year?) become part of the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) running through central London and out the other side. It's already using the new trains for Crossrail, if you want a taster.

https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-informatio...elizabeth-line

Wow, PatrickLondon! That will take me right to Brentwood! What is the ETA for the full line to go into effect, if you know?

We'd all like to know that. The original bright and breezy presentation crashed into the barriers of reality some time ago.

From the CrossRail website:

Due to the complexity of the remaining work, Crossrail Ltd has identified a six-month delivery window between October 2020 and March 2021 for the start of Elizabeth line services through central London. Crossrail Ltd will be able to provide increasing certainty about when the Elizabeth line will once we start to fully test the operational Railway and integrate the train and signalling software.

The central section of the Elizabeth line will open between Paddington and Abbey Wood and link the West End, the City of London, Canary Wharf and southeast London with initially 12 trains per hour. It is expected that all stations on the route will open except for Bond Street which will not be ready to open until 2021.

One of the problems, AIUI, is that there are different signalling systems on the three different sections being integrated into the one line, so the trains will have to switch seamlessly between them: if they don't, they will grind to a halt just as they enter or leave the central section tunnels.

What a nightmare. No wonder people cry at Greenpark tube station. Thank the gods of Gucci for Klonopin.

Thin🚉

Well, it turns out just as I was going to make reservations for justairports, I got a notice from Expedia that I guess was supposed to go to their "partner" Chase bank where I was using points to book a hotel room. With a rather cryptic message stating "the property is unable to accept your guest's reservations for their upcoming stay due to Unplanned issue." Even the person at Chase Travel hadn't heard this excuse before!

So back to the drawing board, and with a lot more points than I had when I booked in July, I made a new reservation at a hotel right around the corner from Marble Arch station. Which I happen to like, as I used to work a block away from that station and know the area in my sleep. (Plus I can snag a few provisions the next morning from Selfridges to tide us over on the Eurostar later that day!).

Which makes taking the former Heathrow Connect to Ealing Broadway, change to the Central line a super easy transition. The money saved using public transport will instead be used for a taxi to St. Pancras.