Perhaps I am missing some possibilities but would really like to hear some honest answers as to the pros and cons of using the following methods to get from Heathrow into the city (specifically, Covent Garden)

Method One: Get a car service which picks you up at your arrival terminal and drops you off at the front door of your accommodation. Advantage of a set price regardless of traffic; hopefully reliable; costs money but also the easiest and most convenient method

Method Two: Heathrow Express; you catch it at the arrival terminal and it takes you directly to Paddington where you either get a taxi or the Tube. Cheaper than Method One but you have to pull, schlepp, heave, etc., bags to that taxi (and there may very well be a wait depending on time of day) and then there may be stairs to negotiate using the Tube; cheaper than Method One in terms of MONEY

Method Three: Heathrow Connect; least understood by me nso help me out. it is basically taking the Tube to Paddington, right? And you may have to change depending on which arrival Terminal at LHR-yes? no? You may have top understand the difference between Travel Cards; visitor travel cards, oyster cards, etc., etc. Cheaper than Method One and Two-I THINK

Method Four: You get a "friend" you met at a Fodorite GTG to collect you and your luggage at Heathrow and they drive you to your accommodation. They don't charge you any money but en route you are treated to an absolute diatribe about "gullible Americans" (yeah, how could we have been so stupid as to think there are actually friendly people over here? Is it too late to cancel?) and the usual passive=aggressive comments including, "I hope you didn't buy this (pass)" or "I hope you weren't stupid enough to even think about doing (that)" Advantages: cheaper than all the methods above; Disadvantages: I cannot begin to imagine

Method Five: Go the Tube station, buy a ticket, get on Tube train, get off Tube train 55 minutes later at Covent Garden

Maximum cost - under £5 per person

Method 3 - The HEC is a train, just that it runs less frequently and stops on it's way into London at several places. It is not a Tube train.

Method 2 - With 2 or more people it's more expensive than a car service and if you use a taxi to get to your hotel it's more expensive for 1 person. Use only if you have an expense account.

Method 4 - "friend" will tell you to get the bl**dy Tube

The answer always depends on a wide range of circs.

To get to Covent Garden, under almost all circumstances, the tube's the only sensible option. But, because someone else was paying in those days, I spent five years ALWAYS getting a hired car between LHR and my WC2 office

It's almost impossible to conceive of any circumstance in which using the HEC or HEX makes any sense to get to WC2. Yet a year or so ago I found myself in just that bizarre combination (ultimately down to the vagaries of the fare structure for a Cotswold-Heathrow-USA-WC2-Cotswold journey).

You have to decide for yourself exactly where you want to get to, how much you've got to spend and how you feel about lugging luggage. Some end up concluding the Addison-Lee motorbike service fits their bill: others just take the limo that comes with a J class fare.

Method Four. Your "friend" will almost certainly expect you to pay the £8 congestion charge, and maybe buy also him a meal for putting himself out for such an ugrateful wretch.

Agree with Alan. The HEX is nice enough, but the cost is a bit steep. Maybe if it put you in a more central location than Paddington, but it usually doesn't work for me. Transfers to the tube from the HEX are too much hassle.

Given that you will be going to Covent Garden, I would just take the Tube. It is cheap, and when you don't have to change lines, it is convenient enough. This is a bit more trouble when returning to Heathrow, as the bag areas are often occupied by people by the time you get on.

Car service or Tube.
Take about the same time but Tube is cheaper (and less fun with lots of luggage).

Your imaginary friend will tell you to take a hike.

I’ve consumed a few pints since my last visit but isn’t there a large number of stairs to navigate at Covent Garden.

Covent Garden is one the few stations with lifts to take you to the surface. I would not hesitate to agreeing the Underground is the best option for Covent Garden, nothing will be quicker or cheaper. If you have 36 bags to carry it might be a different matter.

I appreciate the responses which have helped, somewhat.

Frankly, I've got enough money that I don't want to put up with those stares from London folks because I had the nerve to get on a Tube train with luggage that blocks their way; I don't want to wait for those lifts at Covent Garden and I don't want to roll any luggage to Neal Street...ANY luggage!

At Covent Garden tube station, there are no escalators, so everyone uses the lifts. Only Dukey1 knows how much luggage he has. As far as I'm concerned, if it doesn't fit on a tube train, then it's far too much.

<<Frankly, I've got enough money that I don't want to put up with those stares from London folks because I had the nerve to get on a Tube train with luggage that blocks their way; I don't want to wait for those lifts at Covent Garden and I don't want to roll any luggage to Neal Street...ANY luggage!>>

It sounds to me like you've already decided you want the private car option and just need encouragement. That's what I do now that I can afford it. When I was younger I used to take the Picadilly line and never had a problem from the locals; for the return trip there's still a lot to be said for the tube or the HEX since you don't have to worry about trafffic delays.

I'd go for the private car.

The only options that make much sense to Covent Garden are:

• tube -- easy, cheap, lifts (w/ very little waiting since there are 4 of them). And no one would give you a second look about luggage

or

• car service -- easier (less walking), more expensive, could take longer depending on time of day.

Thousands of locals take the tube to/from Heathrow every day. I took the tube last week, and no one even noticed my luggage. FWIW, on the Piccadilly line cars, there are extra luggage space (2 seats are taken out to make a "priority luggage area"). And if you're boarding at Heathrow (the terminal for Piccadilly line), the train cars are empty and you just put your luggage in the designated area and grab a seat.