Londoners: What's the best public transport option from Heathrow to Kings Cross?

[mjr]

No it's not. Stanstead Express to Ely, pop two stops over to Peterborough and from there, GNER northwards. There's far worse places to wait for a train than Ely station.

Greater Anglia to Ely. The Stansted Express brand is only used to London. Or you can get Crosscountry direct Stansted to Peterborough but it's often silly busy.

There's far worse places to wait for a train than Ely station, but not many windier! 🌬️

 

[Reynard]

Greater Anglia to Ely. The Stansted Express brand is only used to London. Or you can get Crosscountry direct Stansted to Peterborough but it's often silly busy.

I'm sure I've seen special Stanstead services from Ely, but then it's been a couple of years since I last took a train out of there despite it being my local "big" station, so my memory may well be faulty.

There's far worse places to wait for a train than Ely station, but not many windier! 🌬️

Or colder! But they're improved the facilities markedly. Failing that, there's a Costa Coffee in the Tesco at the other end of the car park.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Thanks for the help thus far... Can I assume there's an information desk of some kind at Heathrow where I can get a ticket for the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross?

I'm also resigned to getting a ticket on arrival at Kings's cross, as the alternative is fraught with complications, and BritRail now only offer tickets downloaded to phones, which I'm not planning to touch.

 

[Pblakeney]

Thanks for the help thus far... Can I assume there's an information desk of some kind at Heathrow where I can get a ticket for the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross?

I'm also resigned to getting a ticket on arrival at Kings's cross, as the alternative is fraught with complications, and BritRail now only offer tickets downloaded to phones, which I'm not planning to touch.

IIRC when I had to use it unexpectedly, there is a machine before you go through the gates to the platform at Heathrow. I just asked some staff.
Then there are machines at Kings Cross. I got lucky with a good seat available within 10 minutes. Good luck!

 

[sungod]

Thanks for the help thus far... Can I assume there's an information desk of some kind at Heathrow where I can get a ticket for the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross?

I'm also resigned to getting a ticket on arrival at Kings's cross, as the alternative is fraught with complications, and BritRail now only offer tickets downloaded to phones, which I'm not planning to touch.

for the tube, you can just tap in/out with a credit card at each end of the journey

train ticket options may vary with seller, in general i thought you could download/email and print if you wanted, it's just a qr code

 

[Dogtrousers]

Contactless debit/credit card is your best bet for a tube journey. No need to buy a ticket. However, whether it will work with a German card I don't know (It should do, but who knows). There will also be machines for selling tickets near the barrier.

As to tickets downloaded to phones I was very wary of them to start with, but over the past couple of years I've warmed to them. Although I often also carry a paper printout of it too... Just in case.

You'll often get a much better price if you book in advance and limit yourself to a specific train. But if you miss that train, you're stuffed.

 

[mjr]

for the tube, you can just tap in/out with a credit card at each end of the journey

train ticket options may vary with seller, in general i thought you could download/email and print if you wanted, it's just a qr code

Yes, national rail e-ticket codes (actually Aztec codes not QR, but effectively similar) can be bought in advance and printed or whatever. There used to be 'm-tickets' that had to be on a phone app but there are very few of those still sold (maybe Merseyrail in Liverpool? Not sure). A BritRail pass is different, though, and I'm not sure if that's only in an app now. Shame if so.

Around London, tap-on/tap-off works for almost all rail and bus travel (no tap-off on bus/tram), including Heathrow. The northern limit is something like Stevenage, so while you may get through the gates at King's Cross by tapping, you'd get penalised or prosecuted on a long-distance train. This catches out hundreds of people going to 'London' Stansted airport each year. There's still nothing like the Dutch national system even announced.

Edit: there's a map at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tick...ying-a-ticket/pay-as-you-go-with-contactless/

 

[mjr]

You'll often get a much better price if you book in advance and limit yourself to a specific train. But if you miss that train, you're stuffed.

Not entirely. If another train (and it doesn't have to be on the same ticket) delays you, go to the information desk if it's a large station, explain the delay and ask if they can open your ticket. They'll sometimes check on the railway computers and then usually write on or stamp a paper ticket or give you an 'excess' amendment ticket if it was on a phone. There used to be an official guide on their website that explained what to do but I didn't find it just now.

Beyond that, such as if a plane or slow airport border delayed you, it depends what your travel insurance says.

 

[Pblakeney]

You'll often get a much better price if you book in advance and limit yourself to a specific train. But if you miss that train, you're stuffed.

That is why I waited until I was at Kings Cross.

 

[Solocle]

Contactless debit/credit card is your best bet for a tube journey. No need to buy a ticket. However, whether it will work with a German card I don't know (It should do, but who knows). There will also be machines for selling tickets near the barrier.

As to tickets downloaded to phones I was very wary of them to start with, but over the past couple of years I've warmed to them. Although I often also carry a paper printout of it too... Just in case.

You'll often get a much better price if you book in advance and limit yourself to a specific train. But if you miss that train, you're stuffed.

I have an Oyster card for TfL, despite not living in London (I'm there pretty often...)

But really, the main advantage for me is that it's loaded with my Railcard discount, so I get that on Tube travel.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not entirely. If another train (and it doesn't have to be on the same ticket) delays you, go to the information desk if it's a large station, explain the delay and ask if they can open your ticket. They'll sometimes check on the railway computers and then usually write on or stamp a paper ticket or give you an 'excess' amendment ticket if it was on a phone. There used to be an official guide on their website that explained what to do but I didn't find it just now.

Beyond that, such as if a plane or slow airport border delayed you, it depends what your travel insurance says.

Yeah there are varying degrees of stuffed and worst case is falling back on travel insurance. I've had tickets of late running connecting services endorsed in Germany but fortunately never had to do it in the UK.

But you really don't want to test these fallbacks. Best thing is to include big contingency in your travel plans to do all you can give yourself the best chance of not missing pre booked trains.

 

[mjr]

But you really don't want to test these fallbacks. Best thing is to include big contingency in your travel plans to do all you can give yourself the best chance of not missing pre booked trains.

How do you know what I want? 😉

I've had tickets endorsed due to disruption in Germany, France and Italy and restrictions automatically relaxed in the Netherlands. More endorsed in the UK than I can remember. It's a feature of the tickets so you don't need to build in the huge amounts of contingency/padding that car travel needs. Although it's still good to avoid having the last possible train of the day as your first-choice plan, if possible.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Many thanks for the help...

On Friday I left home...

Flew to Heathrow...

And despite no signs to the Piccadilly line...

I still made it: the ticket machine even accepted my card (I didn't trust "Tap and Go")...

And rattled my way to Kings Cross on a Piccadilly train as advised, although it was rather crowded because the Elizabeth line was closed...

Where after finding the ticket office, I was able to get a ticket for a train leaving in ten minutes...

...and escape.

The Piccadilly was certainly a shock to the system after starting the day in my home village, but at least it was working. Now I know this is a possible route, I'll use it in future. Thanks again for the help...

Next challenge is the return, via Edinburgh...

 

[markemark]

The ‘underground’ is always the catch all for all lines which in this case is only the Piccadilly.

Do try the Lizzie line next, it’s a breath of fresh air in comparison but it does suffer from frequent engineering works especially at the weekend.

 

[Gwylan]

Many thanks for the help...

On Friday I left home...

View attachment 790604

Flew to Heathrow...

View attachment 790605

And despite no signs to the Piccadilly line...

View attachment 790610

I still made it: the ticket machine even accepted my card (I didn't trust "Tap and Go")...

View attachment 790606

And rattled my way to Kings Cross on a Piccadilly train as advised, although it was rather crowded because the Elizabeth line was closed...

View attachment 790621

Where after finding the ticket office, I was able to get a ticket for a train leaving in ten minutes...

View attachment 790622

...and escape.

The Piccadilly was certainly a shock to the system after starting the day in my home village, but at least it was working. Now I know this is a possible route, I'll use it in future. Thanks again for the help...

Next challenge is the return, via Edinburgh...

Tap and go with a credit card is good. Make sure you tap out too!!