Best airport to get to Kensington?

[Gunpla]

Flying from Dublin, City airport is too expensive, which is the best of the rest?

Heathrow

Heathrow. Quick trip on the Piccadilly line.

Stansted or Luton will probably be cheeper, but once you add in train fairs there might not be much in it.

Thank you!

Heathrow. Can use the tube to get in directly

Another vote for Heathrow.

Unless you want to go for Luton, (train goes from Luton Parkway to St Pancras, and you can then get the tube or a taxi from there to Kensington) which is further away but the flight might be a lot cheaper?

Heathrow easiest. But if it’s cheaper to Gatwick I’d do that. The train from Gatwick goes into London Victoria which is close to Kensington

Heathrow or Gatwick. Don't book the
Express trains not worth the extra £££. Tube from Heathrow, or Southern trains from Co LGW to Victoria.

When I flew return to Dublin a couple of weeks ago Ryanair from Gatwick was cheapest.

QQ wise MN travellers.

DD came back from Caribbean at the weekend to Heathrow. I asked her if she was getting the Piccadilly line and she said no, the Elizabeth.

Im not a Londoner, but if you are which line would you have gone on and why?

We were actually in London that day so gave them a lift home as the stars aligned, but I’m curious as long flights are often cheaper from Heathrow than Manchester so it’s useful to know the best way to and from Heathrow to get to Kings Cross.

I think a lot might depend on luggage.

Using the Piccadilly line means there's no change of tube/train involved...

AFAIK the Elizabeth line doesn't directly serve King's Cross so whilst it might be a bit smarter and cleaner than the tube you're going to have to transfer to the tube at some point...(?Farringdon)

Elizabeth line is far more expensive than the Picadilly line.

@TerfTalking - the Piccadilly and Elizabeth lines follow different routes, so which one you get will depend on final stop.

Stansted and Luton ought not really to be called London Airports

The Elizabeth line is also a complete nightmare at the moment, apparently.

Thanks all, as it happened, she got off at Tottenham Court Road to meet us at our hotel but would probably have had to change to get to Kings Cross if they ended up getting the train.

good to know both are options though. Many thanks 🙏

It shouldn’t be, tube fares are calculated by zone not line. TFL have no way of knowing what line you get on once you have gone through the barrier.

£12.80 on the Elizabeth line (it's a train not a tube) and £5.50 on the Piccadilly tube.
I guess that they'd be able to tell which method you'd used to travel by the length of time that you took to travel? I'm not sure if they have different gates at the LHR end so you'd have to come out of the Elizabeth line section to access the Piccadilly line, I haven't been there since it opened but if it comes into the same area as the Heathrow Express, it's certainly a decent walk to the Piccadilly line in the central (T2 & 3) area and you would have to exit the rail station then re-enter the tube station.

How bizarre! I had no idea @MistyMountainTop I get the Elizabeth line all the time and am charged tube fares, but I have not yet been to Heathrow on it.

I know the tunnel between T2 and T3 at LHR quite well! The Piccadilly line is at the T2 end, and the Heathrow Express is towards the middle/T3 end.

@MistyMountainTop is correct, the Elizabeth line is definitely significantly more expensive than the Piccadilly

Can't talk for central area (T2 etc) but if I recall T5 correctly from about six months back the Elizabeth line/Heathrow express platform/ticket gates are segregated from the Piccadilly line platform.

According to the Tfl website, the Oyster or contactless fare between Heathrow terminal 2/3 and Tottenham Court Road is £5.60 at any time. It doesn't say anything about not using the obvious route, ie. Elizabeth Line.

Maybe people are confusing the Heathrow Express, which is more expensive and doesn't take Oyster, with the Elizabeth Line, which is part of the TfL network and does.

Elizabeth line def more expensive than the Piccadilly line from Heathrow. To do with who owns the train line and various other boring reasons....

Best route to Heathrow definitely depends on luggage.

My home tube line is Jubilee so I need to change tube to get to Heathrow.

If I've got luggage I tend to go Westminster (D&C)- Barons' Court (Piccadilly) - LHR in preference to Green Park (Picadilly)- LHR as I have to lug my suitcase up stairs at Green Park!

If I'm hand luggage only I go the fastest route.

You used to be able to get really cheap heathrow express tickets (like £7 each way) if you booked ages out ie. > 6 months but last time I tried that the cheapest was only about £2 less than the on the day price.

Oh and last time I used the Elizabeth line in from LHR it broke down and I was delayed by over an hour (annoying as I'd decided to use it for speed!),

The train delay guarantee applies to it ( you can apply via the TfL website) so I got my train fare back.

No. They are not confused. The Elizabeth line is over double the cost of the Picadilly