NOW CLOSED: How do you travel to the airport? Share your comments with Heathrow and you could win one of four £100 Heathrow Shopping or John Lewis vouchers.

[AnnMumsnet]

Do you (or have you recently) flown off on your hols? If so, the team at Heathrow would like to know how you and your family travel to and from the airport when going on holiday.

Here's what they say: "We know families are not that happy with the available choices of getting to Heathrow, be it based on cost and/or convenience. We appreciate parking at Heathrow isn't for everyone but would like to ensure families are aware of the benefits of parking with us and at the same time understand where we fall short when it comes to family friendly parking."

It doesn't matter if you fly from Heathrow or not, Heathrow want to find out about your experiences relating to any UK airport.

They'd like to know whether or not you choose to drive your own car to the airport or use a taxi or public transport and the reasons why you choose this method of transport.

If you have a car - do you tend to drive to the airport on a family holiday? If so, why? If you have a car but use other means - how do you travel to the airport? What would help to persuade you to use your own car?

When do you start to think about how you and your family will get to the airport? Do you (or your DH/DP for that matter?) plan when booking your flights/holiday or is it an afterthought? How do you search for information on getting to the airport or on parking there? Do you find information is readily available or not? Is there anything else you'd like to know?

And lastly, if you live within an hours drive of Heathrow, do you know how the cost of parking at Heathrow compares with a return taxi journey from where you live? You can enter your postcode at www.taxiorpark.com and take a look. Please note this uses Hackney Carriage Tariffs.

Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where four winners will each win a £100 Heathrow Shopping OR a £100 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

we never drive to Heathrow because of the parking costs. We either get a mini - cab because they're cheaper than black cabs or we use the Heathrow Express. Although the Heathrow Express is expensive for a family of four, we at least know that we'll get there quickly. We once missed a flight due to an awful traffic hold-up so we allow extra hours if travelling by car.

We always drive to the airport, live in London and normally only fly from Heathrow or Gatwick. We tried using an off-site long stay carpark once but it was a nightmare waiting for the shuttle bus with tired kids and lots of luggage so now we always use Meet and Greet, normally Meteor but we look around a couple of months in advance to see what has the best deal.

I always had the feeling that this option was cheaper than a taxi and using the taxiorpark and Meteor websites shows it definitely is for trips of 1 and possibly 2 weeks if you book in advance. Also with your own car you have the carseats already in place and we have a roof box so don't have to worry if all our luggage will fit in a normal cab or if we will need a minivan. Another advantage of Meet and Greet for us before we replaced our car battery is that the immobiliser always used to make our battery flat after leaving our car for more than a few days but with Meet or Greet they would have jump started the car and have it running for us!

However the reason we do drive is purely because of the kids. If I am flying for business I always take public transport and if DH and I ever were to go without the DC we would also use public transport.

I'm in Greece at the moment. Flew here from Gatwick which is a 3hr drive from my house. Because of the flight being really early morning we drove the night before and stayed in the hotel attached to the airport. The cost of hotel included parking in the airport long stay carpark. If the flight had been later in day I still would have used the car but would have just prebooked parking in the long stay (I did look and it would have cost about £40).

Earlier in the year we flew from Heathrow. Flight there was about 11am but was long haul so had to get checked in fairly early. So again we chose to go night before. Drove to hotel which was about 1 mile away and had a regular shuttle to the terminal. Paid the hotel for a one night stay and parking package.

Going further back in time we have flown from Birmingham which is easily under an hour drive from house. There we just prepaid the parking in the long stay on the Internet.

Back in pre-child days me and DP did just go with a backpack each, get train to Birmingham airport and then short flight. Now with 3dc I would only think about going in the car. The cost of a public transport ticket for all of us would be significant and such a hassle wrestling with all the bags required and trying to keep a toddler still.

When do we decide how to get to airport? Well it's already assumed we'll go in the car when booking. Depending on the flight time, we then decide whether to do hotel and park deal or just go straight to airport.

We nearly always get family or friends to drop us off. It's too costly to park IMO.
We have taken the train before however, when we returned home there was massive flooding and our trains weren't running. There was no coach ect set on and what should have been an hours trip took nearly 9 hours via underground and buses

We do take a car and use the parking at Heathrow. Cheaper than a taxi and very convenient. The buses that drive to the long stay car parks are very regular, so we never have to wait very long before getting one.

Having commented earlier about not using trains to Manchester airport because car is quicker & more convenient, I thought I'd have a look at train timetables & ticket prices.

The station is only a 10 minute walk away if that; the train takes 1½ hrs, with 1 change; & we both have senior railcards now (DH is appalled by this ). An open return ticket is under £13 each!!!

It generally takes around an hour in the car, & the M60 is involved of course so it can be a lot longer (it's not as bad as the M25 but still can be horrendous)
last time parking cost over £40 & fuel costs at least £13 on top of that
we struggled to find a parking space & the car park bus was rammed both ways

Our next flights are both at civilised times so we will definitely let the train take the strain next time . DH has done it before & grumbles a bit about the distance from the station to the terminals, but IMO it's worth it to avoid the stress & anxiety of traffic hold-ups.

I wouldn't even have thought about it if not for this thread so thanks, Heathrow!

We live in North London and tend to take the tube, which takes about 1.5 hours. If we fly from Heathrow it tends to be for a longer holiday, so paying for airport parking would be quite expensive, and the drive would take almost as long as the tube anyway. Mind you, with 2 young children now (as of 2 days ago!) maybe in future we'll find that driving or taking a taxi is more convenient than lugging all the bags, pushchair and children on a long tube journey.

We tend to drive.

last time, we used the pod things to get to Terminal 1, and I loved them. The only problem we did have though, is it is a bit of a nightmare trying to get three cases from the trolley into the pod, since you can't take a trolley right up to the pod. I had visions of my suitcases disappearing without me!! Then when you get to the car park, there are no trolleys again, and it is impossible for one person to move three large cases!

I'm now looking for next year, but will be T3, so can't do the pods. I will probably get a cab. Too many of the car parks are too far from the airport terminal building, it's either a long hike, or a bus transfer - neither of which are fun with bags.

We get a taxi usually. Have done the train before and it has been very good but not with small children.

We drive usually, using onsite parking or a carpark nearby who ferries us by bus. Always worked well for us although the costs added onto a holiday always hurt!

We live about 45 minutes from Heathrow, and tend to use it to fly to France and Switzerland to visit family/friends - which is typically a shorter stay of 3-4 days. We always drive and look out for special offers at T5 Business parking - which can often be only a few pounds more expensive than long term parking, but you get to go on the Pods which are great.

For longer holidays we either drive (France) or fly from Gatwick and use Long term parking there. Always much cheaper to drive and park than use a taxi.

We most often take the Heathrow express, sometimes a cab.

We travel to from Bath to Reading by train )1 hour) , and then take the Heathrow bus/coach.

When we lived in North London we took the tube or a minicab.

We live in central london and if low on baggage take the heathrow express/connect

if we have more baggage we drive. DH always manages to get a good deal on parking.

We would take a taxi but
a) we have the car seat issue
and
b) we always have problems when we get back - the taxi driver never seems to be waiting where we are told!

I would prefer to drive because of the car seat/ safety issue with taxis. Though some black cabs do have the middle seat as a booster option which is great for DC.
The distance from the terminal is what mostly puts me off most about driving though, the waiting for a bus to get us to the terminal. worrying how long it will take and how far away it is, lugging our bags and the buggy. At least a taxi can drop you off at the door of departures - worth and extra £10 or £20 to me.

BAA Glasgow had an offer (maybe still do) that if you parked Thurs - Sun and pre-booked you got a great rate at the multi storey connected to departures - used that lots when we were local - all the benefit of a taxi in terms of proximity to the terminal for about he same price as a taxi, but much better on the safety and convenience front.

I would never take a back cab to Heathrow - they just don't have the suspension for a smooth ride and are too expensive compared to a mini cab

When I went away in the summer, we went to airport by taxi. We are within an hour and the taxi is convenient, easy and not too expensive. The cost and time to transfer puts me off parking. Though using a strange baby car seat puts me off taxis as not sure the one in the taxi was very secure.

We take a taxi if going for longer than a week or drive and leave the car in long stay if only a week.

I like flying from heathrow good shopping to start my hols

We are near East Midlands and have always parked there. I could get a bus from where I live which would cost about £15 return for all of us, but we tend to go at stupid o clock and I couldn't face trogging to the bus stop. There was a special offer on the carpark next to departures this summer and it was bliss.A taxi is more because we're 5 so a mini bus one and car parking is cheap at East Midlands. I'd hate to wait for a taxi too-rather just get in car as soon as ready.
Surely this question is for those people who live in London?
I know that travelling to East Midlands at 6 am that I'll never hit traffic-London it's bad all the time.

I would rather gnaw off my own leg than drive to Heathrow. I did it once and got completely lost and ended up airside, had to reverse out in front of all these grinning van drivers. We finally found the car park (Pink Elephant) but the cost was about the same as if we'd had a taxi. We've moved since then and the distance is much further, another reason not to drive.

Now we get a train to London (1h 45) then tube across London, then the Heathrow Express. Expensive but reliable and the timing is much more predictable

I got back yesterday and found the tube a great door to door service for me. But I was exhausted from the absurd 25 minute walk to be from the plane to the tube. It took about 15 minutes just to get to baggage reclaim. Made my walk home from the tube seem a doddle. A sign warning people of distance to walk would be helpful. Or a bus.

We don't drive to Heathrow because of the traffic and dealing with parking.

If he whole family is going we take a mini cab which is much cheaper than a black cab (and for looking at the parking site cheaper than parking).

If I am travelling with my child we take the tube -- as it is the cheapest way to go and the child enjoys the tube.

Although we have taken the Heathrow express it just saves us 15 minutes of journey time so not worth it for us since we are based in East London.

Parking at Heathrow seriously puts me off using the place, so last time we took the train to London and tube across London and out to Heathrow which was not only expensive but took ages, and due to being booked in advance (the only way to make it remotely affordable) reduced our options significantly when our outbound flight was cancelled just 2 days in advance. We had to take a later flight rather than an earlier one and had even more hanging around than usual as well as arriving at our destination late, so I probably wouldn't choose to do that again either.

I live 30 mins from the airport, M1/M25 junction, or it could take 2 hours depending on the M25. If it was just a weekend break we used to use the meet and greet service which was excellent, but the parking cost element has got very pricey.

As we tend to fly long haul a lot, we have had the same driver for 14 years, he takes us and collects at anytime of day or night and is trusted with our house keys. It is also reassuring that we do not have to drive when tired after a 12 hour night flight, he also packs the luggage in and hands us water bottles, stops for milk and bread on the way home!

The cost hasn't changed a lot in those years, and is worth the cost, as my car would cost just as much in fuel to use as we pay.

Having looked at taxiorpark, I am happy with what we are paying £110 for the service and security of only my driver knowing I am away from home.