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

Newcastle Airport is on the Metro - you get off the metro and you are virtually inside the airport terminal building. The metros start at about 5.30 in the morning through to about midnight. Takes about 20 minutes to the centre of Newcastle.

Failing that I would get a taxi.

I wouldn't even think about it when booking a holiday, would always go for the metro first, taxi outside of metro hours.

When I lived in London I would use the tube, I lived in central London so that was an easy option. My parents (lived in Surrey) used to drive in to one of the carpark services and then shuttle bus.

We've used the valet parking at Heathrow and Gatwick before, it saves so much hassle- no parking miles away and having to lug loads of suitcases, car seats and small children on the shuttle bus. Price-wise it worked out the same or not very much difference as a taxi from where we live (about 2 hours away)

Last time we parked at a friend's house who lives nearby and put him on our car insurance so he could drop us off, it was cheaper than valet

Depending on the time of the flight, sometimes we stay at a hotel near the airport the night before so we don't need to worry about traffic and getting to check in on time. Stressing and rushing is not a good start to the holiday and I'm a rubbish traveller so anything to reduce stress and the chance of a missed flight is worth looking into.

Never flown from Heathrow as up north. Tend to get a lift if liverpool airport and decent flight times or book local taxi n leave car safe at home

We always take the Oxford coach. Quick, easy, convenient, and frequent. I priced up taxis once and they might be worth it if our family were bigger. Would never consider parking at the airport as we tend to take long trips overseas; the amount of time spent parking plus driving on an 8 hour jetlag is too great.

We live about 5 miles from Heathrow, and if the whole family are travelling from there, we get a local taxi firm to take and pick up.
-It works out cheaper than parking.
-Less hassle than messing about with a courtesy bus, and if you are going somewhere hot, you don't need to take a warm weather coat.
-I like to leave the car on the drive, as it makes the house look a little less empty. We were once burgles when away for 10 days in the UK, when we had the car with us.

For Gatwick we generally get a taxi one way, depending on the flight times, and use the train the other way.

info: I usually travel alone with my two (soon to be 3) DC under 6.

If you have a car - do you tend to drive to the airport on a family holiday? If so, why? only once used a care/cab for transport between London and any airports (heathrow or gatwick usually) as they do not save time nor money and traffic can be unreliable due to accidents or queues. Public transports saves in hassle.

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? for heathrow: tube / for gatwick: bus to victoria then gatwick express. Kids can move around more on a train then in a car and this helps in keeping them busy.

When do you start to think about how you and your family will get to the airport? we are now used to traveling to these airports so no problems whatsoever.
Do you (or your DH/DP for that matter?) plan when booking your flights/holiday or is it an afterthought? as above. I did look into traveling by bus to Gatwick but again am afraid traffic might hold us up.
How do you search for information on getting to the airport or on parking there? internet
Do you find information is readily available or not? absolutely
Is there anything else you'd like to know?

We get hotel airport parking. There are often deals on which give 2 weeks parking in with a night at a local hotel for the same cost as long stay parking at heathrow. We much prefer travelling in the day too.

Valet parking - because getting on a bus to get the car with cases and small children is a nightmare.

We live in London. Our nearest tube station is a 5 minute walk away and is on the Picadilly Line. So we get the tube. The journey takes about an hour.
For those reasons we wouldn't ever dream of taking the car.

I live just west of Reading, only 2 miles away from a mainline station. It is really very poor that there is no rail link between Heathrow and the towns to the west of it. Many Heathrow employees (including myself!) would certainly prefer to use the train - staff parking is often miles away from the location of our work, so once you've driven in you still have to catch a bus.

When I go on holiday I use a Meet and Greet valet parking service if travelling with the kids. My aim is to minimise the amount of traipsing round the airport with small children in tow. I would prefer not to have to drive at all, but living over 40 miles away along the M4, a taxi is not an option.

Always drive due to the distance. Park on site as normally my trips away are only a few days which keeps costs down.

I book parking at the same time as booking the flights as certainly at Stansted I tend to get super saver rates on the official BAA parking.

I live in west London and would always choose Heathrow over other airports if possible. Most of the time, I get dropped off by a friend, but sometimes get public transport.

The Tube to Heathrow is cheap and very easy. The overground train (not Heathrow Express) is also a good option.

I'd rather cut off my right arm than use their long-term parking. Its far too expensive and I just can't bear all that shuttle bus from the long-term carpark nonsense with two children in tow.

I don't drive and live in East Kent. Much easier by train to get to Gatwick (and even that is a ball ache), so opt for that every time. Last time I used HR was when work paid the high taxi fare! Suggest better transport links, perhaps via bus?

I travel a lot for work (based in London). It just isn't economically viable to park at LHR - I tend to take public transport. But even that is a rip-off (£32 return per person, for a 15 minute train ride!).

For family holidays, I simply do not choose Heathrow. Ever. Too expensive to get to (or park at), too overcrowded, too many delays. Train fares (and parking) are much smaller to/from/at rival airports, even if they are further away, and the other airports are far less busy and tend to be on time more often. City airport (despite limited destinations) is my airport of choice.

The only reason I fly to/from LHR for work is the number of destinations served coupled with my personal wallet not being extorted. Other airports in London often don't fly where I need to go, although to be honest, just recently I have chosen to fly long-haul via other airports (e.g Frankfurt, with connections from City) as it is cheaper, more reliable with fewer delays, LHR increasingly doesn't have direct flights to my destination and European airports are generally more pleasant (the staff at LHR are very rude and not very competent).

I say, close LHR and build Boris Island. We need a cheaper way of getting there, fewer delays and more destinations (last two need more runways). Beijing are building a nine(!) runway airport at the same time as our government are delaying a third at LHR whilst faffing over whether to waste billions on HS2 that doesn't even connect to LHR (despite having its supposed tracks only a couple of miles away).

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.

We live in Lancs & generally fly out of Manchester (occasionally Liverpool)
Manchester airport is accessible by train, but takes longer, so for convenience we generally drive - adult kids are dropped off, if we are travelling ourselves we park in long-stay unless someone can give us a lift. Taxi would cost twice as much

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?

Last time we flew on a family holiday we used meet & greet, which was more expensive than long stay but worked very well. Cheaper meet & greet would be good as it saves dragging luggage around car parks, on & off buses etc

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?

tends to be an afterthought, as we often don't know in advance if someone is available to give a lift or not. If paying to park, usually search initially via google. Information easily available

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.

not applicable

We live in the North East. We would normally drive to Newcastle airport, driving and parking is fairly cheap and easy. The train would mean changing, so definitely more difficult with cases, children etc. We have once used a taxi service when we were staying away longer, this was also quite cheap and easy. I do always plan ahead as there are often good deals to get money off the parking.

Last holiday we went down to Manchester. Could have used train as there is a direct service, but only one train would have got us there on time so it seemed too risky to depend on, therefore used a holiday extras package to park which was not too expensive. The information for Manchester airport on its website was excellent. I did plan ahead to get a good deal.

Don't live within an hour's drive of Heathrow.

DrD it's the same price for a 3 or 4hr National Express bus ride from where I live to HR. Oh but you can rule out any (cheap) flights at all before 10am as you simply can't get there in time. Unless you fancy camping out with your family from 11pm... We have Manston in Kent, but they didn't advertise it when it had a better carrier going to interesting places and they chucked it in. I think even Londoners might find it easier to get to tbh!

Please ask the London Underground to put better signs in, I don't understand the four terminal thing and panic about where to get off the tube. Signage is everything when travelling.

International arrivals is s hellhole, overcrowded and dirty.

Make sure your workers speak nicely and have a comprehensible UK accent.

For those of us who check in our baggage it is extremely annoying to have to wait for people with overstuffed handluggage to go through their cases. You should be able to get through quicker if you have checked in bags.

please indicate the walking distances or some big maps so we know what to expect, on the tube platform.

Travelling to Heathrow is so much better for us than any other airport but the airport itself is pants. Too big, too confusing. If I had young children a play area might be a nice idea.

I use public transport or a minicab, depending on how many children and how much luggage I have with me. Since the introduction of the Heathrow Express and Gatwick Express, it really is very easy to get there by train. And in London there are loads of minicab firms competing for airport business.

I don't have a car, but if I did I still wouldn't park it at the airport. My assumption would be that it would be expensive, that it's a hassle getting to the carpark, and I've heard too many bad stories of security problems (i.e. getting stuff nicked from car).

I usually start thinking about how to get to the airport about a week in advance. I look for information online, if I need to.

No, I didn't know that the cost of parking at Heathrow compares with a return taxi journey. I may check that out one day.

I head into London on the train to Victoria then take the tube. My handy hint with luggage is do not take the Victoria line and change at Green Park. Instead take the district west and change at Acton town. It takes a bit longer but you literally have no walking at Acton Town when you get off as the trains go from the same platform. Victoria does have a couple of staircases but its always busy so you can ask for help.

We drive our own car to the airport and then do meet and greet. We do meet and greet because getting all our luggage as well as 3 car seats and 3 small children onto a minibus from off-site parking would be a bloody nightmare.

We drive our car to the airport because we have 3 small kids and we take our car seats with us to use in cars we hire abroad. Managing all of the above plus luggage on public transport is a terrifying thought. Also, the costs of using public transport to get to the airport or driving and parking are broadly similar.

I think about it after we have booked our flights, but a month or so before we fly. I look online for parking options. Info is easy to find.

We tend to fly from Gatwick as its our closest airport. We drive and use a meet and greet service. I wouldn't use any other form of transport.
I don,t usually think about parking when I book the holiday, but I don't wait till the last minute either, I tend to book the service about 2 months before departure. I use essentialtravel.co.uk

We normally ask my parents to drive us to the airport - we fly from Edi and there is no direct train link or bus link.

I've flown to London a couple of times this year and was so impressed by the public transport links. If we could use public transport, we would.

For early or v late flight, I take the car and park at the airport.