Getting from London Heathrow Airport to the city

Three trains, one airport

• The Piccadilly line is the cheap one. Heathrow to King's Cross St Pancras is GBP 5.90 and takes about 65 minutes. It calls at every station through west London, which is slow but useful if your hotel is on the line.
• The Elizabeth line is the sensible one. GBP 14.60 to Paddington in 28 minutes, then on through Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf without changing. Six trains an hour.
• Heathrow Express is the fast one. Paddington in 15 minutes, every 15 minutes, GBP 26.00 standard or GBP 32.00 in PREMIER+ if you buy on the day.
• All three leave from the same airport stations, so the choice is made at the ticket gate rather than in advance.

The cap, which changes the arithmetic

• The pay as you go daily cap for Zones 1 to 6 is GBP 16.30, peak and off-peak alike.
• One Elizabeth line trip is GBP 14.60. A second journey that day, in either direction, costs at most GBP 1.70 more, because the cap catches it.
• Heathrow Express does not count. TfL states plainly that Heathrow Express journeys are excluded from caps and Travelcards, so a GBP 26.00 Express ticket buys nothing towards the rest of your day and does not stop the cap accruing separately.
• So a same-day return by Express is GBP 42.00, against GBP 16.30 for a whole day of unlimited Elizabeth line, Tube, bus and Overground travel.
• Advance Express tickets from GBP 10.00 are the one case where the Express is genuinely competitive, and children 15 and under travel free on it.

Peak fares all day

• Journeys to and from Heathrow are charged the peak fare whether or not it is the peak. TfL prices both directions identically at every hour, which is why GBP 14.60 and GBP 5.90 do not move.
• The daily cap does not vary either between peak and off-peak at GBP 16.30, so there is nothing to be gained by travelling mid-morning.

Terminals

• All six Elizabeth line trains an hour call at Terminals 2 and 3, which share a station.
• Four continue to Terminal 4, two to Terminal 5, so Terminal 5 gets a train every 30 minutes and is worth checking before you sit down on the platform.
• Inter-terminal travel is free. Use the same contactless card or phone at both ends and no charge is made, or pick up a free transfer ticket from the machines in the station.
• Every Heathrow station is step free from train to street, and all 41 Elizabeth line stations are step free from street to platform.

Paying

• Contactless bank card or phone is the simplest thing, and it is what the cap is calculated on. One card per person.
• An Oyster card does the same job if you would rather not use a bank card abroad.
• Touch in and out at both ends. A missing touch out is charged as a maximum fare.