Best way to get to from Birmingham to London Heathrow?
 

I would like to travel to Asia in the near future and am thinking of going from LHR-HKG-CEB on CX however I live in BHX and would need to get to LHR.

TOA Taxis here in Birmingham says they would charge a fixed price of £160.00 for pickup from my apartment to the airport. A private car from London Heathrow back to my flat (when I return) would be £145.00 for total of a whopping £305.00.

I know I can take one of the new Virgin trains to London Euston but that would require I connect either with the underground or get to Paddington Station to take the Airport Express. I'm traveling with one piece of luggage and I don't really prefer to do much heavy lifting being quite small myself. Assuming the cost of a return train ticket would be £30.00 + ~ £8.00 for 2 underground tickets and that would set me back £38.00.

Or I can take the National Express coach from Birmingham, Digbeth coach station to LHR and the travel tickets seem to vary from 3 - 5 hours depending upon what time I leave BHX and £25.00 for a ticket. Assuming Taxi fees are £10.00 from the city centre to the coach station and I am £45.00 out of pocket roundtrip. How are these trains like? Is there adequate storage space and is there someone at the station to assist with placing luggage on-board?

Is it a hassle taking the train or should I just pay and smile for a taxi? It seems like for that kind of money I can take a cheap flight from BHX to CDG, AMS, or FRA and then take a CX flight direct to HKG... but I would then have to deal with issuing two seperate tickets.

Advice?

around the world

I don't know where a lot of the fuss about the UK's transport system comes from; yes, the train system is rubbish but why bother when private-hire car services (such as shown here) are such good value?

I also find that if you're studying, brief mention of this fact to your driver at the start of your journey will result in a better service and the customary academic discount.

Coaches...who needs them?

There is another option with public transport, which is to get the train to Watford Junction, from where there is a railair link.

Why not just fly from Birmingham to LHR?

CX is OneWorld so you could get it all on one ticket with your baggage transferred for you.

I can think of a good reason... :)

No such flight, I'm afraid.

£300 return = "good value"?

It may be good value as far as taxis go, but I wouldn't take a taxi to get from Birmingham to Heathrow - I can think of better things to do with my money.

The RailAir service from Watford Junction has already been mentioned, there is also a RailAir service from Reading. Both Watford and Reading are served by direct trains from Birmingham New Street, so it would just be a case of working out which of these two has better connections.

Aviatrix, I fear BahrainLad was being somewhat tongue in cheek with his remarks, although you need to bear in mind that the OP once suggested that he could fly xx-LHR-EDI-BHX as an efficient way of getting to his new abode.

So may RJB.

Here we go again... I never said it was 'efficient'. I simply stated that this was the routing provided by the British Airways website (ba.com) when one attempts to book flights to BHX.

It would need to be a bag full of lead ingots to encourage me to pay GBP300+ for a round trip in the taxi. :eek: You can FLY to the US for less than that If you are the worried about lugging bags around, take a cab to the coach station and let National Express take you to LHR.