Getting from LCY to LHR T5 SS on Sunday?
 

Thanks to the pilots strike we will now be landing into LCY on Sunday night (instead of LHR on Monday). Any suggestions on the easiest way for 4 people (including an 85 year old) to get from LCY to LHR T5 short-stay car park around 8pm on Sunday?

Normally i'd get DLR, tube and HEX to Heathrow but with x4 of us travelling and taking into account the 85 year old (who can walk absolutely fine but perhaps not stand with a wheelie bag for lengths of time) i'm considering a cab? Any FT'ers know of any fixed rate transport options between the two? Or any idea what a black cab would cost for the journey and how long it would take?

With an 85 year-old, definitely take a car.

There are plenty of minicab (private hire) companies in London that specialise in transfers to, from and between airports. As you have a fixed arrival time and a fixed plan, that will probably be more cost-effective than a black cab, especially as you can pre-order a car of the appropriate size. (A black cab could be less comfortable than a people mover.) And my impression is that the drivers for these specialist companies know the standard routes to/from airports and aren't as reliant on satnav.

If you don't want to deal with pre-booking a car, a black cab should be in the realm of £120. I think the Mercedes and the LEVC are as comfortable as any minicab.

If you're feeling very adventurous and want to save a few pounds, and happen to have a Drive Now and Zipcar subscriptions you could take a Drive Now from LCY to somewhere in Hackney/Islington/Tower Hamlets where you can swap it for a zipcar which you can then leave at T5 SS. That exercise should come up somewhere in the £30-40 range.

On a Sunday night after 8pm traffic shouldn't be bad - probably a little over an hour driving through Central London

Another alternative if you want to drive yourself - one way rental with Avis to drop at T5 might be cheap enough - certainly cheaper than a Black Cab would be - probably looking at north of £100 on a Sunday night tariff for that ! - Avis drop off is inside the short term car park at T5 ( though it's a bit of a trek at LCY to the pickup with current construction work )

If you do get a Black Cab or Uber rather than a fixed rate cab make sure they don't drive you around the M25 .. while that may take around the same amount of time it's more than twice the distance so the only one happy with that route will be the cabbie !

Which, interestingly, is exactly what Uber just quoted for when I did a dummy booking. Heading North onto the M25 and back around for ~£120.

When I added a 'stop' in central london and then on to Heathrow the price dropped to ~£60

Highly, highly recommend Blacklanes chauffeur app. I just plugged this journey in and they are quoting £98 for a Mercedes E-Class or £139 for a V-Class people carrier. If you are referred to them by an existing client you can take 20% off that price (happy to share my referral code if you PM me.)

If it's of any further help, there is this venerable thread on the UK/Ireland board: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-...n-sou-sen.html

That board will have other threads in which people recommend their own favourite companies, including this one: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-...iscussion.html

Threads like this make me so angry that they didn't build a Crossrail station at LCY despite the line running literally past the perimeter fence.

Why, is Crossrail open now? :)

While Crossrail would have been useful for LCY<>London generally, I really doubt there's much of a need or business case in relation to connectivity between LCY and LHR.

This is OT but there are literally dozens of posts and threads on this very topic.

There are practical issues re having a station at the LCY site - the Connaught Tunnel being an almost insurmountable obstical - plus the line closest to the airport is on a curve with no possibility of straightening it out. The nearest practical location is the old silvertown station - where passive provision has been made for a station - but there are then issues of how do people get to / from the airport through residential streets on bus shuttles.

LCY regularly offers £50m to help fund the station infrastructure but for some reason refuses to complete the feasability study that TFL requires and has asked for on numerous times

I believe there is an Amex offer with Wheely for £25 cashback when you spend £25; which can help reduce the price. Cannot comment on quality.
HfP Article

To be slightly fair to Uber it's plausible that M25 ( or North Circular ) is the fastest route on a weekday so I guess that might be why it suggests that .. but on a Sunday at 8pm it won't be quicker to go that way , probably slower ( but that won't necessarily stop the driver choosing it as it's obviously more lucrative ! )