LHR Hotel logistics
 

I was going to use the UA $129 R/T IAD-LHR in combination with a connecting flight to the continet. Unfortunately it only works with the early am flights which require LHR hotel stays each way. It's worth it eastbound since I detest flying overnight. However, doing it on the return as well is giving me cold feet about the whole thing.

I have looked in the archives and the whole LHR business sounds like a nightmare with a useless fee based Hoppa Shuttle, dodgy taxi service, etc.

However, some people pointed to a free city bus. Is this really practical? Does it run frequently in the late evening and early am? Is there a website with route info & times, etc.?

In my experience, the only way to avoide the transport costs at LHR is to stay at the LHR Hilton adjacent to Terminal 4. This hotel is generally overpriced, but you can get reasonable deals at weekends.

The Hoopa shuttle was put in place by the airport authority to stop the congestion caused by the masses of hotel shuttle busses. So you pay for the service and a range of busses take you hotels in an specific area. It does work ok, but you do need to pay for it.

Using a taxi to a LHR hotel will not bring a smile from the taxi driver, but London cabbies are generally very professional and, altough steaming about the short fare and the long wait to get it, will take you. But unless you have 4 people together, it will probably be cheaper to use the hoppa service.

I have never heard of a "free city bus". Depending on your flight times (ie, not too early, not too late), you can be in South Kensington in 35 mins on the tube from LHR (for about £4). From some of these stories I have heard about transport to/from the LHR hotels, I am sure I've been in my hotel at Gloucester Rd tube before people staying at the airport were in their rooms.

There is definitely a free city bus. They're all free to/from the stops right outside the airport on the A4 roadway. When you get on leaving the airport, just tell the driver you're only going as far as the A4. When you get on returning, you don't even have to do that.

I've been told they do this because there is otherwise no pedestrian access on the north side of the airport, which would make it unnecessarily expensive for local residents to get to airport jobs if they had to pay $10 per day for the Hoppa. (Pedestrian access on the south side is more theoretical than real, but at least it's possible.) However, the bus rides are available to anyone.

The downside is that city buses don't stop at the hotels. They stop, not surprisingly, at bus stops. The bus stop is on the wrong side of the street in one direction: leaving the airport for the Renaissance, returning for all the others. The A4 is a very busy 4-lane road, not limited-access, with widely spaced traffic lights which are the only viable places to cross on foot. To make matters worse, some hotels (such as the Travelodge) are at a distance from the A4 on side roads.

So, if you're considering a city bus, ask your hotel how far they are from the nearest bus stop in both directions, taking crossing locations into account.

Thanks for the info. I am probably leaning against the option. Too bad that LHR is such a disaster.

I don't mind paying for the stupid bus.... my concern is the poor reliability. The targeted flight is 06:45 to the continent, although I could wait until after 10 am. Back to the US it's 07:55. So I don't have time to fart around.....

My reading tells me that the Hilton is bad for T3. I would Priceline anyway so don't have control over the hotel, although Renaissance looks common according to biddingfortravel.com.

I read elsewhere that LHR black cabs can jump to the head of the line after a short ride. Can I call a legit cab at the hotel or do I have to deal with some bandit who wants to charge me 20 pounds to drive 2 miles to the airport.

I believe most of the hotels have fixed-price arrangements with local taxi firms companies. From the Sheraton Skyline to T4 last time I was there (about 9 months ago) was 9 GBP.

I decided to skip LHR last time but this time round I am doing it and staying at Skyline.

Money is not an issue but it's odd that a half mile cab ride costs GBP 9. If I see a bus on arrival I'll give it a try. It looks like Skyline is right on the main road (A4?)

p.s. I fly into and out of T3.

[This message has been edited by gnaget (edited 02-20-2003).]

Hello everyone. My usual role here on FT, that of updating posts about London, starts here!

The "free city bus" is an arrangement with the local red London public bus routes to be free in close proximity to the airport. It was introduced when the old pedestrian/bicycle tunnel parallel with the main vehicle access tunnels under the north runway was converted for cars. If you ever drive into Heathrow through a narrow tunnel with about 6 feet headroom, that's the one! Not that anyone ever used to walk into the airport anyway.

Beyond the free fare boundary you pay the normal cash fare (which is only 70 pence anyway). The free zone doesn't get used much by visitors, more by locals and staff. It is just the airport and the immediately surrounding roads, or to be more precise if you know the locality:

The Heathrow Free Travel Zone scheme provides free public transport for all passengers on buses covering the Central Terminal Area, Terminal 4, the Cargo area, Hatton Cross, Harlington Corner and the Bath Road.

The Hotel Hoppa runs from the terminals to the surrounding hotels, in particular those on "The Strip", that section of the A4 north of the airport. It is a substantial operation employing many vehicles under contract to the airport. The fare is GBP 3. If you really have no GBP go to the "bus and coach" desk alongside the boarding point where you can pay by credit card. First bus is at 05.30 in the morning; if leaving your hotel the porter will ensure it is all lined up for you. The blue vehicles have large "Hoppa" decals on the side (I apologise for the ridiculous spelling; it was fashionable for a whole series of local London buses in the 1990s!).

The link from the BAA Heathrow site to the Hotel Hoppa takes you to the wrong place. I have just e-mailed the BAA webmaster to tell them to fix it!

Sheraton Skyline to T4 is not half a mile. I would estimate it at 3 miles.

If you are staying at the Hilton at T4 Heathrow express train is free to the other terminals, T1, 2 and 3, across the airport. Just walk straight on, past the ticket machines. Tickets are only checked on the journey on to Central London.

The arrangement with local trips on London Black cabs (which really should not be necessary for you to use given the parallel Hoppa service) is that if you take them from a Heathrow terminal to one of the nearby hotels the hotel porter can give them a ticket to circumvent the big queue of cabs when they go back into the airport, and go straight to the head of the line.

One of the issues with getting a black cab at Heathrow is that you can wait 10-15 minutes in the queue just to get in a cab because, although there are vast numbers of cabs waiting and lots of passengers queueing, the boarding areas get congested.

Any more questions, please post. Probably better on the London forum where those coming here can scroll through the posts going back over time and see what has been already covered.

Pretty much any bus heading from Heathrow in the direction of Hounslow will take you free to the hotels on Bath Road (inc. Sheraton Skyline, Renaissance, etc...). The closest stop for the Renaissance is at the McDonald's on Bath Road and is literally just across the street. The Sheraton Skyline should have a request stop right in front of it. There are request stops right outside pretty much every hotel down the road so keep your eye open and flag down the buses appropriately.

I usually reccomend the 111 bus out of Heathrow to hop to the local hotels, primarily because it is invariably a double decker and hence has extra luggage space available under the stairs.

The Hotel Hoppa has always worked great for me at 3GBP. At the Sheraton Skyline they offer you a ticket upon checkout that is billed right to your folio, which is very convenient.

Then I can sit comfortably (and warmly) in the lobby until the Hoppa bus pulls up.

Thanks for the excellent feedback!

I am arriving around 10 pm. Do these buses and the Hoppa originate from the same rough place so that I can jump on whatever comes along first? (At T3.)

Grabbing a morning flight to Stockholm at 10:20 am. Would 08:45ish allow enough time for the allegedly unreliable Hoppa? It's a Sunday.

Sorry, no. The Hoppa stops in front of each of the 3 terminals. The local red buses operate from the Central Bus Station, which is in the centre of the airport equidistant from the 3 terminals. It is physically on top of the Underground station, and you have to follow the long pedestrian tunnels to the tube station, then go up some steps to it.

So you have to decide which one you want to go for. Unless you are familiar with the local buses, I would advise the Hoppa.

I would probably allow another 30 minutes from leaving the hotel to takeoff time. In fact what I prefer to do is skip the hotel breakfast, go to the airport earlier, check in, go through to departures, and get breakfast there. There's a nice full service breakfast restaurant round to the right of the duty free shops to while away the time in. If any delay does arise, you may be hungry but you still make the flight!

[This message has been edited by WHBM (edited 02-20-2003).]

If you think the Hoppa is unreliable on a Sunday, the local buses can be a degree worse. I've waited upto 45 minutes for EITHER to show up on occasion. I reccommend that you either aim to leave the hotel around 8am for the 1020am flight, or else arrange for a minicab to get you there.

I second WHBM's opinion that the Hoppa is probably best for newbies and folks with lots of luggage, but once you are familiar with them then the local buses areq quicker, easier and more frequent.

If it helps, we did the Hoppa thing Tuesday morning because we were delayed overnight due to the storm in New York (and of course other east coast cities). Grabbed a bus at 5:30 in the morning, it was right on time as was the one just before it at 5:15. It's £3 each way.

The Skyline used to be a pretty good hotel, and my regular, but it has gone way downhill. The "newly renovated" executive rooms are now on the first floor. They were redone in dark, gloomy woods and the first floor rooms are the smallest rooms in the hotel! Maybe they've redecorated more rooms by now.

There are idiotic signs in the room telling you that if you don't go through a complicated procedure, they will not change towels and sheets in order to "save the environment."

They will add a small amount to your bill for a UNICEF donation without asking you; you have to ask to have it removed. When the donation is finally made, it is made in Sheraton's name -- not in the name of the customers.

You MUST check your rate when you arrive and insist on the one you booked when they tell you it's more than you confirmed. Trust your data even if they appear firm about it, but written proof would certainly help. Call on the front desk manager if you have problems.

I felt hugely ripped off paying 9 pounds to have a independent cab take me back to the airport -- the cab driver probably only gets 3 of the 9, the hotel certainly steals the rest.

I think I'd recommend the Marriott next door now, although it's nothing special either.

The entire Hotel Hoppa system, allegedly put in to reduce congestion, received the full support of the hotels -- they reduce hotel costs and allow the hotels to claim the busses "were forced on them." Busses are amazingly infrequent and slow, and it will usually take you longer to get to or from an A4 airport hotel using the Hoppa than to get to Paddington Station!

All told, a glum situation.