travelitis

I am arriving into Heathrow from Canada on Sunday, May 26, at 10am. I would like to catch the 14:22 train to Paris from St Pancras Station. Any idea how much time I should allow to clear customs and to get from LHR to St Pancras. Eurostar is telling me to arrive by 13:15 at the latest. Is this enough time?

aidy

travelitis

Thanks for the quick reply, Aidy. I hold a US passport, will be traveling in economy, and will not have any checked baggage.

aidy

travelitis

Thank you! I'll be flying Air Canada and arriving, I believe, at T3. Does this change anything?

krispy84

lhrsfo

T2 won't be very different from T3 as Immigration waits are unpredictable everywhere. By my calculations, and assuming your flight is on time, you should have plenty of time to make the connection. I would plan on taking the Tube to St.P - it's cheaper, it's direct and it's a shorter walk at LHR. However, if you are running late, then do HEX to Paddington and change onto the Tube (or taxi) there - it's massively more expensive but should save 15 minutes off the travel time, albeit adding significantly to the hassle factor.

If the plane is late and you are running a little tight on time, HEX plus taxi is probably about the same time as taxi the whole way, so I don't see the latter as being a viable back up. Of course, the other possibility is a cheap back up flight to Paris the following morning - you can usually find fares so low that they are essentially throwaways.

enviroian

The OP sounds a lot like one of my questions!
LOL

ajeleonard

Would make more sense to fly to Paris since you are already at the airport

rcspeirs

TimDP

But not cheaper. Current Eurostar cheapest price for May 26 at 14:22 is 44 GBP. Cheapest flight on that date after 10am from LHR is 74 GBP and only in the evening + OP still has to reach the city center from CDG or ORY which will add another cost (cheapest option around 9 GBP). Strangely enough, 2nd cheapest option is Iberia via MAD

So as long as the transport cost within London is less than 35-40 GBP, the train is the cheaper option.

NWIFlyer

I almost exclusively book advance purchase train tickets, which in my case leave from Liverpool Street - so a very similar travelling time from Heathrow. I also don’t need to be at the station more than a few minutes before the train departs, unlike the OP. In my case, to replace a missed train booking on the day would probably more than double the cost, even taking account of transferring part of the value, and that would be to travel in standard class rather than First.

My personal risk is generally - where possible - to allow around four hours between scheduled arrival at LHR and the time I need to be at the station - 30 minutes to get off the plane and through Heathrow assuming a T5C, T3 with one of the more remote gates or T2B arrival, then 90 minutes to the platform at Liverpool Street, allowing me about 90 minutes of flight delay before I really have a problem and need to pay out for the Heathrow Express. The very least I’d consider is 2.5 hours.

The OP will most likely arrive at T2B with AC, with an immediate 15 minute walk to get to the main terminal, so I’d be allowing at least 60 minutes to clear the airport, and with greater immigration unpredictability more likely 90. Tube trains are more frequent than from T5, so it ought to be possible to be at St Pancras, having walked through from King’s Cross, in about 80 minutes.

So, that’s 2h50 minutes gone even with an on-time landing. If the need is to arrive by 1:15pm, that really does not allow much margin for flight delays.

Unless the OP has a very high tolerance of risk at the very least he or she should be planning to pay for the Heathrow Express - assuming it’s running.

Badenoch

3 hours is probably sufficient time on a Sunday morning. I usually block 90 minutes from landing at LHR until I get to the HEX or tube station. HEX-to St. Pancras won't take 90 minutes so in the absence of a significant flight or rail delay you should have sufficient but not plenty of time.

NickB

Re the Hex, if the OP is traveling on a Sunday,a 90-day advance weekend Hex ticket is only 5.50 instead of the usual daylight robbery fares. Notwithstanding the risk of engineering works as mentioned by rcspeirs, the OP might want to bear that in mind in his planning. Af 90 days out, we should normally know whether engineering works are planned or not.

miuk