Driverless pods are back at Terminal 5 for the car park and the Thistle hotel

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• Nick G says:

  12 Apr12 April 08:26

  Great news my son loves the pod experience! I take it we can just hop on from T5, travel over the end of the runway to the car park, and come straight back without a fee like you used to be able to?

  It’s not sad it’s great…..,long live the pods!!!!

• Shad says:

  12 Apr12 April 09:29

  I have been in worse hotels than the thistle – don’t judge me..
  Its true that adding £12 per person for a return trip can make the experience expensive, but if you factor it in when staying at least its not a suprise.

  The gate (from memory) is just a gate, so if you are a family spread acrosss 2 rooms i guess only a single room would have to pay for the privilege…

  The cost of the gate is the same as the cost of the hoppa bus from other hotels (set by HAL), so technically its no more expensive than getting a hoppa from somewhere else

• Gail says:

  12 Apr12 April 09:29

  We stayed at the Thistle for one night pre flight last month. We had big trouble finding a parking space! The pod wasn’t open then but we got a good deal in conjunction with T5 parking.

  • MattB says:

    12 Apr12 April 16:16

    Had the same on Saturday, there was a huge Indian wedding at the conference room and cars were parked everywhere. The chaps on reception said said park anywhere, yellow lines were fine but had trouble even doing that. Ended up moving early the next morning when a few spaces popped up.

• Chicken Parm says:

  12 Apr12 April 09:54

  Anyone know what the code for the door is….and how often they change it??? :-). Surely someone could make a few quid (if they have nothing better to do and way too much time on their hands) by camping out there and selling the code to others at a lower price

  • Qrfan says:

    12 Apr12 April 11:08

    There’s cctv above the gate and using a code you haven’t purchased from the owner means you’re stealing the services. I can think of better ways to save £6. Not staying in that dump being one of them.

    • Rob says:

      12 Apr12 April 11:16

      Because of the runway views it has a bit of a niche appeal to planespotters.

      There is a hard core of people who appreciate the value and/or convenience it offers. If you’re not trying to impress anyone, want to save money and you are turning up at 10pm for a very earning morning flight the next day, it is perfectly fine.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 Apr12 April 11:53

        Surely they were/are just waiting to cash in on the 3rd runway Bath road purchase bonanza (yes I know … if it ever actually happens)

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        12 Apr12 April 20:23

        More than that – the food is decent, the rooms are in reasonable nick and are spacious too. It’s a perfectly decent hotel, then the rooftop terrace overlooking the runway make it my go to every time

  • Rob says:

    12 Apr12 April 11:20

    Daily

• Graham Law says:

  12 Apr12 April 10:14

  My experience was Thistle with parking was cheaper than just parking at any other car park. If you are going to T5 and want to save money the 423 bus stops outside and goes there for £1.65 every 20 mins. It’s just two stops.

• Chris says:

  12 Apr12 April 10:33

  Drat. The replacement bus service was better than the pods! We had a bus for 12 people to ourselves, as did the family behind us! They were queued up & waiting.

  • Qrfan says:

    12 Apr12 April 11:09

    I like the pods but no chance of 4 cases and a double buggy fitting in so no good for us! Agree bus can actually be better.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      12 Apr12 April 11:54

      Split two pods between the 2 adults? You can use as many pods as you want/need.

• Ron says:

  12 Apr12 April 10:49

  Is it unlimited use of the pods if staying at thistle T5? Thinking to do twilight check in the night before, so if the hotel stay only include one pod return to T5, then need to factor in extra £48 for us. Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    12 Apr12 April 11:17

    £6 each way BUT the pin only changes once per day so I assume multiple uses on the same day only incur one charge.

• Grant says:

  12 Apr12 April 12:16

  I have T5 short stay parking booked with the Sofitel before an early morning flight soon. The Pod parking is signficantly cheaper than short stay. My intention was to check-in to the Sofitel with an overnight bag that I would deposit back at the car before our flight in the morning – having used the bag drop the night before for our checked luggage.

  Would this plan still work if I used the pod parking? i.e. can I get back to the pod car park from T5 and back again without incurring several £6 charges?

  • Rob says:

    12 Apr12 April 12:19

    It’s totally free from Terminal 5 to the car park.

    You only pay the £6 if you use the gate between the Thistle and the pods, because those people are not using the Heathrow car park and therefore not contributing towards the cost of the pods.

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