Hatton Cross underground station is now in the Heathrow ‘free travel zone’

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• Jonathon says:

  6 Sep6 September 05:22

  Tap out and tap in to save the money. What a stupid situation to find ourselves in. Bad decision from TfL, especially when they push the Elizabeth Line cost close enough to the Heathrow Express cost.

  • Paul says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:17

    Price rises were a condition of Gov funding during Covid.
    TfL likely doesn’t loose out much from tapping out then back in after HAL compensates them for the ‘free’ journey.

    • Londonsteve says:

      6 Sep6 September 08:30

      Does HAL pay TFL for journeys that are free for us?

  • Rhys says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:28

    Most people probably won’t tap out and in though. I know I probably won’t.

    • Doug M says:

      6 Sep6 September 09:16

      Will people really make that much effort. If they’re going to an airport they’re spending money. If you have luggage this becomes just crazy to me.

      • J says:

        6 Sep6 September 09:37

        Depends. I’d imagine most people who have a decent journey to Heathrow would leave some buffer for issues on trains. If you have a smooth journey and, therefore, plenty time to kill, you can either have a bit of a walk at Hatton Cross, or wait around at Heathrow.

        Also, if you’re going to T5, but the T4 train arrives first, why not jump on that, and utilise the train switch to save a couple of quid.

      • Brian78 says:

        6 Sep6 September 12:13

        The bigger question is whether most people will even be aware of the Hatton Cross change. Probably not.

        Loads of people read MoneySavingExpert etc but the majority don’t.

    • Neil says:

      6 Sep6 September 10:32

      It gives you an option if going to LHR and the first train is a T4 , get off at Hatton X tap out and then get the next T5 train.

      • Rob says:

        6 Sep6 September 10:43

        Good point. Added into the article.

  • Rich_A says:

    6 Sep6 September 14:01

    TFL needs the cash. I think it’s a good way to generate a bit of extra income from tourists or occasional travellers for whom a couple of quid on a several £k trip is inconsequential.

    As for airport staff, I guess many will have season tickets or weekly price-capping. I’m not sure if it would have an effect on them?

    • Rhys says:

      6 Sep6 September 16:46

      Don’t some (BA?) staff get free Heathrow Express?

      • David says:

        6 Sep6 September 21:25

        Certainly used to, don’t know about now.
        All Heathrow staff used to get a HEX discount.

    • Alex Sm says:

      6 Sep6 September 22:32

      They are unlikely to live in Zone 1, like many HfP readers

• lpgm says:

  6 Sep6 September 05:54

  I tap out and in again at West Drayton all the time for a similar reason!

  • Londonsteve says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:18

    What does that achieve?

    • lpgm says:

      7 Sep7 September 08:30

      It saves you money. In this case, by paying TfL’s cheaper Zones 1-6 prices.

      • Londonsteve says:

        7 Sep7 September 11:41

        I see, so the motivation is that it’s at the edge of the TFL zone system. For example, where does one need to be heading for it to make sense to get off at West Drayton and do this? Peak, off-peak, or both?

        • lpgm says:

          7 Sep7 September 22:34

          In either direction, peak or off-peak. Try pricing it up. Reading to Stratford, for example, is much cheaper as Reading to West Drayton, West Drayton to Stratford. Or the other way round.

  • Michael Jennings says:

    6 Sep6 September 09:24

    I do it at East Croydon. Saves a few quid on a trip to Gatwick. I don’t do it if I am in a hurry / carrying luggage.

• kt74 says:

  6 Sep6 September 05:55

  Uh, that Hatton Cross trick doesn’t work if you use the same card or Oyster. The system will treat it like an interchange and is within rights to charge you the full amount. The only way to guarantee it works is to use a distinctly different card/Oyster for the Hatton Cross to Heathrow portion of the journey.

  • Martin says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:45

    Swings and Roundabouts. A couple of weeks ago I travelled from Liverpool Street/Moorgate to Heathrow T5 on the Elizabeth Line and the platform change at Paddington was treated as one journey despite taking me 7 minutes.

    • Rhys says:

      6 Sep6 September 08:50

      That’s intentional though, because it would be 1 journey except they couldn’t run trains through when they first opened the line.

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    6 Sep6 September 09:12

    This is not true, although I would advise if you do have a different card to use it anyway so it’s not quite as obvious who’s gaming the system.

    Some stations are marked as ‘out of station interchanges’ this means once you leave the station you have 45 minutes to tap into another gate line in the group and it’s counted as one journey. This is intended for places like National Rail stations where you’re switching modes and having to pass through various gate lines as well as stations that are close to another station so it’s possible to interchange by walking between the two as well as stations like Custom House where you have to walk through a gate line for the Elizabeth line but the DLR has no gate line just card readers.

    As Hatton Cross has nothing to interchange with (buses don’t count as they have different fares) it’s just treated as a regular station so you can tap out and back in again as two separate journeys.

    • Michael Jennings says:

      6 Sep6 September 09:26

      Out of station interchanges aren’t always 45 minutes. It varies depending on the difficulty of the interchange. Sometimes they give you less time for train to tube than tube to train.

      • lumma says:

        6 Sep6 September 09:45

        https://oysterfares.com/information-pages/interchanging-trains/osi-list/

        Here’s a list of how long you have to interchange at all OSIs in London, but as a general rule, the longer interchanges are when you switch from Underground to National Rail as it gives you time to wait for your train on the concourse before going back through the barriers.

    • Steve says:

      6 Sep6 September 09:26

      You’re forgetting about auto-continue, which is there if you have erroneously left the station and come straight back in

      • Paul says:

        6 Sep6 September 10:10

        Selective Auto-continuation is generally only used after an evacuation of a station or disruption due to planned works

  • London Andy says:

    6 Sep6 September 19:42

    That’s just not true. I tried it yesterday and it worked on the same Oyster.

• Tracey says:

  6 Sep6 September 06:20

  The dichotomy of spending ££££ on taxes to use a 241 voucher and the saving of £2 by lugging your cases on and off the tube!

  • Ian says:

    6 Sep6 September 09:38

    Agreed! If someone is that desperate to save £2 they probably should be saving their money, rather than spending it on holidays 😁

  • RussellH says:

    6 Sep6 September 10:21

    Unless you are travelling on your own, why would you not take it in turn to tap in + out, while the other waits with the bags?

    And if I were travelling on my own, it would be hand baggage or rucksack only anyway. No problem.

  • Phil says:

    6 Sep6 September 11:37

    That’s why I loved this site. In the old days with Tesco clubcard promotions the lengths people went to were quite inspiring!

    • Rob says:

      6 Sep6 September 12:08

      https://www.headforpoints.com/2016/10/23/why-i-spent-1052-84-on-lego-friends-confessions-of-a-hfp-reader-part-one/

• Steve says:

  6 Sep6 September 06:25

  Is Heathrow Express still free between the terminals, or was that scrapped? What about the new Elizabeth Line?

  • Rhys says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:37

    All the trains are free between the terminals

• NB says:

  6 Sep6 September 06:26

  Send one person forward with the luggage to Heathrow and they can wait on the platform while their partner takes the tickets and touches in and out with them. They get on the next train and meet up on the platform. Lateral thinking.

  • Brian78 says:

    6 Sep6 September 06:36

    What if someone is on their own?

  • tony says:

    6 Sep6 September 06:40

    So long as there’s not a ticket inspection then conducted on board. The guys who work on the tube appear to have no discretion at all…

    Also it seems you need to tap back in with a different card, unless you leave it long enough to convince TfL that you’re not gaming the system.

    • John says:

      6 Sep6 September 07:35

      At Hatton Cross, you do not need to use a different card nor do you need to wait any length of time before re-entering. (You may need to if attempting to “split” fares at some stations.)

      There isn’t enough space on a Piccadilly line train to conduct ticket inspections on board. Delaying passengers (some of whom will be confused tourists) at Heathrow is also extremely unlikely. The only conceivable place for a ticket inspection might be at Hatton Cross, outside the barriers.

      If you are using contactless there is basically no risk from TfL ticket inspections, just use a valid but disabled card which has not been used with TfL before. At 0230 the following day the system will detect that that card was not touched in at the time of the inspection, then attempt to charge it £8.90, but the charge will fail as it’s disabled, though you can’t then use that card with TfL again.

      • Mirp says:

        6 Sep6 September 09:15

        What is a disabled card?

      • Heathrow Flyer says:

        6 Sep6 September 13:22

        I’ve seen inspections onboard a Piccadilly Line train. Around Boston Manor on a Central London bound service 5 or 6 plain clothes inspectors boarded together (strategically throughout the car), waited until the doors closed, then announced who they were and whipped out the e-reader devices.

        Cue some 16-year-old s*** himself.

    • ADS says:

      6 Sep6 September 08:21

      I do a similar thing at East Croydon (on the way in from Gatwick) fairly regularly

      The timing out the gateline and the timing back in through the gateline is usually within 10 seconds – and TfL pricing always treats it as two separate journeys

  • Londonsteve says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:22

    Also I don’t think it’s straightforward to tap in and out if you’re not actually walking through the gates. I don’t think you could, for example, tap out 5 different cards only going through the gates the final time, then repeat the process on the way in. The gates detect the passage of the person and open and close accordingly. It would be sure to attract the attention of the station staff who could suspect some fraud or hacking operation was underway. Not something I would get involved in.

  • jjoohhnn says:

    6 Sep6 September 10:14

    Whats the best way to tap out and in with multiple cards?!

    • LittleNick says:

      6 Sep6 September 19:55

      I was thinking perhaps if theres two People, Person A waits on platform with luggage for next train, Person B takes person A’s card that they signed in with, Person B signs out the barrier with A’s card then goes back in on A’s card and then B signs out with their own card and then back in, so needs to be done twice, this avoids the barrier open/close detection issue as there’s a physical person signing in and out for each person but may raise attention of staff if they’re paying attention.

      • Londonsteve says:

        7 Sep7 September 11:47

        It’s discrete enough if it’s someone doing it for themselves plus their other half, that’s only two circuits of the turnstiles, but considering you’ve got to leave your other half on the platform guarding your worldly possessions for the sake of saving £4, I fail the see the attraction. It’s different for a single traveller with hand luggage only and time to kill, or when having to change trains anyway.

• Lux says:

  6 Sep6 September 06:42

  *And* you can avoid the LHR drop off fee by chucking your passengers off in the car park at Hatton Cross. *And* it’s made those travelling from south of Heathrow easier / cheaper if using hand luggage only. *And* the £5 deposit on a Oyster Card is now a £7 non-returnable fee. Swings and roundabouts as we crash towards the ground.

  • Londonsteve says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:25

    That’s an excellent idea. As soon as the masses cotton onto this Hatton Cross will be swamped, not only with gateline u-turning passengers but also cars dropping off and collecting passengers from all Heathrow terminals. It’ll be bedlam as the station isn’t designed for this sort of thing.

• oldak says:

  6 Sep6 September 06:48

  For those with gold tier status with four hotel chains with Amex Platinum, which is the best to use for Best Western tier matching?

  • MilesOnPoint says:

    6 Sep6 September 07:47

    Hilton Gold matches to BW Diamond based on past experience.

  • Pablo says:

    6 Sep6 September 08:25

    status matcher reports imply hilton gold and marriott gold both give you BW Diamond Select

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