Elizabeth line staff to strike on Thursday

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• John says:

  10 Jan10 January 09:26

  Wish I could get a definitive answer on integrated ticket options for National Rail + Elizabeth line for Heathrow. Thameslink ticket machines don’t even list Heathrow; advance online tickets have a variety of seemingly identical station/destination codes; while a ticket office sold me ask off peak NR+Zone 6 Underground which didn’t open the EL gate barrier at T5! And how to avail of that integrated Zone6 ticket type for journeys starting at T5, and changing at Farringdon for example?

  • Andrew says:

    10 Jan10 January 09:45

    It’s a faff, isn’t it! We live on Thameslink too and their machines only seem to sell the expensive HEX options. I used the LNER app to search (destination HEATHROW RAIL) and buy my off-peak travel card to get me to heathrow recently. I picked it up from the station ticket machine so it didn’t save me any money but it did give me an email to show that I was sold a ticket that deliberately routed me via the Elizabeth Line.

    To be fair, the person at the ticket barrier at Heathrow just waved me through so no issues there.

    On the way back, you could always buy your travelcard/ticket in advance and collect at the same time as you’re outbound on the way to LHR. Assuming you’re certain of plans etc.

    • SamG says:

      10 Jan10 January 11:13

      A travelcard zones 1-6 is def valid via EL to LHR. A single ticket to Z6 or wouldn’t be, that should be used on the Piccadilly line

      Worth pointing out again that there are no off peak contactless fares to Heathrow so it’s often worth exploring a travelcard option if you’re coming from outside London off peak, as I mention below

    • John says:

      10 Jan10 January 13:45

      Thank you, Sam, Zone 6 Travelcard seems to be the way to go.

      Via LNER app:

      Morning outbound
      Day Return SAC (St Albans) Zone 6 : £23.40

      Evening return
      Off peak Day Return Zone 6 to SAC : £14.40

      Total cost: 37.80 (ret. portions unused)

      vs

      77.40 for an Anytime Return SAC-HWV (Heathrow Rail Only T5)

      A split ticket changing to contactless at Farringdon doesn’t seem to be feasible as you’d have to ascend to street level to touch in. Or accept the maximum TfL fare (which is possibly the same as actually touching in/out to LHR on EL?)

      Is there a National Rail compatible ticket collection machine in the basement of T5?

      • Andrew says:

        10 Jan10 January 13:57

        No idea about the ticket machines at T5 but you could buy both the travelcards via LNER in one transaction and collect at the same time from SAC – it’s what we did the other day from our Thameslink station with no probs.

      • SamG says:

        10 Jan10 January 14:10

        Some of the Heathrow Express ticket machines allow collection. At T2-3 these used to be the ones opposite the ticket office, not sure if they’re still in the same place

        You can touch in/out at Farringdon, there are standalone readers for this purpose on the platforms

        But from St Albans you can just touch in and out with a contactless card – £21.40 peak / £18.40 off peak. For a one way journey this is cheapest unless you have a rail card then you’re better off getting a Travelcard off-peak

      • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

        10 Jan10 January 19:45

        Not anymore there are card readers on both thameslink platforms to tap before you go down to Lizzie

      • Londonsteve says:

        11 Jan11 January 15:56

        Be aware that unless you live on the Lizzie Line or you’re starting from close to one of its central London stations, there’s actually precious little time saving versus changing to the Piccadilly Line in central London if you’re coming from elsewhere. For me travelling in on the Northern Line, the EL would typically save 10 minutes to Heathrow compared to the Piccadilly Line. After Paddington the EL is a slow service that stops at every halt on the way to Heathrow and it never really gets up any speed. I mention this as it might be much more cost effective to take a National Rail or contactless fare into central London then switch to the tube. An exception might be if one is travelling with large amounts of luggage where the interchange to the EL might be easier due to the lifts.

  • Nick Burch says:

    10 Jan10 January 11:02

    You could try asking on the RailUK Forums, lots of train ticketing experts lurk there who ought to be able to help! https://www.railforums.co.uk/forums/fares-advice-policy.105/

  • John says:

    10 Jan10 January 13:17

    Thank you @all for the informative replies to this thread!

• Dan says:

  10 Jan10 January 12:29

  IHG have also knocked 20% off the cash price of points+cash bookings – 3 nights in Indigo LA and 2 nights in Kimpton Palm Springs have now become affordable. I can also confirm that ex-Creation customers can book these deals.

• Carol says:

  10 Jan10 January 18:27

  New £5 off £15 spend at Amazon, widely available, we got 75% success rate. You can click on Apply to account and then you get 2 weeks to use it. Limited to the first 10,000 to Apply it, so don’t hang around. You could see it as 500 free Avios.

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