Thistle Heathrow charging £8 for the driverless pods to T5 – but it can still save you money

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• Martin says:

  28 Mar28 March 03:56

  Seems quite cheap, considering the Hilton T4 now charges £30 a night for self parking….
  Slumming it at the Thistle now looking good..

  • Gordon says:

    28 Mar28 March 04:58

    It would seem cheap comparing it to an expensive parking rate!

    With BA and Virgin increasing their redemption fees, what’s next, I’m hoping your next article has some good news Rob.(and I’m not shooting the messenger here).Just getting frustrated with greed! I know we have a choice, but there’s no stand out amazing low prices for anything anymore. Rant over!

• NigelthePensioner says:

  28 Mar28 March 05:43

  Not that I have done it or even condone it, but what is to stop you staying at the far better (!!) Premier Inn over the road and simply walking into the car park of the Thistle and catching the pod without paying £8 for a PIN for the gate?

  • Tariq says:

    28 Mar28 March 05:53

    I mean, you could stand around at the gate waiting to tailgate someone through? But obviously the PIN lock on the gate prevents you from just walking through anytime you want?

    • Erico1875 says:

      28 Mar28 March 06:04

      Could 2 people get through with 1 pin?

      • Thegasman says:

        28 Mar28 March 06:52

        200 people could get through if someone holds gate open long enough. They couldn’t put a turnstile in as it wouldn’t work with luggage.

  • Charlie says:

    28 Mar28 March 06:00

    On this occasion, it would be quicker to get the 423. However, should you wish to try to steal a pod, the PIN at the gate has been 4761 for the past few years. 🙂

    • Gordon says:

      28 Mar28 March 06:03

      I can see that code changing now, when the pods are full and there’s no revenue coming in!!!!

    • zapato1060 says:

      28 Mar28 March 06:58

      😀 but even more sad, you can use it free from t5 to Thistle car park and back, just for the laughs.

      • AndrewT says:

        28 Mar28 March 07:35

        But great for keeping kids amused for a while. I accompanied my grandson on all three ‘routes’ available: T5 – car park zone A, zone A – zone B, then zone B back to T5.

        • Paul says:

          28 Mar28 March 07:54

          All well and good till it breaks down which happens more often than people think

    • Travel Strong says:

      28 Mar28 March 07:35

      For me – this doesn’t seem to be have been true. I’ve kept photos of with my codes and the last one in my camera roll is 1489#. I also test whether they change it by putting the code in on my return (after passing back through the gate) and it hasn’t worked for me.

      *however* I buy a code at the desk as a non-resident. Maybe that is why my experience differs? Is there maybe a fixed code if you are a resident?

      • Paul says:

        28 Mar28 March 07:55

        So there is no charge to reach the Thistle only leaving the Thistle?

        • Tariq says:

          28 Mar28 March 17:55

          No, as far as I remember there are PIN pads on both sides of the gate. Obviously if you are just arriving, you can get from the POD to the Thistle by pressing an intercom button on the gate and reception will let you through (so you can go and check in and pay as you arrive).

  • Gordon says:

    28 Mar28 March 06:01

    I agree, re premier inn, it’s a basic room/property, but you do not get any surprises, and you do not get ripped off if you choose to drink and dine. I use them regularly when flying from LGW or LHR.
    I have not had one complaint over the years.

• Stuart says:

  28 Mar28 March 06:54

  It’s all good until its lashing down with rain as the walk is totally uncovered! At £8pp it’s getting a bit silly

• @mkcol says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:08

  You used to be able to book just parking at the Thistle, still grab the gate code from reception to use the pods & it be significantly cheaper than the pod parking without having to stay in that dump.

• Magic Mike says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:12

  Thistle don’t seem to do capacity management on their car park though so sometimes finding a space can be a challenge, even if you have booked…

• Mark says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:24

  Just to check, if you book a stay and fly rate do you get the Pod door charge included or is it an additional £8 on top of this rate?

  • Matt says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:27

    Additional.

  • Rob says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:45

    Extra.

    • Mark says:

      28 Mar28 March 10:25

      Thanks, and how do they enforce the “per person” element? We are a family of 4 with a 3 and a 6 year old, surely we aren’t paying for them too?!

      • Matt says:

        28 Mar28 March 14:41

        Price is per person each way.

        https://www.thistle.com/heathrow-terminal-5/heathrow-pods

        It does drop you off in car park in T5 which is a longer walk than the bus drop off.

        Your kids will be free on the 423 bus and it will be £1.70 each for each adult. So the whole journey with return all 4 will be less than a single POD fare one way.

        Your kids will probably find the double decker 423 more exciting. If you track the bus using the TFL app when at thistle you can time it so the bus will run the pod pretty damm close from hotel to departures terminal on terms of time. On way back the most you will probably end up waiting is 20 mins

• Matt says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:27

  Used them once. A novelty but really nothing to justify £8 per person each trip.

  The 428 bus is the way to go. I reckon it must be pretty close to same time if you track the bus.

  Another advantage of the 428 bus is you can almost certainly twilight bag drop (if your flight leaves before 10am) on a single fare. You get unlimited boardings within an hour of your first tap in. We easily did the 428 to T5, bag drop and and boarding 428 back to the Thistle under a single fare last year.

  As for thistle. Dated but clean and comfy. Plus you can book a room and 8 or 15 day parking package at a reasonable rate.

  • Matt says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:32

    My bad 423 bus not 428. It leaves from right outside the thistle.

    https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/423/?direction=outbound

  • Matt says:

    28 Mar28 March 09:39

    Bus fares here. Its hard to argue with £1.70 for adults, free for kids under 11, and the ability for older kids who live outside London to get £15 pass that gets the unlimited free bus travel.

    https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/bus-and-tram-fares#on-this-page-1

• Nick G says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:40

  At nearly 50 I still have a go in the pods to the car park and back a couple of times with the family……part of our holiday ritual now before we stay over at the sofitel….long live the pods!

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