Heathrow Express fare cuts

[whole diary]

[Surrey 455]

Simon Calder at The Independent is reporting that advance fares have been cut to as little as £5.50.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/heathrow-express-ticket-cheap-train-fares-airport-crossrail-travel-a9165661.html

Britain’s most expensive railway is slashing fares ahead of the opening of Crossrail.

The Heathrow Express runs from London Paddington to terminals 2 and 3 at Britain’s busiest airport in 15 minutes, with an extra six minutes to terminal 5.

The “Anytime” one-way fare is £25, a price per mile of over £1.60.

A slightly cheaper off-peak single, avoiding rush hours, is £22.

Advance tickets costing £12.50 have been available on weekdays for travellers booking three months ahead, with cheaper deals for weekend travel.

Now the premium rail link is cutting the lowest fare to £5.50 on every day of the week. Once the cheapest tickets have gone, the fare will increase progressively to £16.50, depending on availability.

On test bookings made by The Independent, there were no cheap tickets a week ahead. One or two months ahead, fares of £7.50 are available. The lowest fare, £5.50, is guaranteed to be available three months ahead.

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[BBM]

Article from frequent air traveller site Head For Points with similar findings for cheap fares in advance:

How is the pricing in reality?

Here are some examples to show you how the pricing drops away.  These are for travel on a Tuesday, priced up yesterday:

29th October £22 (standard fare)
5th November  £22 (standard fare)
12th November  £15
19th November  £15
26th November  £22 (standard fare)
10th December  £7.50
7th January  £7.50
21st January  £5.50
4th February  £5.50
18th February £5.50

The £5.50 fares are clearly there for midweek dates, albeit I had to look 10 weeks ahead to find one on a Tuesday.  If you’ve got your flights booked, of course, booking your Heathrow Express ticket so far ahead should not be an issue.