Joe wrote:
Hi all,

Just trying to work out what the best way of doing Central London to
Heathrow Airport on Oyster PAYG is (without using Piccadilly line).

I heard that there was a bus from Hayes/Harlington so might be worth
taking FGW or Heathrow Connect (interestingly their website says PAYG
not valid but the map seems to disagree) to there before changing.

Any better ways?

It depends on (a) where in Central London you are starting from, (b)
which terminal you are heading for at Heathrow, and (c) what you mean by
"better". (Faster? Cheaper? Fewer changes?) Why don't you want to use
the Piccadilly Line?

Heathrow Connect's website says that "Pre-pay Oyster" is not valid,
which suggests that it might be an old comment that hasn't been revised.
TfL's site says that PAYG is valid between Greenford/West Drayton and
Paddington, which would include the section of HC east of Hayes. I've
emailed HC for clarification.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

"Richard J." wrote:

Heathrow Connect's website says that "Pre-pay Oyster" is not valid, which
suggests that it might be an old comment that hasn't been revised. TfL's
site says that PAYG is valid between Greenford/West Drayton and
Paddington, which would include the section of HC east of Hayes. I've
emailed HC for clarification.

PAYG certainly is valid. Had to go out to Hayes & Harlington on business
last week, and there are multiple validators at the station. As it happens,
I ended up on fGW services both ways, but PAYG is also valid on Heathrow
Connect as far as West Drayton.

Three weeks earlier, business took me to South Greenford, where my Oyster
PAYG was also accepted.

Chris

On Mar 16, 7:05*pm, "Chris Read" wrote:
Heathrow Connect's website says that "Pre-pay Oyster" is not valid, which
suggests that it might be an old comment that hasn't been revised. TfL's
site says that PAYG is valid between Greenford/West Drayton and
Paddington, which would include the section of HC east of Hayes. *I've
emailed HC for clarification.

PAYG certainly is valid. Had to go out to Hayes & Harlington on business
last week, and there are multiple validators at the station. As it happens,
I ended up on fGW services both ways, but PAYG is also valid on Heathrow
Connect as far as West Drayton.

Three weeks earlier, business took me to South Greenford, where my Oyster
PAYG was also accepted.

Legally speaking, all HC services are FGW services between London and
H&H, and therefore are subject to the same fares, conditions, etc (as
they took over the paths of existing FGW slow trains). So PAYG is
valid.

They are then HEx (and not National Rail at all) between H&H and the
airport, so PAYG, Travelcards, railcards, etc aren't valid.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org