Visited this NG once before and got some good advice. Misplaced some of it
g. Would someone mind repeating the following:
From Heathrow Terminal 4, where does one go to get a PAYG Oyster Pass.
Following that, the path to the Piccadilly Line.
MLD

On Apr 13, 6:38 pm, "MLD" wrote:
Visited this NG once before and got some good advice. Misplaced some of it
g. Would someone mind repeating the following:
From Heathrow Terminal 4, where does one go to get a PAYG Oyster Pass.
Following that, the path to the Piccadilly Line.
MLD


Heathrow Terminal 4 has its own Underground station on the Piccadilly
line, so simply go to the ticket office there - ask for an Oyster card
with whatever amount of PAYG credit you want on it. There is a £3
refundable deposit for the card. You can either provide your details
and have it registered, or otherwise have an unregistered card.

The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

Note that "Visitor Oyster cards" are functionally the same as standard
Oyster cards, except (a) they are unregistered and (b) there isn't a
refundable deposit, rather there is a small fee charged instead.

I'd advise anyone arriving at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 or 3 who need
tickets to at least try their luck at the TfL Travel Information
Centre which is bang opposite the entrance to "Heathrow Terminals
1,2,3" Underground station as it never seems to be as busy compared to
the ticket office at the station proper. There is however no such
facility at either Terminal 4 or Terminal 5 at Heathrow, but I don't
think the queues can be as bad at either of those locations though.

(A bit of background with regards to the geography might be helpful
here - Terminals 1,2 and 3 are all clustered together in a central
area, whilst both Terminals 4 and 5 are some distance apart and as
well as having separate stations they also have separate road access
too.)

Hope you enjoy your time here.

The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

I never knew that. But a quick looks shows the price is a *little bit
high* - in part perhaps because the GBP-EURO exchange rate used is what
it was not what it is (sob). A 10 GBP Oyster Card costs 18,45 Euro
including delivery to Germany. On the other hand, the UK needs the
money so please buy early and in bulk!

If you know someone in the UK you trust with your money, or who trusts
you with their money, it would be cheaper for them to buy an Oyster card
and post it to you. I know of no barrier to that. And if there is a
barrier I am sure someone here will educate me
--
Robin

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:38:47 -0400, "MLD" wrote:

Visited this NG once before and got some good advice. Misplaced some of it
g. Would someone mind repeating the following:
From Heathrow Terminal 4, where does one go to get a PAYG Oyster Pass.
Following that, the path to the Piccadilly Line.

Look for "Underground" on the yellow signs in the terminal building. You
descend by lift from the arrivals level at T4 and walk down a ramp. This
brings you in to the ticket hall at the tube station.
SNIP
Paul C

Don't mean to ask a dumb question, however, having said that one follow up
question,----Are your directions to the ticket hall straight from plane door
to the booth or from baggage pick up? Since I expect that I'll be looking
for the ticket hall after getting the baggage are the directions different
or is it still the basic "follow signs to the Underground??
I must add, that here in Boston our system is just plain vanilla when
compared to the scope and complexity of yours.
MLD

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:45:19 -0400, "MLD" wrote:


"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:38:47 -0400, "MLD" wrote:

Visited this NG once before and got some good advice. Misplaced some of
it
g. Would someone mind repeating the following:
From Heathrow Terminal 4, where does one go to get a PAYG Oyster Pass.
Following that, the path to the Piccadilly Line.

Look for "Underground" on the yellow signs in the terminal building. You
descend by lift from the arrivals level at T4 and walk down a ramp. This
brings you in to the ticket hall at the tube station.
SNIP
Paul C

Don't mean to ask a dumb question, however, having said that one follow up
question,----Are your directions to the ticket hall straight from plane
door
to the booth or from baggage pick up? Since I expect that I'll be looking
for the ticket hall after getting the baggage are the directions different
or is it still the basic "follow signs to the Underground??
I must add, that here in Boston our system is just plain vanilla when
compared to the scope and complexity of yours.

Not quite from plane to train. Obviously after baggage reclaim you will
pass through Customs and then face 10,000 faces all waving notices
asking if you are Mr Nakawaka or some daft name (meeters and greeters).
Once past this crowd you are in the public side of arrivals level of the
terminal building. Look on the standard yellow signs with black wording
for "Underground". Find the lift and descend then you are at the ramp
as per my earlier post. There is only way down from arrivals to the
Tube Station and that's via the lifts from the terminal building. You
can use a luggage trolley all the way down in to the tube ticket hall.

googles

If you look at page 2 of this

http://www.heathrowairport.com/asset..._Map_01_09.pdf

then you will exit between the two "26s" - from memory you turn right on
exit and walk along the terminal. You will see a bank of lifts opposite
"number 12" on the plan. IIRC they are the lifts down to the tube.

HTH
--
Paul C

Thank you for all the good words and help. It is appreciated.
MLD

In message
, at
11:21:06 on Mon, 13 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:
There is a £3 refundable deposit for the card. You can either provide
your details and have it registered, or otherwise have an unregistered
card.

Isn't there some issue to do with refunding people with overseas
addresses?

The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

Note that "Visitor Oyster cards" are functionally the same as standard
Oyster cards, except (a) they are unregistered and (b) there isn't a
refundable deposit, rather there is a small fee charged instead.

And there are some vending machines that sell them. LHR T4 is such an
obvious place to have such a machine, I'm sure they won't have installed
one...
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 15:45:19 on Mon, 13
Apr 2009, MLD remarked:
Are your directions to the ticket hall straight from plane door to the
booth or from baggage pick up? Since I expect that I'll be looking for
the ticket hall after getting the baggage are the directions different
or is it still the basic "follow signs to the Underground??

UK airports have the following flow:

Gate - immigration - baggage reclaim - customs - arrivals hall.

All except the latter are "inside" the closed area. The signs will be
visible when you get to the arrivals hall.

On the plan below, page 2, customs is the unmarked bit between "26" and
the baggage reclaim, the arrivals hall the lighter yellow shaded area.

Astonishingly, the exit to the Underground isn't mentioned on this plan
(perhaps because BAA own the competing Heathrow Express train): maybe
someone can assist from memory.

http://www.heathrowairport.com/asset...eathrow%20down
loads/Static%20files/HeathrowT4_Map_01_09.pdf
--
Roland Perry

On Apr 15, 12:07*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
11:21:06 on Mon, 13 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:

There is a £3 refundable deposit for the card. You can either provide
your details and have it registered, or otherwise have an unregistered
card.

Isn't there some issue to do with refunding people with overseas
addresses?

AIUI the deposit and unused credit can be refunded in cash in a
straightforward over-the-counter transaction at a Tube station ticket
office if it's under a certain amount, but I don't know what that
amount is.
See this TfL Help page:
https://custserv.tfl.gov.uk/icss_csi...entityNum=3334

I think that if the card is registered then you'd need to quote the
answer to your security question. If the card is not registered then I
think it may have to be registered first before the money could be
returned. I am, as you can see, rather hazy on the details with
regards to this all! (Unfortunately I can imagine some ticket office
bods might be similarly hazy on these matters!)


The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

Note that "Visitor Oyster cards" are functionally the same as standard
Oyster cards, except (a) they are unregistered and (b) there isn't a
refundable deposit, rather there is a small fee charged instead.

And there are some vending machines that sell them. LHR T4 is such an
obvious place to have such a machine, I'm sure they won't have installed
one...


Pedantry time! The vending machines do not sell "Visitor Oyster cards"
as such - rather they sell unregistered standard Oyster cards, or
rather I should say they 'vend' them as the £3 deposit is refundable
(in theory at least!).

The principle difference between "Visitor Oyster cards" and standard
Oyster cards is that the Visitor version does not have a refundable
deposit, instead there is a non-refundable "fee" charged when they are
purchased. I don't know whether it is possible to register a Visitor
Oyster card at a later stage - at some point I suppose I could do an
experiment by obtaining one and then attempting to register it. (With
'standard' unregistered Oyster cards it is possible to register them
at a later stage.)

Some of the Oyster vending machines sell Oyster cards with no credit
pre-loaded for £3 (i.e. the cost of the deposit), some sell Oyster
cards with minimal credit pre-loaded - I've seen ones selling cards
for £5 with £2 credit pre-loaded, not sure if there are any other
variations.

If you feel like you're suffering from deja vu then that's because we
did this whole topic at length a while back! Your well argued point
was that Oyster cards with a substantial amount of credit pre-loaded
on them should be sold from vending machines at major points of
arrival into London such as airports and termini stations. (Whether or
not they'd be branded "Visitor" is not so crucial).

On Apr 13, 9:08*pm, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:45:19 -0400, "MLD" wrote:

"Paul Corfield" wrote:

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:38:47 -0400, "MLD" wrote:

Visited this NG once before and got some good advice. Misplaced some of it
g. *Would someone mind repeating the following:
From Heathrow Terminal 4, where does one go to get a PAYG Oyster Pass.
Following that, the path to the Piccadilly Line.

Look for "Underground" on the yellow signs in the terminal building. You
descend by lift from the arrivals level at T4 and walk down a ramp. This
brings you in to the ticket hall at the tube station.

Don't mean to ask a dumb question, however, having said that one follow up
question,----Are your directions to the ticket hall straight from plane door
to the booth or from baggage pick up? *Since I expect that I'll be looking
for the ticket hall after getting the baggage are the directions different
or is it still the basic "follow signs to the Underground??
I must add, that here in Boston our system is just plain vanilla when
compared to the scope and complexity of yours.

Not quite from plane to train. *Obviously after baggage reclaim you will
pass through Customs and then face 10,000 faces all waving notices
asking if you are Mr Nakawaka or some daft name (meeters and greeters).
Once past this crowd you are in the public side of arrivals level of the
terminal building. *Look on the standard yellow signs with black wording
for "Underground". *Find the lift and *descend then you are at the ramp
as per my earlier post. *There is only way down from arrivals to the
Tube Station and that's via the lifts from the terminal building. You
can use a luggage trolley all the way down in to the tube ticket hall.

googles

If you look at page 2 of this

http://www.heathrowairport.com/asset.../Heathrow%20do...

then you will exit between the two "26s" - from memory you turn right on
exit and walk along the terminal. *You will see a bank of lifts opposite
"number 12" on the plan. *IIRC they are the lifts down to the tube.


An obvious-ish point but I'll make it anyway - don't get distracted by
signs for the "Heathrow Express" or "Heathrow Connect" train services,
these are mainline rail services into London that have premium fares
(and on which Oyster PAYG cannot be used, at least not yet). Just
follow the signs to the "Underground" as Paul says above.

In message
, at
06:36:26 on Wed, 15 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:
Some of the Oyster vending machines sell Oyster cards with no credit
pre-loaded for £3 (i.e. the cost of the deposit), some sell Oyster
cards with minimal credit pre-loaded - I've seen ones selling cards
for £5 with £2 credit pre-loaded, not sure if there are any other
variations.

I've only seen them selling £5 ones. I thought they were non-refundable
(and therefore in effect "Visitor Cards"), but if you say they are
normal ones...
--
Roland Perry