In message , Ben Nunn
writes

I think the problem is that all the connections to Heathrow seem to be aimed
at getting people into central London, which is fundamentally flawed in two
respects.

1) Around half the passengers coming into Heathrow are British people
returning from their holidays, not tourists visiting.

I don't know where you get that statistic from, but I don't think its
correct.

Heathrow's lack of charter flights and cheap airline services don't make
it a popular choice for British holidaymakers. But it is the major
gateway for international visitors. The National Statistics' Office
Travel Trends report for 2000 says ...

Heathrow accounted for over a half of all visits by overseas
residents travelling to the UK by air. UK residents travelling
by air were more inclined to use regional airports.

On the other hand, Heathrow has the lion's share of business travel by
air.

2) Central London hotel prices have led to a vast expansion of the tourist
catchment area in recent years.

Central London hotels have enormous over-capacity at present.
Consequently it is possible to find much better deals there than in many
other parts of the UK.

It's now not unusual for 'ordinary' people
who aren't made of money to visit the capital and stay in zone 2 or 3,
because that's where the affordable accomodation is getting built.

Affordable hotels, do you mean? I don't see many. And for the many
visitors who come for a short city-break, the travelling time from
further out eats into holiday time.

Can't we have rail links from Heathrow to anywhere else?

Some would be desirable, but I don't know how cost-effective they would
be. Most of my friends and relatives who fly overseas for holidays go
from Luton, Stansted, Gatwick or Manchester - they wouldn't dream of
using Heathrow.

When I go from Tooting to Heathrow to go on holiday, both the Picc and the
Express seem extremely inconvenient and time-consuming prospects (and the
Express is pricey to boot), so I get a taxi every time.

That's fine, since you can clearly afford a taxi. When flying on holiday
(as opposed to business, where I get my fare paid) I find that the
savings to be made by flying from Stansted more than make-up for the
extra hour it takes me to cross town to get there.

--
Paul Terry