London Heathrow (LHR)

Paying by contactless

• Adults can pay for the Piccadilly line by touching a contactless bank card, or a phone or watch with Apple Pay or Google Pay, on the yellow reader at the ticket gates at the airport and again at the end of the journey.
• Each person travelling on contactless needs a separate card or phone, but a phone or watch counts as a different card from the bank card linked to it, even on the same account, so one parent can pay for two people, one touching in with the card and the other with the phone.
• Use the same card/phone every time, and keep your phone charged, or you risk overpaying.
• Hold only one card or phone to the reader, and keep other cards away from it, or the reader may charge the wrong one.
• Many cards from abroad work, but your bank may charge an overseas transaction fee, and a phone linked to a non-UK card sometimes doesn’t work, so carry the card itself as well.
• Contactless only charges adult fares, so see Children’s tickets below for what children pay.
• If you use the same card or phone all day, Transport for London’s (TfL’s) daily cap stops your Tube, Elizabeth line and bus fares at £16.30 for Zones 1 to 6 (Heathrow is in Zone 6).

Children’s tickets

• Up to four children under 11 travel free with each paying adult on the Tube, and they don’t need a ticket or card.
• Children aged 11 to 15 pay the adult fare by contactless, or half fare (£2.95) with TfL’s Young Visitor discount on an Oyster card, which lasts up to 14 days.
• Staff at any Heathrow Tube station can add the Young Visitor discount to an Oyster card or a Visitor Oyster card while the child is with you.
• An Oyster card costs £10.50, which TfL doesn’t refund, so for a single trip into town an 11 to 15-year-old pays less on the adult fare, but over a few days the discount saves more than the card costs, because it also halves their daily cap.

Paying at the airport

• Adults pay £5.90 on the Piccadilly line by contactless or Oyster.
• The Piccadilly line stations at Terminals 2 and 3, Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 have ticket machines that sell Oyster cards, single tickets and Travelcards for cash or card, and at Terminal 4 the Tube station is below the arrivals hall.
• TfL’s Visitor Centre in the Terminals 2 and 3 Tube station, open from 9am to 4.30pm Monday to Saturday, sells Oyster cards and can add the Young Visitor discount for 11 to 15-year-olds.
• The Tube ticket machines, including those at Heathrow’s three Piccadilly line stations, have a row of flags at the bottom of the start screen for switching from English to Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Español, 简体中文, हिन्दी, Português, 日本語, Polski, العربية, বাংলা, Ελληνικά, ગુજરાતી, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, தமிழ், Türkçe or اردو.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• You don’t need to book the Tube ahead, because contactless or Oyster covers the trip.
• TfL’s Visitor Shop can post Visitor Oyster cards to you before you travel, for £10.50 per card plus postage, with £10 to £50 of credit on each, and they’re useful for anyone without a contactless card that works in the UK.

Tickets to avoid

• A paper single (one way) ticket from the Tube ticket machines costs £7 to central London, more than the £5.90 you pay by contactless or Oyster.
• Don’t buy Oyster or Visitor Oyster cards for under-11s, who travel free, or for adults whose contactless card or phone works, because each card costs £10.50 and TfL doesn’t refund it.

Paying by contactless

• Adults can pay for the Elizabeth line by touching a contactless bank card, or a phone or watch with Apple Pay or Google Pay, on the yellow reader at the ticket gates at the airport and again at the end of the journey.
• Each person travelling on contactless needs a separate card or phone, but a phone or watch counts as a different card from the bank card linked to it, even on the same account, so one parent can pay for two people, one touching in with the card and the other with the phone.
• Use the same card/phone every time, and keep your phone charged, or you risk overpaying.
• Hold only one card or phone to the reader, and keep other cards away from it, or the reader may charge the wrong one.
• Many cards from abroad work, but your bank may charge an overseas transaction fee, and a phone linked to a non-UK card sometimes doesn’t work, so carry the card itself as well.
• Contactless only charges adult fares, so see Children’s tickets below for what children pay.
• If you use the same card or phone all day, Transport for London’s (TfL’s) daily cap stops your Tube, Elizabeth line and bus fares at £16.30 for Zones 1 to 6 (Heathrow is in Zone 6).

Children’s tickets

• Up to four children under 11 travel free with each paying adult on the Elizabeth line, and they don’t need a ticket or card.
• Children aged 11 to 15 pay the adult fare by contactless, or half fare (£7.30 to Paddington) with TfL’s Young Visitor discount on an Oyster card, which lasts up to 14 days.
• Staff at any Heathrow Tube station can add the Young Visitor discount to an Oyster card or a Visitor Oyster card while the child is with you.
• An Oyster card costs £10.50, which TfL doesn’t refund, so for one trip into town an 11 to 15-year-old pays less on the adult fare, but over a few days the discount saves more than the card costs.
• For a family with 11 to 15-year-olds, the Heathrow Express can cost less than the Elizabeth line, because children aged 15 and under ride it free with a paying adult.

Paying at the airport

• Adults pay £14.60 to Paddington on the Elizabeth line by contactless or Oyster.
• The Elizabeth line shares two stations with the Heathrow Express, Heathrow Central (Terminals 2 and 3) and Terminal 5, and each has ticket machines and a ticket office open from 5am to 11.59pm every day.
• At Terminal 4 the Elizabeth line station is below the arrivals hall.
• The blue “Train tickets” machines at the stations and in Terminal 5’s arrivals hall sell both Elizabeth line and Heathrow Express tickets, and buttons at the top of the screen switch them from English to Español, Italiano, 日本語, العربية, Deutsch, Français or 中文.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• You don’t need to book the Elizabeth line ahead, because contactless or Oyster covers the trip.
• TfL’s Visitor Shop can post Visitor Oyster cards to you before you travel, for £10.50 per card plus postage, and they’re useful for anyone without a contactless card that works in the UK.

Tickets to avoid

• Don’t buy Oyster or Visitor Oyster cards for under-11s, who travel free, or for adults whose contactless card or phone works, because each card costs £10.50 and TfL doesn’t refund it.

Paying by contactless

• Adults can pay for the Heathrow Express by touching a contactless bank card, or a phone or watch with Apple Pay or Google Pay, on the yellow reader at the ticket gates at the airport and again at the end of the journey.
• Each person travelling on contactless needs a separate card or phone, but a phone or watch counts as a different card from the bank card linked to it, even on the same account, so one parent can pay for two people, one touching in with the card and the other with the phone.
• Use the same card/phone every time, and keep your phone charged, or you risk overpaying.
• Hold only one card or phone to the reader, and keep other cards away from it, or the reader may charge the wrong one.
• Many cards from abroad work, but your bank may charge an overseas transaction fee, and a phone linked to a non-UK card sometimes doesn’t work, so carry the card itself as well.
• Contactless only charges adult fares, so see Children’s tickets below for what children pay.

Children’s tickets

• Children aged 15 and under ride the Heathrow Express free in Standard Class with a paying adult (anyone 16 or over pays the adult fare, unless they have a railcard), which can make it cheaper than the Elizabeth line for a family with 11 to 15-year-olds.
• Each child needs a free ticket from a machine, a ticket office or the app to get through the gates.
• A 16 or 17-year-old who already has a 16-17 Saver railcard gets half off a Heathrow Express ticket bought online or at a ticket machine, though not when paying by contactless.

Paying at the airport

• Adults pay £26 on the Heathrow Express by contactless, and Heathrow Express fares don’t count towards Transport for London’s (TfL’s) daily cap.
• Heathrow Express trains leave from the two stations they share with the Elizabeth line, Heathrow Central (Terminals 2 and 3) and Terminal 5, and each has ticket machines and a ticket office open from 5am to 11.59pm every day.
• Heathrow Express ticket offices take cash or cards and its machines take bank cards, and you can also buy Heathrow Express tickets in the arrivals hall of every terminal, which you reach after baggage reclaim and customs.
• The blue “Train tickets” machines can be switched from English to Español, Italiano, 日本語, العربية, Deutsch, Français or 中文.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• The Heathrow Express website and app sell single and return tickets, including the £10 Advance Discounted Single (one way) ticket, which you must book online or in the app at least 30 days ahead (numbers are limited each day) and which is valid on any Heathrow Express train on the day it’s booked for.
• The Heathrow Express app keeps the whole family’s tickets on your phone to scan at the gates and takes 10% off your first purchase, though not off the £10 Advance ticket.
• Allow 15 minutes between buying in the app and boarding, or an hour if you book on the website.

Tickets to avoid

• The £10 Heathrow Express Advance ticket is valid only on the day it’s booked for and can’t be changed or refunded, so you lose it if a cancelled flight, or one that lands after the last train (12.04am from Heathrow Central), means you travel on another day.
• Tube tickets, including Travelcards, aren’t valid on the Heathrow Express.
• Heathrow Express tickets cost more through other apps such as Trainline than when you buy them directly, and you’ll usually pay a booking fee too.

Children’s tickets

• National Express takes 25% off Standard and Fully Flexible fares for children aged 3 to 15, and one child under 3 per adult travels free (book any others as children).

Paying at the airport

• National Express coaches leave from the Central Bus Station (for Terminals 2 and 3) and from outside Terminals 4 and 5, where there are self-service ticket machines.
• You can’t buy a ticket from a National Express driver at any Heathrow stop, so buy one at a machine, online or in the app before you board.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• National Express sells coach tickets on its website and app, and sends you an e-ticket to show on your phone.
• Most coaches to Victoria cost £12, or £14 for a Fully Flexible ticket.
• These prices include a £1.50 booking fee, which you don’t pay if you’re logged in to a National Express account.

Tickets to avoid

• National Express’s Standard tickets, the cheapest it offered on this route when we checked, can’t be refunded, and changing one costs £5 plus any difference in fare and works only before the booked coach leaves, so if your flight might be late, add Change & Go when you book (£5 per adult and £2.50 per child each way), which lets you board any coach up to 12 hours before or after the one you booked, if there’s room.

Paying by contactless

• London buses don’t take cash, so adults pay by touching a contactless bank card, a phone or watch with Apple Pay or Google Pay, or an Oyster card on the yellow reader as they get on.
• You only touch in when you get on the bus, not when you get off.
• Each person travelling on contactless needs a separate card or phone, but a phone or watch counts as a different card from the bank card linked to it, even on the same account, so one parent can pay for two people, one touching in with the card and the other with the phone.
• Hold only one card or phone to the reader, and keep other cards away from it, or the reader may charge the wrong one.
• Many cards from abroad work, but your bank may charge an overseas transaction fee, and a phone linked to a non-UK card sometimes doesn’t work, so carry the card itself as well.
• Contactless only charges adult fares, so see Children’s tickets below for what children pay.
• If you use the same card or phone all day, Transport for London’s (TfL’s) daily cap stops your Tube, Elizabeth line and bus fares at £16.30 for Zones 1 to 6 (Heathrow is in Zone 6).

Children’s tickets

• Under-11s ride the N9 night bus free.
• Children aged 11 to 15 pay the adult fare by contactless, or half fare (85p, or 90p from 1 November 2026) with TfL’s Young Visitor discount on an Oyster card, which staff at any Heathrow Tube station can add while the child is with you.

Paying at the airport

• Adults pay £1.75 on the N9 night bus (£1.85 from 1 November 2026) by contactless or Oyster.

Paying at the airport

• Black cabs at the ranks outside each terminal run on the meter, and every one must take contactless cards, with no extra charge for paying by credit or debit card.
• Black cabs also take cash. Tipping is up to you, but 10% is standard.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• You don’t need to book a black cab, because only black cabs can be hired at a rank without a booking.

Things to avoid

• Don’t get into a minicab you haven’t booked, including one whose driver comes up to you, because unbooked minicabs are illegal and uninsured for passengers.

Paying at the airport

• Uber and Bolt show the price in the app before you book, and so does Freenow for its Ride cars, while its black cabs run on the meter after showing an estimate.

Booking ahead online or in an app

• Uber lets you reserve a Heathrow pick-up up to 90 days ahead and cancel free up to 60 minutes before the pick-up time.
• You can book WeKnow ahead on its website or at its desks in the arrivals halls, and the price is fixed when you book.

Things to avoid

• Don’t get into a minicab you haven’t booked, including one whose driver comes up to you, because unbooked minicabs are illegal and uninsured for passengers.
• If the driver or the car’s number plate doesn’t match your booking confirmation, don’t get in, because it isn’t safe.

• On the trains and the Tube, touch in at the ticket gates with a contactless card or phone, or an Oyster card, and touch out at the other terminal, and you won’t be charged.
• Touch out as well as in, because a journey you don’t finish can be charged a maximum fare.
• On the Elizabeth line or the Heathrow Express you can instead take a free transfer ticket from the “Free train transfer” machines at the stations, but these tickets don’t work on the Piccadilly line.
• The H30 bus needs no ticket or card.