Heathrow??
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Join Date: Jan 2001
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Heathrow??
A question for those knowing how to deal with getting around at LHR.
Yesterday, August 18, I stayed at the Rennaisance on the North side of LHR and having been ripped off to the tune of 26 UK pounds for two breakfasts ($50+) in the buffet restaurant I tried to get a partially disabled wife and 2 bags to Terminal 4??
I ended up getting ripped off, again, to the tune of 6 UK pounds for a ride in a bus to terminal 3. Then was told to fight my way through the crowds at the check-in lines and get a train to Terminal 4.
With heavy luggage and a person with disabilities that is really too much to ask. There must be a better way that I didn't find??
I don't intend to stay there again or to try the transportation but how do the locals do it??
Yesterday, August 18, I stayed at the Rennaisance on the North side of LHR and having been ripped off to the tune of 26 UK pounds for two breakfasts ($50+) in the buffet restaurant I tried to get a partially disabled wife and 2 bags to Terminal 4??
I ended up getting ripped off, again, to the tune of 6 UK pounds for a ride in a bus to terminal 3. Then was told to fight my way through the crowds at the check-in lines and get a train to Terminal 4.
With heavy luggage and a person with disabilities that is really too much to ask. There must be a better way that I didn't find??
I don't intend to stay there again or to try the transportation but how do the locals do it??
Join Date: Jul 2003
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Don't get me started on Airport Hotels and breakfast charges! Even at rip-off Heathrow you can still get far better deals in the terminals than in the hotels.
Heathrow does actually have a very good internal bus network. In theory you are supposed to be able to get on any bus for free as long as you are travelling within the airport complex. However some operators like the Hotel Hoppa will still try and charge you for a service you can get for free.
The trick is to leave the hotel, and walk behind it onto the Bath Road. From there you will see a constant stream of red London Buses, of which after waiting for no more than 5 minutes you can be guarenteed to find one heading to T4.
Heathrow does actually have a very good internal bus network. In theory you are supposed to be able to get on any bus for free as long as you are travelling within the airport complex. However some operators like the Hotel Hoppa will still try and charge you for a service you can get for free.
The trick is to leave the hotel, and walk behind it onto the Bath Road. From there you will see a constant stream of red London Buses, of which after waiting for no more than 5 minutes you can be guarenteed to find one heading to T4.
Speedbird:
Sorry for your poor experience, unfortunately it's all at the hands of British Shopping Authority PLC (trading as British Airports Authority).
The local hotels all used to provide direct free buses to the terminals until someone at BAA saw an unexploited revenue opportunity, banned the hotel buses from the airport, and introduced their own so-called "Hotel Hoppa" service, which charges £3 each way. Having got this monopoly revenue stream they then contracted out the operation of the service to a local bus operator for the cheapest rate they could find - which implies the poorest service. I hope you didn't have to wait too long for it - there are stories of people waiting nearly an hour at the hotel and then finding when a bus finally arrives it is already full !
Please don't blame the bus company, by the way, they just do what BAA contract them to do.
The buses provided are of course modern disability-compliant ones with a low floor, as now required by legislation. The fact that the resulting overall arrangements are completely disability-hostile is of course quite irrelevant.
Of course it was all dressed up in terms of "reducing congestion", "reducing pollution", and any other politically-correct phrase they could think of quite unconnected with the real reason. In fact you could tell it was going to be a pig's ear when details of the new arrangements used the word "enhancement" in the title.
Then they realised that there was a lot of movement between the Central Area (T123) and T4 on the south side. They also realised there was a train service (the fact it was deep in the bowels of each terminal area and a long way from the terminals was completely irrelevant) connecting the two areas. So they stopped all the bus services they could and diverted people to the train. It adds on average half an hour to the previous time taken to get to T4. Indeed, the train only runs every 15 minutes.
Many people now get taxis from the hotel to the terminal, which is completely counter-productive.
One word to the wise is that the standard red London bus services in the immediate vicinity of the airport (which is out as far as the Renaissance) are free. So you can get a London bus from the bus stop outside the hotel into the airport at no cost (the driver just does not collect any fares). Possibly not practical in your case but useful for others. There's no publicity for this feature, which BAA hope will only be taken advantage of by regulars like airport workers, because unlike the Hoppa it costs them rather than gives them revenue. BAA pay an annual amount to London Buses for the facility.
If BAA had really wanted to reduce congestion and pollution they would have put a cap on passenger numbers. Which would of course hit their bottom line. So they have to pretend, while doing the opposite.
Sorry for your poor experience, unfortunately it's all at the hands of British Shopping Authority PLC (trading as British Airports Authority).
The local hotels all used to provide direct free buses to the terminals until someone at BAA saw an unexploited revenue opportunity, banned the hotel buses from the airport, and introduced their own so-called "Hotel Hoppa" service, which charges £3 each way. Having got this monopoly revenue stream they then contracted out the operation of the service to a local bus operator for the cheapest rate they could find - which implies the poorest service. I hope you didn't have to wait too long for it - there are stories of people waiting nearly an hour at the hotel and then finding when a bus finally arrives it is already full !
Please don't blame the bus company, by the way, they just do what BAA contract them to do.
The buses provided are of course modern disability-compliant ones with a low floor, as now required by legislation. The fact that the resulting overall arrangements are completely disability-hostile is of course quite irrelevant.
Of course it was all dressed up in terms of "reducing congestion", "reducing pollution", and any other politically-correct phrase they could think of quite unconnected with the real reason. In fact you could tell it was going to be a pig's ear when details of the new arrangements used the word "enhancement" in the title.
Then they realised that there was a lot of movement between the Central Area (T123) and T4 on the south side. They also realised there was a train service (the fact it was deep in the bowels of each terminal area and a long way from the terminals was completely irrelevant) connecting the two areas. So they stopped all the bus services they could and diverted people to the train. It adds on average half an hour to the previous time taken to get to T4. Indeed, the train only runs every 15 minutes.
Many people now get taxis from the hotel to the terminal, which is completely counter-productive.
One word to the wise is that the standard red London bus services in the immediate vicinity of the airport (which is out as far as the Renaissance) are free. So you can get a London bus from the bus stop outside the hotel into the airport at no cost (the driver just does not collect any fares). Possibly not practical in your case but useful for others. There's no publicity for this feature, which BAA hope will only be taken advantage of by regulars like airport workers, because unlike the Hoppa it costs them rather than gives them revenue. BAA pay an annual amount to London Buses for the facility.
If BAA had really wanted to reduce congestion and pollution they would have put a cap on passenger numbers. Which would of course hit their bottom line. So they have to pretend, while doing the opposite.
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Many thanks for your responses folks.
I was wondering where I had gone wrong as as trip from one side of an airport to the other should not be that difficult?? But, now I know it is intentionally made that way by the rip off artists at the airport shopping center (BAA). It is so obvious that the BAA have no idea of the havoc that their clever ideas cause.
The bus was fine and the driver tried to be as helpful as he could but the system stinks. He even helped unload the bags. The point about congestion is an interesting one but perhaps the BAA can't see the mess, in front of their noses, between Terminal 2 and 3?? That took 20 minutes for the bus to negotiate.
Next time, if there is one, we will not be doing it the same way.
As for the $26 per person breakfast!!! Words fail me. I also note that the Renaissance carefully avoids displaying a breakfast menu at the door, with the price. Once in you are caught. There was, however, the previous evenings dinner menu, displayed, although I didn't see a price and probably couldn't take the wallet shock. I could always have walked out but with the possibility of a lack of food on BA, (proven to be correct) we needed something. substantial. So next time (IF?) we will take your learned advice and wait until the terminal.
Regards & Thanks.
Speedbird 48.
I was wondering where I had gone wrong as as trip from one side of an airport to the other should not be that difficult?? But, now I know it is intentionally made that way by the rip off artists at the airport shopping center (BAA). It is so obvious that the BAA have no idea of the havoc that their clever ideas cause.
The bus was fine and the driver tried to be as helpful as he could but the system stinks. He even helped unload the bags. The point about congestion is an interesting one but perhaps the BAA can't see the mess, in front of their noses, between Terminal 2 and 3?? That took 20 minutes for the bus to negotiate.
Next time, if there is one, we will not be doing it the same way.
As for the $26 per person breakfast!!! Words fail me. I also note that the Renaissance carefully avoids displaying a breakfast menu at the door, with the price. Once in you are caught. There was, however, the previous evenings dinner menu, displayed, although I didn't see a price and probably couldn't take the wallet shock. I could always have walked out but with the possibility of a lack of food on BA, (proven to be correct) we needed something. substantial. So next time (IF?) we will take your learned advice and wait until the terminal.
Regards & Thanks.
Speedbird 48.
