Hello,

My sister and her 16-year-old daughter, both from Newcastle, are stopping over briefly at mine in Croydon before departing for Heathrow - their plane leaves at 12:30pm on Tuesday 16th June 2015 from Terminal 5, and they need to arrive 2 hours beforehand. Not being Londoners, they don't have any relevant travel passes.

Which route would you recommend for speed and/or cheapest tickets?

1] Tube: Piccadilly Circus to Heathrow. Also, why does everything on the internet say depart from Piccadilly Circus for Heathrow? They'd be arriving at Victoria Station from East Croydon, so getting the Tube from there to South Kensington would get them on the route, surely?

2] The X26 express bus from Whitgift Centre. How reliable is this? Does it get packed? Does anybody know the typical prices for one way: Croydon to Heathrow?

3] Tube from Victoria then train from Paddington. This sounds to me the most circuitous route, but I could be wrong. Possibly the most expensive too?