Richard J. wrote:
David of Broadway wrote:
I have an 11:55 flight to New York out of Heathrow Terminal 3 on
Tuesday. How much time should I give myself to get there,
considering the planned shutdown of the Piccadilly line west of
Hatton Cross?

I should reckon on the journey from arrival at South Ken to arrival at
T3 taking 90 minutes, based on timings from the TfL Journey Planner
(which knows about the shutdown).

But the TfL Journey Planner doesn't know about the potential for
overcrowded buses.

And it's not like I can politely ask others to let me go first, since I
have a flight to catch -- presumably they also have flights to catch,
since they're also going through the same trouble I am.

I will have luggage, although I should be able to carry it up the 33
steps at Hatton Cross with some difficulty.

There are porters available at Hatton Cross who will carry it up the
stairs for you if you wish.

And if I see one, I will certainly allow him to assist!

I'm still worried about time. Do the buses tend to be overcrowded
or should I be able to fit on the first one that pulls up? And do
they tend to get stuck in traffic?

Don't know, because the buses to T123 will have many more passengers
than the existing ones to T4. Depends how many extra buses they manage
to lay on.

According to the email from TfL, headways are 5-15 minutes (how
incredibly vague!). I have no idea if that's sufficient. Anybody
know?

Also, on a different note, the email says that the bus will drop me off
at Terminal 2. How long a walk is it from there to Terminal 3? Or is
there another bus I should take?

The posters in stations advise passengers to allow an
extra 20 minutes; is that realistic? Exactly where in the train
should I be to be closest to the exit at Hatton Cross? (No, I
don't have the Way Out book.)

The Journey Planner indicates that some journeys will need an extra 30
minutes. There are two exits from the platform, one near the back of the
train and one near the middle, as far as I remember.

Do you know which one is closer to the bus stop?

Probably because BAA wouldn't play ball. The HEx/HC line into the
airport is BAA's private railway, they own HEx and have a share in HC
with First GW.

I obviously wouldn't expect BAA to do it for nothing. But TfL could
(and should, in my opinion) have offered compensation.

In some past outages, Travelcards have been valid on HEx. Now, I do
think it's a little bit ridiculous to require a Travelcard (why would
somebody who's making a single trip to the airport, especially before
9:30, have any use for a Travelcard?), but it's still a lot better than
nothing.

Also, for anybody who's flown out of Heathrow lately -- should I be
aiming to be at the airport about three hours before the flight or
is that overkill?

Ask your airline, unless anyone else knows.

I'm asking here to see if anyone else knows!

My airline (AA) says 2 hours. Given the security issues, that seems on
the short side. Or am I just paranoid?

And why is this outage taking place in the middle of the week
(immediately following a holiday weekend, yet!) in the first place?

Because, say LU, at this time of year the airport is busier at weekends.

Hmmm, I suppose that makes some sense. But why immediately following a
holiday weekend? Don't some people delay their returns until after
Bank Holiday? (An honest question -- as an American, I don't know
British travel customs. In the U.S., lots of people extend their
holiday weekends.) And, aside from Bank Holiday in particular, doesn't
travel drop off substantially as September progresses? So why not do
it later in the month?

Thanks.