Will there be enough time - Heathrow T3 - Paddington

tia86

Hi all

This is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question but looking for people's experiences in how long it roughly it might take to get from Heathrow Terminal 3 to Paddington after returning from America.

I am getting a flight back from LA which lands around 4pm. The last train back to the South West is around 8.30pm....obviously delays etc cannot be predicted but is it likely I would make it once I have waited to collect luggage?

Also if it was late is there somewhere in Heathrow where you can just sit and wait til the morning - I don't want to book a hotel in London because of the coase and I am travelling on my own, so don't want to be alone late at night.

Thanks for any help you can offer

bcl999

Think the train only takes 15-20 mins so if you land on time and if the Borders people are not playing silly beggars, you should be fine.

Don't know about facilities overnight at LHR but there is a website that might be useful - think it's called sleepingatairports.com

HTH

rpstdavids

You should have plenty of time, especially if you're flight arrives on time and there are no other unforseen delays.

I've done it many times, catching trains back to West Wales after a flight from the US. I think the longest it has taken me was just under 2 hours from leaving the plane to being on the platform in Paddington, a couple of times it's been well under an hour.

Stan_Here

If you allow 1 hour for getting off the plane and collecting baggage, 15 minutes to walk to the Heathrow Express platform and wait for a train, 15-20 minutes for the tip into Paddington, 10 minutes to get off and locate your departure platform, that comes to 105 minutes or 1 3/4 hours. You have 4 1/2 hours so there is plenty of time to allow for flight delays and other problems, so I would say that you will have no problem unless there are major technical problems which delay takeoff. You will probably end up waiting at Paddington for a long time!

tia86

Thanks so much for all the replies. I think I just needed other people to agree it was possible! I did do the trek last year from heathrow but it was in the early afternoon so it didn't matter if I missed a train. Will book tickets and hope for no delays!

joerugby

Have you thought about taking the Railair bus to Reading? Look on the National Rail Enquiries website for times but they are quite frequent and they connect with most First Great Western services. Sometimes they will enable you to catch a train that you would miss if you went via Paddington

alanrowell

When you do the maths, the total cost in money or time is pretty much similar whether you use HEX or Railair bus.

You could use the Heathrow Connect to go to Paddington which is cheaper and slower - but only runs twice an hour.

You might find the best option is just to take a coach all of the way to the SW.