When we visited London in 2014, we wanted to save money by getting the Piccadilly directly to our hotel at Earl's Court. That journey felt like ages and we arrived at our hotel exhausted at night, so we considered paying for the express for the return. Upon looking it up we found that taking the District to Paddington and then the Express takes even longer!

The taxi comparison assumes that it’s only one person travelling. You can fit up to five in a taxi for the same fare. Train fares are all for one person

With the Hong Kong airport express, you could check in to your flight and hand your luggage over to the airline right there in the train terminal, although apparently since Covid, they no longer do that. It certainly made for a nicer ride to the airport, not needing to herd our checked luggage onto the train.

It depends a lot on where you are travelling from to be honest. I’ve used the HEX a few times when travelling from near Paddington, and the speed is great when pressed for time. I would honestly never recommend the Piccadilly Line - it is just a pain of a journey, and not worth saving the few quid unless you’re REALLY tight for cash.

Hello Hugh, thank you for a comprehensive review. If travellers have heavy luggage I suspect HEX if the better option. Also consider that foreign arrivals may not speak English well and therefore it's easier for them just to take HEX plus a taxi on arrival into Paddington. I don't know whether you saw BBC Tom Edwards KZread clip re the crowded Liz Line coming into Central London in the morning rush but in such cases arrival travellers coming from LHR with lots of luggage would receive black looks from those commuters who board down the line and have to stand. !

Ever since I was little I remember that this train was expensive than others.

To make your point shorter, Heathrow users should consider their ultimate destination before choosing the HEX. With a difference of just 12 minutes between HEX and the Elizabeth Line, a one-seat trip on the Elizabeth is likely to take even less time than a trip on the Tube or by taxi to Paddington followed by a transfer to Heathrow Express. And that makes a lot of sense. If I want to go from Heathrow to The City or the Docklands for a business meeting, the Elizabeth Line service makes a lot more sense.

Alan Fisher vibe on the first seconds 🤣🤣🤣

The Elisabeth Line can be very busy during morning and evening peaks. The Heathrow Express is a better option during peak times. The Elisabeth Line is a local stopping service to which has been added Heathrow. Trains are not very frequent.

It should be mentioned that advanced purchase tickets on HEX are only £5.50. If you are coming off a 24 hour flight from Australia, the HEX beats an hour on a crowded tube even with a short £2.50 Zone 1 Tube connection at Paddington

It’s an interesting question but I’m not really sure how many people are choosing between the Piccadilly and Elizabeth Line as not only do they not cross over (other than at Heathrow) there’s only really one good connection between the two (CX Northern Line). Really it just comes down to frequency and where you’re coming from/going to. That said if they increased Elizabeth line-Heathrow frequency to every 15 or 7.5 minutes it really would make the Express a hard sell.

Funny you mentioned the Hong Kong Airport Express as the counter example of a good airport link when in reality it's no different to the HEX. While it's 2x and 3x as quick compared to the equivalent express and normal bus services, it's also 3x and 6x in price respectively. Furthermore, the train only gets you to the central business district with no residential and the few most pricey hotels in the city, so realistically most people will have to transfer to a local train, while the buses serves all the major districts without the need of changing.

The elizabeth line has created an awkward scenario where the all stations stopper travels to more destinations than the express

In other words it strictly depends on where you're going. Connecting to the rails at Kings Cross or Waterloo for a trip east/north to final destination you might find Piccadilly far more useful.

X26 from Croydon is the way😁

Could you do a video on the signals on the London Underground and departing screens

Only used Heathrow Express once, and was shocked at the price. The standard class seats were very good, so it did feel like a premium product. I don't know what the seats are like on the Class 387 units running on the line now, but if they are ironing board seats like the other 387 units it does not seem worth the extra money.

Do You Miss The Class 332?

It need siding at terminal 5 for elizabeth line so Heathrow express go beyond airport?

Heathrow express need go beyond the airport join on South West trains track it turn 3rd rail go Weybridge cut over crowded on South West trains for same price from Waterloo and Paddington just like the Gatwick express going beyond the airport I think be a good service?