Flying into Heathrow with bikes: Our Experience
We are currently doing a Europe tour and started by flying into London Heathrow. We had tried to do some research about what services were available, but unfortunately what was available was a bit misleading. I've made a list of what I wish I'd known beforehand. Hopefully this post is of use to someone in future and helps make your trip a little smoother.
#1 - Bike collection is straightforward
We collected our bikes from oversized luggage, next to the normal luggage drop. After waiting around for a bit they came out on a conveyor belt in good condition.
#2 - You can't cycle directly from Heathrow.
Fortunately this is quite clearly signposted, but as we had several staff members kindly stop by to warn us about trying to cycle out of the carpark
#3 - The "Heathrow Bike Hub" is not accessible from Heathrow via bike.
The Heathrow website advertises the Heathrow Bike Hub as a centre for all your bike needs. We had seen online that it appeared to be a bike shop, so we thought it could be a great place to assemble our bikes and troubleshoot any issues/buy anything we were missing. Unfortunately the bike hub is not accessible via bike or on foot from the Heathrow terminals, nor are there any bike friendly forms of public transport to get you to the bike shop. I can't comment on the quality of the bike shop, as we simply had no way of getting there. We assembled our bikes on some benches which worked fine, but a bike stand and dedicated space would have been more comfortable.
#3 - Disposing of bike boxes
After assembling our bikes we had two bike boxes, plus the extra padding we'd used, to try and recycle. After talking to a few Heathrow employees someone got in contact with the manager of cleaning services who advised that we leave them behind one of the recycling bins and they would send someone to come and collect them.
#4 - The Heathrow Express
The Heathrow Express to Paddington is a very direct way to get from Heathrow into Central London. The station at Heathrow however is not designed with bikes in mind at all. We had to wheel our bikes along long narrow corridors with lots of other pedestrians and at one point had to take a lift to get down with the platform, along with everyone else on foot. This resulted in a cramped awkward situation of trying to fit bikes in the lifts alongside everyone else.
Once on the train however it was very easy, as we were advised to stand by the doors with our bikes and since there is only the single stop, we didn't have to worry about passengers getting on and off at stops. The Paddington end was very straightforward to navigate the station.
The Heathrow express advises that it only takes bikes during off peak hours, so keep that it mind and don't get caught out.
I hope someone here finds this useful and can be prepared for their trip. I'll let you know what flying out of Heathrow is like in 2 months time when we cross that bridge.