London Private Car Service (aka Taxi) question

Seriously, I've scoured the entire British Isle thread for recent car service info and we need a sticky on this for updated info (some responses go back to 2013 etc.) Either the search mechanism sucks or I'm blind

 

Anyhoo... it's been a while since we've been in London and the car service we used years ago has some extremely bad reviews.

 

So we were advised that our LHR flight now leaves in the early morning rather than in the evening and we're looking to get a cab on Friday morning from our hotel prior to 7am, but I haven't seen many 2017 reviews here on people's recent experience with any of these car hires.

 

Going strictly on TripAdvisor, #2 is Twelve Transfers but never heard of it. Plus there's some recent bad reviews. $35GBP one way

 

I see JB and others mentioning justairports.com ($30GB), simplyairports ($30GB) and blackberry cars ($26GB). Again, some good/bad reviews.

 

Then there's Airport24 ($38GB) which has 108 reviews but nothing below 'very good' while the others have like 200-500 reviews but with a fair % of bad reviews etc.

 

Does anyone have any experience with Airport24 (is this business also known as 24/7?)

 

We will be paying cash and no way will we pre-pay in advance for this service.

 

Also, please do not mention Uber. We aren't likely to use Cdn roaming for this app. (it's extremely expensive with our basically monopolies here) . Plus we're old skool now :-) Uber isn't even in Vancouver

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited May 8, 2017 by yaletownboy

We used Blackberry in August last year and would highly recommend them. Punctual, courteous and clean. Booked them again in October for our son, who also highly recommends.

 

 

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Have you considered staying the last night at the Heathrow T5 Sofitel? https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g528813-d677803-Reviews-Sofitel_London_Heathrow-Hounslow_Greater_London_England.html

 

I booked my mother and aunt into this hotel before a flight to Australia as the hotel is attached to T5 (so you can walk straight into T5 and there are the normal free/very regular Heathrow connections to other terminals).

If you haven't booked non-refundable hotel accommodation in London, you could switch to here for the last night and would not need to worry about traffic on the morning of your flight.

 

(edit: depending where you are staying in London, you could also catch the Underground to T5 before checking into the hotel - Picadilly Line http://www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/underground)

If you are staying in a good hotel in London best thing is get the concierge to get you a black cab they are not as dear as you think and always ready available

Black cabs are highly regulated and don't rip you of private hire are wildly set different rates

Plus black cab ride in London EXPERIENCE

 

 

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Seriously, I've scoured the entire British Isle thread for recent car service info and we need a sticky on this for updated info (some responses go back to 2013 etc.) Either the search mechanism sucks or I'm blind

 

Anyhoo... it's been a while since we've been in London and the car service we used years ago has some extremely bad reviews.

 

So we were advised that our LHR flight now leaves in the early morning rather than in the evening and we're looking to get a cab on Friday morning from our hotel prior to 7am, but I haven't seen many 2017 reviews here on people's recent experience with any of these car hires.

 

Going strictly on TripAdvisor, #2 is Twelve Transfers but never heard of it. Plus there's some recent bad reviews. $35GBP one way

 

I see JB and others mentioning justairports.com ($30GB), simplyairports ($30GB) and blackberry cars ($26GB). Again, some good/bad reviews.

 

Then there's Airport24 ($38GB) which has 108 reviews but nothing below 'very good' while the others have like 200-500 reviews but with a fair % of bad reviews etc.

 

Does anyone have any experience with Airport24 (is this business also known as 24/7?)

 

We will be paying cash and no way will we pre-pay in advance for this service.

 

Also, please do not mention Uber. We aren't likely to use Cdn roaming for this app. (it's extremely expensive with our basically monopolies here) . Plus we're old skool now :-) Uber isn't even in Vancouver

 

Thanks in advance.

It is best to get black cabs which have professional licensed drivers.

When we needed a taxi to Buckingham Palace for the queens garden party the consierge went outside and hailed a black cab in minutes.

For an early morning the hotel concierge should be able to sort that for you the night before.

The other option is take the London underground​ which takes you into all the Heathrow terminals.

Have you considered staying the last night at the Heathrow T5 Sofitel? https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g528813-d677803-Reviews-Sofitel_London_Heathrow-Hounslow_Greater_London_England.html

 

I booked my mother and aunt into this hotel before a flight to Australia as the hotel is attached to T5 (so you can walk straight into T5 and there are the normal free/very regular Heathrow connections to other terminals).

If you haven't booked non-refundable hotel accommodation in London, you could switch to here for the last night and would not need to worry about traffic on the morning of your flight.

 

(edit: depending where you are staying in London, you could also catch the Underground to T5 before checking into the hotel - Picadilly Line http://www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/underground)

Great idea.

Seriously, I've scoured the entire British Isle thread for recent car service info and we need a sticky on this for updated info (some responses go back to 2013 etc.) Either the search mechanism sucks or I'm blind

I think the more likely position is that nothing has changed.

 

On the relatively few occasions when we need/want to have a car transfer, we use one of the airport specialist services that you mention. I don't often say which one, because they're much of a muchness. The one we use has "some good/bad reviews", like the others, and we have had some excellent drivers and some not-so-good drivers - just like when taking a black cab. And nothing has really changed over the last 5 years, other than the facts that black cab drivers' tip expectations continue to go down and that they are now theoretically obliged to take credit cards for no extra charge.

 

This is just the way of the world in a big city! You are simply not going to get a pointer to the service which is definitely the number one winner for quality and reliability in mid-2017. Such a thing just doesn't exist here. A sticky thread would just collect any number of anecdotes from people who come to London once in a decade and can't offer any consistent comparative experience, and the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

 

The idea of staying at the Sofitel makes some sense if your flight is departing from Terminal 5. But your flight doesn't really seem to be "early morning" if you're thinking of a cab pickup in central London at about 7 am, so that takes away much of the argument for decamping to the Sofitel for just one night. For those timings, the Sofitel makes much less sense for a flight departing from any of the other terminals.

I would book the car from one of the pre mentioned companies which get reviews on Tripadvisor all the time. I don't have any recommendations as I never use them, but the taxis have to be licensed by law. They also have to be pre booked unlike a black cab which can be hailed on the street.

 

Normally the pre booked ( mini cab) is considerably cheaper than a black cab. I don't know which hotel you are leaving from, but the hotel will probably use a reliable mini cab service, so you could book when you get to the hotel.

 

Depending where you are staying I would guess it will cost about GBP35.

I have used http://www.justairports.com from/to LHR and London hotel a few times.

Thanks people. Not changing hotels since we're staying post cruise for a week just for the sake of tubing to the airport.

 

As an analyst, we're used to applying probabilities and researching places like yelp, tripadvisor, etc. and compiling qualitative reporting in choosing tours and services. So far things have gone good.

 

Anywhooo....just was hoping to find a link with the more popular service providers or even someone's experience with Twelve Transfers. There doesn't seem to be much comment on CC about them, even with 108 reviews with nothing under Excellent or Very good categories

 

TY for the 411.

It's worth mentioning that private hire is a cutthroat business in London, and it's not unknown for them to post bad reviews on each others TA reviews. Add to that that people are much more likely to head for the keyboard if they have a bd experience and you can see that these reviews need to be looked at with caution.

 

A pre-booked car is likely to be a lot cheaper than a black cab. There is always Uber of course (other apps are available). I would ask the concierge to book a car, the day before.

 

Out of interest - what time is your "early morning" flight? You should be leaving your hotel around three hours before.

Out of interest - what time is your "early morning" flight? You should be leaving your hotel around three hours before.

 

With 3 hrs to factor, and if we were to be at the airport on the 3hrs, we would likely need to be picked up way before 7am at the hotel (depending on how long it would take to get to the airport from SW1 area

With 3 hrs to factor, and if we were to be at the airport on the 3hrs, we would likely need to be picked up way before 7am at the hotel (depending on how long it would take to get to the airport from SW1 area

 

I have stayed in the SW1 area and used Just Airports http://www.justairports.com and it took close to a hour to get to LHR. I planned 1 hour drive and 3 hours pre boarding back to Canada. I found LHR with so many flights that they did not post gate number to closer to boarding time so watch the monitors.

... and if we were to be at the airport on the 3hrs ...

Bob++ was suggesting a pickup 3 hours before the flight. You don't need to be at the airport 3 hours before. But if you were to tell us what time your flight is, and on which airline, it would be so much easier to give you decent advice.