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Is a taxi approx the same price as a car service from Heathrow to Southampton.


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Should I book a car service ahead of time for our transport from Heathrow to a Southampton hotel or is getting a taxi the same price and will they have a flat fee.  I’ve done some research and a car service will be approx £95-100 so if a taxi would be the same do I need to book in advance.

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Taxi drivers at LHR will think that Christmas has come early if you ask for a price to Southampton :classic_ohmy:

Off the top of my head somewhere between £150 and £250 but that's a guess and not something I'd want to find out for myself.

 

Hailing a Hackney taxi from a rank or in the street anywhere in the UK is fine for a local journey of up to mebbe  4 or 5 miles - comparatively expensive for a short drive, but metered and avoids delay & grief in phoning for an Uber or private hire taxi. 

 

For a longer trip you need to pre-book a private transfer and yes, just south of £100 is the going rate for a sedan LHR to Southampton.

Try Smiths for Airports or West Quay Cars or Aquacars based at the Southampton end, or Blackberry Cars which is airport-based. For any others, especially airport-based operators, do check reviews cos there are some unreliable bandits out there.

 

"Hackney Carriages" are taxis licensed to ply for hire in the street or at taxi ranks. In London and at LHR they're the famous "black cabs", elsewhere the livery varies from district to district, all have meters and illuminated taxi signs on the roof.

 

Private hire taxis have to be booked by phone or internet. Regulated, but not so strictly. Normally display only the mandatory taxi licence plate on the rear. Some carry meters, which they use for local trips - for LHR to Southampton you need a fixed price.

 

Since you're headed for a Southampton hotel I'm guessing that time isn't of the essence so you could consider pre-booking a direct National Express bus to Southampton coach station at about £23 per person.

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

 

LHR to Southampton by train is tortuous (RailAir bus then train) and for two people about the same cost as a private transfer.

But the service is frequent & no need to pre-book, so a useful Plan B if other arrangements go belly-up.

 

JB :classic_smile:

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14 hours ago, honeymoon15 said:

Should I book a car service ahead of time for our transport from Heathrow to a Southampton hotel or is getting a taxi the same price and will they have a flat fee.  I’ve done some research and a car service will be approx £95-100 so if a taxi would be the same do I need to book in advance.

 

To get the roughly 110km from Heathrow to Southampton, the best solution is the coach service.  Inexpensive (sometimes as low as £5.  If you simply asked a taxi driver at the airport you would be a lot poorer, or he'd just laugh at you.

 

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On 1/17/2020 at 4:31 PM, scottbee said:

If you simply asked a taxi driver at the airport you would be a lot poorer, or he'd just laugh at you.

 

And unlike journeys from Heathrow to destinations in London, I suspect that taxi drivers on the rank aren't required to accept a journey to a place that's about five cities away. So you could possibly end up looking like Billy No Mates as driver after driver says no. And then the taxi queue marshals might be laughing too!

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On 1/17/2020 at 11:31 AM, scottbee said:

To get the roughly 110km from Heathrow to Southampton, the best solution is the coach service.

Best or cheapest? Certainly less expensive but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as a well priced transfer. The times we've been headed to or from Southampton we have a ton of luggage and the thought of dropping that off and picking it up, plus waiting around for everyone else to do the same sounds awful. 

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2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Best or cheapest? Certainly less expensive but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as a well priced transfer. The times we've been headed to or from Southampton we have a ton of luggage and the thought of dropping that off and picking it up, plus waiting around for everyone else to do the same sounds awful. 

 

 

No, it's actually pretty civilised.:classic_smile:

Good coaches too, same standards as US touring coaches.

Comfy seats, wifi, restroom, etc.

 

But even if your luggage weren't a literal "ton", it would be a problem.

Nat Express limit per passenger is 2 x 20kg plus hand-luggage.

Nowhere near as strict as airlines, and luggage isn't usually weighed.

But clearly excessive luggage means a surcharge. Or worse - a refusal if it would take the coach over its max. legal road weight.

 

For a singleton it'd be difficult to justify the cost of a private transfer.

For two folk it's about half the cost.

For four or more a private transfer is financially as good as the coach, as well as more convenient. 

 

JB :classic_smile:  

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10 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Best or cheapest? Certainly less expensive but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as a well priced transfer. The times we've been headed to or from Southampton we have a ton of luggage and the thought of dropping that off and picking it up, plus waiting around for everyone else to do the same sounds awful. 

 

Best.  That £80-100 for a private transfer vs £5-15/ea is a huge difference.  Looking at a random date in April (no idea when the OP is going) yielded tickets that we at very most £16.50.  Compare that to 80+any tip, and that buys dinner and a some drinks thank you very much, for what, the difference between sitting in a car, and sitting in a (nicely appointed) coach and basically the same travel time.

 

You're more than welcome to take the private transfer, I'll be in the coach (and the pub in the evening)

 

 

 

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On National Express there is a supposed luggage limit of 20kg (50 pounds) per person and I just googled for June 18th the price was £23.60 plus £1 booking fee. A private transfer for the trip would sound a better option as the coach takes 2 hours plus

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2 hours ago, emmas gran said:

On National Express there is a supposed luggage limit of 20kg (50 pounds) per person and I just googled for June 18th the price was £23.60 plus £1 booking fee. A private transfer for the trip would sound a better option as the coach takes 2 hours plus

 

Hi Gran,

 

It's TWO  cases at 20kg per passenger (plus hand-luggage).

And they don't fuss about weight that's there-or-thereabouts (for instance airlines' usual 23 kg per case).

It's only when folk take waaay more that difficulties arise

 

Yes, the price does yo-yo a lot - though never as low as Scottbee's £5, which is from London (no need to drop the price that low from the airport because of the limited alternatives)

 

And yes, about 2hrs 15 mins versus about 90 minutes by car

 

JB :classic_smile:

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21 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

And unlike journeys from Heathrow to destinations in London, I suspect that taxi drivers on the rank aren't required to accept a journey to a place that's about five cities away. So you could possibly end up looking like Billy No Mates as driver after driver says no. And then the taxi queue marshals might be laughing too!

taxis on rank at Heathrow aren't keen to take short journeys either

it took the 4th taxi inline to take us 10 minute journey to our daughter in Staines and that was a minimum rate of £35

Apparently they refuse a lot of local journeys as they are hoping for higher fares to London itself

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On National Express there is a supposed luggage limit of 20kg (50 pounds) per person and I just googled for June 18th the price was £23.60 plus £1 booking fee. A private transfer for the trip would sound a better option as the coach takes 2 hours plus

 

It states 2 medium or 1 large and the large is 20kg max which is what I was talking about , also if it states a weight limit why encourage people to break it.

Looking at your screen name you live close to Southampton so it should be easy for you.

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12 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

On National Express there is a supposed luggage limit of 20kg (50 pounds) per person and I just googled for June 18th the price was £23.60 plus £1 booking fee. A private transfer for the trip would sound a better option as the coach takes 2 hours plus

 

It states 2 medium or 1 large and the large is 20kg max which is what I was talking about , also if it states a weight limit why encourage people to break it.

Looking at your screen name you live close to Southampton so it should be easy for you.

 

 

Hi again, Gran.

 

Two medium @ 20kg or one large @ 20kg.

But "large" is only 2" x 2" x  0.75" bigger than "medium" 

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/help/luggage-lost-property

Unless excessively large, bags aren't measured - same as they're not weighed unless excessively heavy.

Ditto hand luggage.

 

The 20kg per case policy is simply the company covering its backside against grief from health & safety officials, and the potential for drivers to sue them for back injuries and such if that policy didn't exist. 

Elf and safety tends to be a bit excessive, a bit "nanny state".:classic_rolleyes:

 

Experienced drivers can usually tell the difference between 20kg & 23kg

But they're not wimps., and they don't make waves.

I'm not encouraging folk to break company regs, I'm just sayin' there or thereabouts is fine.

So be pleasant to them and you won't have to worry about sizes and weights like you do on pretty-well all airlines.:classic_smile:

 

JB :classic_smile:

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47 minutes ago, fabnfortysomething said:

taxis on rank at Heathrow aren't keen to take short journeys either

it took the 4th taxi inline to take us 10 minute journey to our daughter in Staines and that was a minimum rate of £35

Apparently they refuse a lot of local journeys as they are hoping for higher fares to London itself

 

I think the problem there is that Staines isn't a London destination either. Nevertheless, if it really is 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back, the driver should be able to get back to the terminal fast enough that they don't have to go into the feeder park and can go straight to the rank at the terminal to pick up the next fare, which could be that long job into central London. So taking a (genuinely) short journey shouldn't really disadvantage them much - and someone going to a Bath Road hotel ought to have no difficulty. Nevertheless, if you're going somewhere non-London, they're entitled to refuse and then that's that.

 

If you're going to Staines, you're probably better off arranging to be collected by a cab that's local to Staines.

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