Five Star Virgin: Is First Class on the Heathrow Express worth it?

My family is sitting in Business First Class of the Heathrow Express and it is an absolute scam. It's more cramped and crowded than economy and there are only a few of the cool looking desk seats you see in pictures. Also, the pictures above are lies. It does NOT look like that Either the photographer is using the same trick that real estate agents use to make rooms appear much larger, or those are photos of something else entirely. Do NOT waste your money on Business First Class for the Heathrow Express. An absolute joke this is.

The best way to get a cheap cab to LHR is to tell him to go to Paddington. With your bags in hands, he asks "You going to LHR? I can do it for X Pounds". Depending in where you are this fare is way lower than standard meter fare. The other day I was offered a price of 20 pounds from Crowne Plaza, Earls Court to LHR. I did not take it since I was meeting someone at Paddington but the ride to paddington cost me 12 Pounds. For additional 8 pounds I could be going to LHR directly in the cab....HEX is expensive and I use it only when I am in a hurry...

The Classic is HEX worth it. Well the straight answer in any case is no. Plain and simple. Lets go through the reasons 1) Cost £16 for a 15 minute journey? Puts it near enough on Concorde pricing per mile! 2) First Class? For a 15 minute ride? Unless it's a freebie not a cat in hells chance. 3) WiFi. If you can knock out enough content to make it worthwhile, ok, but most of the time, you'll be spending 5 minutes to get the laptop out, another 3 packing it away... leaving a grand total of 7 minutes work done. Good luck with that... 3) Serves Paddington. Now as has been pointed out, Paddington is in the back end of the Tube Network, and only suitable for parts of North West/West London. Anything going East of Piccadilly Circus on the tube map will be quicker by Tube.. 4) Not so Time Constrained? HINT: Take Heathrow Connect. Goes from Platform 11/12 at Paddington, Costs £8.40 for a single. Takes a grand total of 10 minutes longer. 5) As I stated before, there is a midpoint in where HEX/HEC becomes slower than tube - and it's Piccadilly Circus. Any destination to the left of it is quicker with a HEX/HEC combo, any destination to the right will be quicker by Tube. A few more "Money Saving Tips" ;) Want the train but not in a rush? Take any train from Paddington to Hayes and Harlington with an Oyster Card, touch out, and catch the 140 to Heathrow Central (also good for the Heathrow Hotels) (Average 30 minutes not including bus waits) Tube - It's not a lot, and use the Oyster Card, it's a cheap trip. Time is money - you've got to work out which is the best use of time for you.

I usually have to head to Euston to catch a train up north when I arrive at LHR and I've taken both HEX and the Tube (Piccadilly to Victoria) and its easiest way - like other posters have said, all depends where you want to go / need to be. Lucky, would your opinion change if they served warm nuts :)

Having lived in London previously, I would say that it's actually easier (and cheaper) to catch the Piccadilly Line (blue) that goes direct from Heathrow pretty much to anywhere in the city (Kensington, Covent Garden, Hyde Park, Bloomsbury, Kings Cross). With an Oyster card it may be a maximum of 4£, plus you get to transfer anywhere on the Tube. With the Heathrow Express you're stuck in Paddington (which is frankly a rather boring area).