Passengers travelling on the Heathrow Express between Paddington Station in central London and Heathrow airport have two travel options. Either to travel in Standard Class, or ‘Express Saver Class’ as they call it, which is what most travellers do, or to pay a surcharge and travel in one of the premium carriages, called the ‘Business First Class’.
The premium option is now a popular option for Star Alliance frequent flyers as passengers with a valid Star Alliance Gold card can travel for free in Business First on a ticket in standard class just by showing the card.
So what is Business First Class like? Let’s have a look!
Travelling in Business First on the Heathrow Express includes a few extra benefits. The seats are wider with more legroom and the configuration is 1-1 or 1-2 rather than 2-2 in Standard Class So there are far fewer passengers in each carriage and each passenger gets more space, more privacy and there is obviously less noise.
There are also newspapers and magazines in Business First Class, available from a rack, and there are personal tables and power sockets at every seat. Wi-Fi is also available onboard.
So it is worth it? Well the travel time between Heathrow and Paddington Station is only 15 minutes, which is not a lot. Most passengers will definitely survive 15 minutes in Standard Class and can make better use of 8 GBP, which is the fare difference between the two travel classes. But is there a major difference between Standard Class and Business First? Yes there is, the difference in comfort and personal space is in fact massive. If you need to work onboard, or prefer to have 15 minutes of tranquillity before or after a long flight, then the extra 8 GBP is worth every penny.
And of course if you have a Star Alliance Gold card there is no reason why you should not make use of the free upgrade offer, as long as there are available seats in Business First.
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