Heathrow, TW6: a companion at your terminal hotel, travel counted in

Terminal 5, and the shortest walk at the airport

The hotel at TW6 2GD is joined to Terminal 5 by a walkway over the road, which means a long haul arrival can be sitting down with a drink about a quarter of an hour after clearing the hall. No hotel in central London can offer that at any price, and after nine hours in the air it is worth more than a view.

The other option on that side is out at Colnbrook with an SL3 postcode, which is a reminder that the western edge of the airport is technically not London at all. It is a short drive rather than a walk, so it suits a car arrival better than a late landing.

The central terminals

One hotel sits inside the central area at Terminals 2 and 3, reached by lift and walkway rather than by road. That is the whole argument for it: nobody pulls up outside in a taxi at one in the morning, because there is nowhere to pull up. Guests who work impossible hours tend to end up there and stay loyal to it.

Terminal 4 has its own hotel, joined to the building by a covered walkway, and it is served by Hatton Cross one stop away on the Piccadilly line. If your departure is from Terminal 4 it is the obvious choice and there is not much to debate.

The Bath Road is a different proposition

North of the runway, the Bath Road carries a row of large hotels that all look identical from the pavement and are not. The one at TW6 2AQ has a bar with a window wall facing the taxiways, which is quietly one of the better views in west London if aircraft interest you at all. The hotel with the very long bar is further along the same road towards Hayes.

These rooms are bigger than the terminal ones and the bars have windows, which is the trade. What they cost you is a car: every one of them involves a short drive rather than a walkway, and between four and seven in the evening that short drive is not short. None of them has any arrangement with us. They are simply where a great many guests are staying.

What the journey really costs

From central London the Piccadilly line takes the better part of an hour to the terminals. The Elizabeth line from Paddington is faster and the Heathrow Express faster again, but the companion is travelling from where she lives rather than from a mainline station, so the honest planning number is around an hour each way.

That is why every booking in TW6 runs three hours at minimum with the travel counted inside it rather than charged on top. It is also why an overnight makes more sense than a short evening when there is a six in the morning departure at the end of it: nobody wants the best part of the night spent on a train.

Aircraft, noise and the hours nobody mentions

Scheduled departures stop at about eleven at night and start again around six in the morning, so the Bath Road at three in the morning is quieter than most residential streets in town. The terminal hotels are sealed and air conditioned and you hear nothing at all in them.

What does change through the night is the building itself. The arrivals corridors empty between one and four and fill again before dawn, and anyone leaving before that second wave has the place almost to themselves. Companions who work these hours know the timings and plan the morning around them without being asked.

The women who work the airport

Lucy meets long haul arrivals at Terminal 5 and is very good at the first ten minutes, which is the part that counts after nine hours in the air. Margo takes late starts on the Bath Road, from about ten at night, and barely speaks for the first twenty minutes while the aircraft taxi past the window, which almost nobody minds. Liana and Sonya work the Terminal 4 and central hotels from Hatton Cross, and Milena comes from the Cranford side by car.

All twenty eight portraits are in On The Route, and what happens between your first message and her arrival is set out on the booking page.

Around the perimeter

Hatton Cross is the gateway station on the southern side and the quickest way into the central area without a car. Cranford is the old village behind the Bath Road, four minutes away and several centuries older than anything else here. Hayes is north with an Elizabeth line station and an actual town around it. Feltham is south east with two large parks, and Hounslow West is four stops east if you want a high street.