Flying through Heathrow. Is that enough time to get into the city and do some things during the day before heading back to the airport?

It will take you 20 minutes to get from heathrow to paddington station on the heathrow express. Paddington is very close to Hyde park, Buckingham palace, etc

depending on what you want to do, but yes.

I once left heathrow with a 4.5 hour layover and made it back just fine, pretty easy when you dont have bags and just need to clear security. just KNOW WHERE YOUR GATE IS AND HOW LONG IT TAKES TO GET THERE. that airport is a f-ing city.

12 hours is plenty of time. Plan on it taking 2 hours from getting off the plane, through immigration and then to Paddington on the Heathrow Express direct train. The train costs about 30 GBP one way but it will save you about an hour riding the tube. Then 3 hours before your flight get on the tube headed to Paddington to take the Heathrow Express back to the airport. You should arrive 2 hours before your flight which is enough time to make it through security and to your gate about 45 min before departure. So that leaves you 7 hours to cruise around London which will make for a great day. You should definitely do it.

OilManAg91 said:

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12 hours is plenty of time. Plan on it taking 2 hours from getting off the plane, through immigration and then to Paddington on the Heathrow Express direct train.

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What? No way it takes that long. Maybe half that time with the express immigration gates in place now (assuming you aren't traveling with kids) and no bags. Maybe.

And be careful with the Heathrow Express, it is PROBABLY your best bet to get into central London but sometimes taking the Piccadilly line in makes more sense,

ATM9000 said:

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OilManAg91 said:

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12 hours is plenty of time. Plan on it taking 2 hours from getting off the plane, through immigration and then to Paddington on the Heathrow Express direct train.

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What? No way it takes that long. Maybe half that time with the express immigration gates in place now (assuming you aren't traveling with kids) and no bags. Maybe.

And be careful with the Heathrow Express, it is PROBABLY your best bet to get into central London but sometimes taking the Piccadilly line in makes more sense,

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This. I was surprised how fast immigration was when I went to London last year. It was very quick and easy.

ea1060 said:

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ATM9000 said:

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OilManAg91 said:

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12 hours is plenty of time. Plan on it taking 2 hours from getting off the plane, through immigration and then to Paddington on the Heathrow Express direct train.

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What? No way it takes that long. Maybe half that time with the express immigration gates in place now (assuming you aren't traveling with kids) and no bags. Maybe.

And be careful with the Heathrow Express, it is PROBABLY your best bet to get into central London but sometimes taking the Piccadilly line in makes more sense,

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This. I was surprised how fast immigration was when I went to London last year. It was very quick and easy.

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I just did this today. It took 2 hrs from the time the plane landed until I exited the train at Paddington, and I used the e-gates at T2. The passport queues are horrible at the moment due to short staffing and increased travel.

Just cleared departures security. Make sure you come back with at least a couple of hours to spare. The airport is a total mess right now.

If you want to use the tube, just plan ahead. I think they had a strike just the other day.