Heathrow Express.

[cf111]

I'm flying in to Heathrow soon and plan on getting the Express to Paddington.

Their website advised that if you wish to buy a railcard discounted ticket, you have to do it at the terminal before you board the train. I've a had a look on East Coast's site and I can get an Anytime Single with a 16-25 railcard for £13.80. It's from "Heathrow Term123" to "London Paddington".

Is this the ticket I need to use the Heathrow Express? It's still quite expensive but it seems very convenient. I could use the Heathrow Connect but I'd rather get into Paddington with plenty of time for my connection.

 

[trentside]

The ticket will issue from 'Heathrow Rail' - and yes, you can buy it in advance online.

I think what the website is saying is that you cannot buy onboard and obtain a railcard discount.

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/tickets-deals/railcards

 

[cf111]

The ticket will issue from 'Heathrow Rail' - and yes, you can buy it in advance online.

I think what the website is saying is that you cannot buy onboard and obtain a railcard discount.

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/tickets-deals/railcards

Their FAQs say that you can't use a railcard online:
https://www.heathrowexpress.com/faqs#2280ebd8-0b42-6265-b24c-ff00002d9a96

Yes, you can use a number of railcards on Heathrow Express to obtain discounted travel. To qualify you must purchase at the ticket office, not online or on board.

I'm guessing that it's just the HEX website that has that limitation and the £13.80 ticket I can get from any other TOC online will be OK?

 

[trentside]

I've just done a search on East Coast's site and the £13.80 fare appears available for sale.

I think this is a limitation of the HEX website.

 

[cf111]

Thanks for that, I'll buy it off East Coast and ask before I get on the train at Heathrow.

 

[Haywain]

I don't believe that you can collect the ticket at Heathrow, so you will almost certainly need to have the ticket ahead of the date of travel.

 

[cf111]

I don't believe that you can collect the ticket at Heathrow, so you will almost certainly need to have the ticket ahead of the date of travel.

Thanks for letting me know. I think I'll collect them from Haymarket the day before my flight.

 

[ainsworth74]

I purchased railcard discounted tickets through the East Coast website for use on HEX and was inspected four times (two return journeys) and not a single question was raised about it.

 

[sammyg901]

Yep this is fine! It's worth doing as you can only obtain these at the ticket desk at Heathrow otherwise and there can sometimes be a queue

Also going the other way the ticket can be obtained from the FGW machines with the discount rather than using the HEX office

 

[anme]

I don't believe that you can collect the ticket at Heathrow, so you will almost certainly need to have the ticket ahead of the date of travel.

Gosh, the wonders of our railway! Is it just this ticket that can't be collected, or is it not possible to collect any rail tickets at the railway station of the UK's largest airport?

 

[JaJaWa]

Gosh, the wonders of our railway! Is it just this ticket that can't be collected, or is it not possible to collect any rail tickets at the railway station of the UK's largest airport?

Heathrow Express is not part of National Rail, meaning there is no National Rail station at the airport, therefore no National Rail ticket machines and no National Rail ticket collections. There's a ticket office at the airport though, which will sell Railcard-discounted tickets - the machines don't.

 

[VauxhallandI]

And for some reason discounts are not available on their ticket machines. Con

 

[bb21]

They are privately owned, so they can do whatever they like, unfortunately.

 

[trentside]

They are privately owned, so they can do whatever they like, unfortunately.

Indeed, and like a lot of airport services - for the perceived convenience, they charge whatever they like too.

 

[ainsworth74]

They are privately owned, so they can do whatever they like, unfortunately.

But I thought the whole railway was privatised so why can't the main operators do the same?

*Hides*

 

[Clip]

But I thought the whole railway was privatised so why can't the main operators do the same?

*Hides*

Ooh you little tinker, setting the scene for a 10 page epic on the follies of privitisation

 

[Tetchytyke]

But I thought the whole railway was privatised so why can't the main operators do the same?

Ooh you minx

It's probably because the TOCs own nothing except a very glossy and expensive Ray Stenning pastiche livery and 27,000 boxes of letterhead

 

[JaJaWa]

But I thought the whole railway was privatised so why can't the main operators do the same?

*Hides*

Other operators are part of National Rail .