Travelling from Reading to Heathrow airport by coach

iosson

I'm adding this because the relevant link isn't mentioned in the main article on the website about cutting costs/parking charges at airports.

Reading is well situated for travelling to Heathrow and if you are coming by train from the Midlands or West it is well suited for changing and hopping on a coach to Heathrow. It has a frequent and reliable coach (called RailAir) and run by FirstBus that is fairly low cost (address is: www . railair . com). They offer tickets from £22 return and a railcard discount (£14.50) and also family tickets

National Express will also let you book a "railair" coach from Reading to Heathrow. Today they quoted me £43 in advance, including an "NHS Discount".

I'm posting this because I looked at National Express and though they were the only company to offer the "RailAir" link (as mentioned on National Rail route planners) - and I wanted to highlight to other MSE forumites that they aren't :-)

moonrakerz

iosson wrote: »

It has a frequent and reliable coach (called RailAir)

Ummm ! Frequent ? yes: Reliable ? depends on the time of day, getting out of Reading and along the M4 can be a bit of a saga at busy times. Allow plenty of time.

dzug1

National Express just sell tickets for the same railair coach - they don't run it, nor do they run their own service. They've just quoted me £25 return - no special discounts, so where your £43 comes from, no idea.

SaveTheEuro

iosson wrote: »

It has a frequent and reliable coach (called RailAir) and run by FirstBus that is fairly low cost

A cheaper way to Heathrow is to continue by rail from Reading to Hayes and Harlington and then catch a bus. The 140 takes 10 to 15 minutes to reach Heathrow and runs every few minutes 24 hours a day.

Coming from Cardiff, for example, an advance single to Hayes and Harlington costs £11. The bus fare (with an Oystercard) is £1.30. Total cost: £12.30.

This compares with £27.50 for an advance single from Cardiff to Heathrow, changing on to the bus at Heathrow.

Bob_the_Saver

The RailAir service is not good value. When you've just flown back from say Kuala Lumpur for £140 quid and they charge you £20 ish for a 40 min journey on a BUS, count me out. Did it once never again.
The words Rip, Big and off sprang to mind. I'm with SaveTheEuro on this one.
The 1 hour bus to KL airport at the other end had cost me £1.60

claire16c

If you are travelling as a single person the Rail air coach that goes from Reading Station is the best option I think. I could not be bothered to get a slow train taking an hour to west london, to then get another bus especially with luggage, what a pain.

But if there is two of you, the price of a prebooked taxi means I would just get a taxi to save the hassle.

SaveTheEuro

claire16c wrote: »

If you are travelling as a single person the Rail air coach that goes from Reading Station is the best option I think. I could not be bothered to get a slow train taking an hour to west london, to then get another bus especially with luggage, what a pain.

But if there is two of you, the price of a prebooked taxi means I would just get a taxi to save the hassle.

The train journey from Reading to Hayes and Harlington takes 30 minutes. The bus journey from Reading to Heathrow takes nearly an hour.

martindow

SaveTheEuro wrote: »

The train journey from Reading to Hayes and Harlington takes 30 minutes. The bus journey from Reading to Heathrow takes nearly an hour.

And how long on the bus from Hayes to Heathrow?

The Rail Air timetable makes some attempt to adapt to traffic as journey times vary between 38 and 55 minutes.

For most people from the west Railair is the simplest and certainly better than staying on the train to Paddington and getting the Heathrow Express.

I agree it is expensive (especially if you are returning from a third world country).

SaveTheEuro

martindow wrote: »

And how long on the bus from Hayes to Heathrow?

As I said, about 10 to 15 minutes.

I was disagreeing with the assertion that the train journey from Reading to Hayes and Harlington took an hour.

martindow wrote: »

I agree it is expensive

Quite.