Another Train Ticket Question

From Heathrow one of the most straightforward modes of transit is the National Express Coach. This long distance bus service has a station at Heathrow and goes directly to Bath. It is nothing like long distance buses in the US!

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

Even if you wind up taking a train, a rail pass would not be necessary. Point to point tickets will work fine.

NO on a BritRail pass.

Waste of money since you are only using train travel twice.

Also, it’s immigration not customs you will be going through on arrival.

In terms of getting clear of the airport, it is about an hour from flight to exit. But that doesn't allow for a delay or any errors really.

A Britrail pass is too expensive, it's really for multiple train journeys

There is an easy enough direct coach service from Heathrow. There's one at 0830 (probably too tight) and 1030. the latter is £12 currently.

You could take the "rail bus" to Reading then train from there. Or the Elizabeth line to Paddington then train from there. The former is about 10 minutes quicker.

An advance from Reading is currently £16.50. There are two an hour. An advance from Paddington is £23.00. There are two an hour as it's the train that will go through Reading.

The same trains tomorrow are £43 and £58 - so probably worth adding in some delay time and going for the advances.

Personally I would EL to Paddington then train as I really don't like buses and coaches, and probably aim for something around 0930.

You will go through both immigration and customs at Heathrow.

The railbus to Reading then train to Bath is less time consuming than backtracking to Paddington.

You could also take the Elizabeth line to Hayes & Harrington, then switch to another Elizabeth Line train to Reafing, then a Great Western train to Bath.

I would not buy an advance ticket. The chances of making a specific train are small I’d say, especially with the amount of delays we are seeing at the moment.