BritRail London Plus Pass

The BritRail terms and conditions (http://www.britrail.net/terms-and-conditions) specifies that the Britrail England pass is valid for the Heathrow Express, but it doesn't say anything about the London Plus pass. I imagine it would also be valid, since Heathrow is well inside the covered area. But you shouldn't take my word for this.

Anyway, here is how to figure out whether the rail pass is worth it:

Go to http://nationalrail.co.uk

Under "Train Times/Buy Tickets," enter your origin station under "From" (just entering "London" here will automatically select the most convenient London train station for the trip you want to take) and where you want to go under "To."

For the purposes of this fact-finding mission, under "when" put tomorrow's date rather than the date you actually want to travel (this will keep your results from being cluttered up with advance-purchase fares that you're not interested in) and the approximate time you want to leave (the relevance of this is that cheaper fares sometimes kick in after 9:30 AM - so if you think you'll want to get an early start, enter an early time and look out for "Anytime" fares. If you'd rather leave later, enter a later time and look out for "Off-Peak" fares).

For a day trip where you'll be going straight back to London, check the "return" box, enter tomorrow's date, and the approximate time you want to come back (though this matters less than the time you leave in the morning).

Click "Go" and see what prices it comes up with for you. Note that while the prices are all attached to specific trains, with an Anytime or Off-Peak ticket you can choose from any outbound train and any return train (sometimes with a few restrictions - like if there are two rail companies that operate a particular route, you might be locked into traveling with one of them).

Repeat this for all the journeys you want to take, and convert all the prices from pounds into dollars.

If your four most expensive journeys add up to more than the cost of a four-day rail pass, then the four-day rail pass is a good deal. If all of your journeys (since you're only there seven days) add up to more than the cost of an eight-day rail pass, then the eight-day rail pass is a good deal.

Thank you khbuzzard! The tip of putting it in as tomorrow and not advanced purchase showed that you can purchase off peak and get round trip for about 24 pounds. That obviously cuts the cost in half. Anyone know if that will be available in May and June?
If it is, it's a no brainier to just buy the tix at the station. Now I'm trying to figure out if I should buy the two together pass!

I am pretty sure that fares don't vary seasonally. But to check for sure, search for the date you want to travel, and if it gives you an advance fare, click "other tickets" to see the off-peak and anytime fares.

To see how much the fare would be with the Two Together card, click "More options, railcards & passengers" and enter the relevant information.

I will add that I have had several epiphanies about BritRail passes lately.

Original 4 day pass was going to be something like $500.
Buying advanced cut it in half, and then some.

Unless you are travelling by train a lot to out of the way places, the pass has yet to show itself useful.

But that's me. Your mileage may vary.

D

A Two Together Railcard is not valid on certain peak time trains in London and the Southeast. When it is valid it offers both named (and pictured) people on the card who must travel together for the full duration of the discounted ticket, 34%. It costs £30 and you need to provide 2 photos of each person on the card.

The London Plus Pass does cover the Heathrow Express on any of your counted travel days, with no need for separate tickets; you just activate the pass at the Heathrow train station. But you would choose between 4 days within a month at $210 per person or 8 days at $291, no middle ground.

If you choose buying tickets as you go, then do book them roundtrip, as suggested above, since roundtrip/return tickets cost only a bit more than one way/single tickets.

So each day on a 4- day London Plus pass is over $50! Not a good idea to use one of those days on the Heathrow Express.

You have time to buy 30-day advance tickets on the Heathrow Express for £8.80 weekends/£14.30 weekdays.

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

If you are taking the Heathrow Express in both directions ( into and out from London) and traveling together both times, you may be better off with a DuoSaver Ticket which covers two RT journeys for £50, or £12.50 per person each way.

Thank you all for your help! As far as I understand, it doesn't seem to pay to buy the pass. I hope I'm coming to the correction conclusion! It seems the cost of each ticket would have to be more. When I search for my travel dates, I even found some 10 pound tix for weekend travel! It seems that if we allow about $300 for transportation for both of us, it should be about right.
Thank you again! I love this forum!

I will heartily endorse your conclusion that a pass is not worth it. We are traveling by train eight days during our month in the UK, and I got all our tickets for less than half the cost of two 8-day passes.