We are arriving mid day on a Sunday in the spring 2020 at Heathrow from the U.S. Do we need to purchase our National Express bus tickets before we arrive, or is there usually enough room on the busses that we can purchase once we land? I don’t want to spend additional money for a flexible time but am unsure it’s wise to set a departure time for the bus.
Posted by
1220 posts
Just get it once you are there.
Posted by
Hampshire, UK
399 posts
The difference in cost between advanced and "turn up" can be quite large. NE used to do an airport ticket that, for an additional £5 you could catch any bus from the airport that day (so if you arrived early it would still be valid).
The problem is that they have now raised this to £10 - and in the case of a relatively short journey this might take the ticket price over the "just turn up" level.
(as an example, LHR to Bath tomorrow morning is £25 - looking at fares in 6 weeks time, you can get them for £12)
Posted by
36 posts
It never hurts to plan in advance. I took National Express Bus from Heathrow to Bath on a Sunday as you describe. I pre-purchased my tickets online though to be safe. The bus was about half full on a beginning of June excursion....so not saying you won't be able to purchase on the spot, but I like to be sure and secure myself with transportation.
My recommendation... purchase slightly in advance.
Posted by
Walnut Creek, CA
545 posts
Hope its not too late to add my two cents (or two pence)
We took the National Express Bus from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Cambridge. Worked very well and would take the bus again to Cambridge. But..... here are some things to consider.
1) we bought tickets online in advance to get the lowest fare.I had to guess how long it would take to get through passport control and retrieve our luggage, so I gave us a two hour window and booked a bus time two hours from our arrival time.
The tickets were non-refundable, but could be made amendable by an additional £5 supplement at the time of purchase.
I thought I had I had purchased tickets that were amendable (and I highly recommend you do that.) but I hadn't.
I should have read the fine print on my ticket more closely.
So when passport control and getting my baggage took only 10 minutes. I had almost two hours to wait for my bus.
I went to the national express desk at terminal 5 and tried to see if I could an earlier bus, but because I hadn't purchased the amendable tickets, I couldn't trade or upgrade my existing tickets to an earlier bus time.
I would have had to pay the walk up rate of twice what the lowest advance was and I my existing tickets were non-refundable and would have been wasted.
I'm still kicking myself for not getting the amendable option at the time of purchase.
So we bought a cup of tea and sat down at the Giraffe restaurant and drank it for two hours until it was time to go find our bus.
2) the National Express personnel were not very helpful out on the sidewalk. I had to ask several different bus personnel where the bus to Cambridge would be. They didn't bother to tell me the bus was running late or that the bus to Cambridge would be titled "norwich."
But once we all that was figured out and we boarded the correct bus, it was a pleasant journey to our destination.
Posted by
OP
31 posts
derek, thank you for the great advice! We will get tickets ahead of time but amendable. It definitely sounds like a wise plan!