I can see that the National Express bus #701 runs approx. every hour to Heathrow Airport. Can anyone tell me whether one can pay on boarding at Woking, or book an open ticket for a particular day without specifying a time? This would be a Sunday evening, but I'm planning a a canal walk ending in Woking and I can't predict accurately what time I'll be there to catch the bus.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5328 posts
Here is their leaflet.
It does say: ' If you miss your coach you will need to purchase a new ticket for travel.' However, for an extra £5 at booking time you can make this flexible to be valid on any available coach 12 hours before or after your booked coach departure time. Although there is of course no guarantee of a seat, in practice these are rarely full.
Posted by
OP
English but living in Melbourne, Australia
420 posts
Many thanks for the link, Marco. I didn't know about the flexible ticket for an extra £5. I'm used to the Heathrow / Reading rail-air coach where your ticket is for a given day, but you can travel on any coach on that day. I was rather hoping the Woking /Heathrow one would be the same. But at least now I am forewarned. Thankyou.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5328 posts
National Express changed their rules - previously you could make the ticket flexible from airport destinations / arrivals by paying £5 on the day but now it is required in advance as it is for all other routes.
I don't have recent personal experience of this route to know how easy it is to just turn up and go. The service seems to have been thinned out compared to when NatEx didn't run it, and compared with the Reading route.