Train from Edinburgh to London Heathrow question

You don't say when, but one issue could be train strikes. But you should know that in advance.

Thanks. We fly home August 29. Trying to plan hotel stays.

We faced a similar dilemma last June and decided to train from Edinburgh to London the day before our flight home. We took the LNER train from Waverley, Edinburgh to King's Cross and then the Piccadilly line to our hotel near LHR. That gave us time to truly enjoy the train ride and not stress about whether we were going to make our flight that same day.

Go to London the day before. Too many variables to risk same day travel.

If you miss your flight, you'll have to buy a new ticket. And same day travel prices are not exactly low.

We took train from Edinburgh to London the end of September and had two delays each a half hour so in total.an hour delay..one was maintenance and one was report of someone caught on the tracks per the announcement.. Thank goodness the last one was not serious. You just never know. Not worth taking a chance.

Flight at 4.15= 1.15 check in= tube from London by 1200= train no later than 7am from Edinburgh- gives you little or no wriggle room.

As a for instance on my local branch line we have a bridge failure at the moment- apparently a scoured out river bridge.

The bus replacements are adding an hour to the journey time before I reach the main line. If that was then compounded by any incident at all on the main line to London I would be snookered on a time sensitive trip like this.

So yes it's possible, but the wise option is to go the day before.

Train looks tight, but perhaps you could fly from EDI to Heathrow on a morning flight?

Another option (unless the flight is a Sunday morning) would be to take the Caledonian Sleeper the previous night from Edinburgh to London Euston, arriving at breakfast time. That would give you a few hours in the morning before heading to the airport.
I'm being unbiased here, as personally I think it is heavily over-priced. But compared to an extra night in Edinburgh and then the cost of an early train, maybe not so heavily priced.
This forum is all about giving people all the options, and giving them the choice.

Thank you, all, for responding. Looks like we are leaning toward an early morning flight from Edinburgh to Heathrow.