Purchase Train Tickets London-Bath Online

Yes, use your hotel address. You will receive an email confirrmation. Just take that and the credit card you used to purchase the tickets to a ticket kiosk at the train station and your tickets will print.

I tried the technique you proposed. It worked 2 years ago, to use a UK hotel address, but now they have closed that window. They now require that the credit card you use must have a UK billing address, in order to process the order. I asked a friend who lives there to purchase the tickets for me online and collected them for me at the station and mailed them to me. I will repay him when I visit. They apparently want to reserve the cheap advance purchase tickets for the locals.
Good luck!

Matching the shipping address to the billing address also cuts down on credit card fraud - that is why the window of using the UK hotel address may have been closed. There is an an example of something for our own good nips us in the end.

I'm trying to purchase tickets via National Express from London to York. The website will not accept my USA address. The representatives at my bank (Chase) are telling me that the transaction isn't even showing up on their system and it's not being denied on their end. Anyone else have this problem?

Anna,

Even though you'll be traveling on Great Western trains, book your tickets at www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com. The NXEC site accepts non-UK credit cards. The best current fare for London-Bath Spa is £9.50 each way.

Tim,
I tried the address you suggested---I didn't even see any routes to Bath. I am also interested in going to Oxford. I didn't see a route from Paddington to either of these cities on this site. Suggestions??
Thanks,
Peggy

Peggy....the national express east coast site Tim mentioned seems to be working fine....I can find 36 trips/day from London stations to Bath Spa (the formal name used on the rail network). Trips are from Paddington or Waterloo. Same with London-Oxford...dozens of trips available. Maybe you could PM Tim or I and let us know in more detail what you see when you attempt to purchase.

Peggy,

Another choice for London-Oxford is the Oxford Tube which is a coach (bus) service. The single (one-way) fare is £12 and the return (roundtrip) fare is £15.

Thanks for all the replies. Tim was correct. His link to www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com worked and I got my tickets. You have to show the cc used to buy the tickets when when you pick them up. Apparently tickets are available for purchase online about 60 days in advance.

We just purchased bus tickets on the National Express website, round trip from London to Bath. However, they weren't available for a period of time ahead (I think it was 90 days), so we weren't successful the first time. (We're traveling Sept. 2-5) You can get both train and bus tickets there. Just google National Express.

Kendyll Stansbury
Redwood City

I'll be arriving at Heathrow and going to Bath via train with the connection at Paddington station. Can anyone recommend whether I should by the tickets in advance? I know they are cheaper, but what if my plane is delayed or it takes too long to clear customs? Can anyone estimate the price difference between advance ticket purchases and ticket purchases the day of travel?!

Sorry to tack on, but can you go directly from Heathrow to Bath without going into Paddington?

Lauren, if you go by train all the way, no...you have to go to Paddington station. However, there are services that take you by bus to Reading, then connect with the train to Bath from there. The total elapsed time is about the same...2 hours. You can check the services, and purchase cheaper advance-fare tickets, at http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com . Just remember to check the restrictions on each class of ticket available.

Lauren,

For information on the coach (bus) from Heathrow to Reading and the train from Reading to Bath Spa, go to www.railair.com.

For "last minute" tickets, the cheapest but slowest way from Heathrow to Bath Spa is a direct coach. See www.nationalexpress.com.

Thanks Norm and Tim --

That's very helpful. I won't turn my nose up at the thought of going from Heathrow to Paddington and back out to Bath. It seemed like a waste, but I think we would prefer to spend a little more to be on a train rather than a bus, having just gotten off an international flight!

I'll agree that it's a lot more comfortable on a train than a bus after you've flown a long way. Although a taxi isn't bad either!!

In 1990 my parents flew to London to stay in the city for three weeks. Nice to be retired!! Anyway, my mom insisted on taking a taxi to their South Kensington apartment from Heathrow. Even in 1990, at $1.50 to the pound, it was $100 each way!!

Hi there... I am getting ready to take my "soon to be 18 year old daughter" to London, Scotland and France for her birthday... I've been trying to buy my train tickets from London to Scotland via National Express East Coast and they keep declining my card, well not actually declining it.. but stating that there is an error... has anyone else had this problem? If so.. were you able to get past it and purchase your tickets??? HELP...

Susan,

For what date are you trying to book your London-Scotland tickets? You may be trying to book too far in advance. Have you called your credit card provider's customer service number and told them that you want to make an overseas purchase? A computer may be blocking your card for what it recognizes as unusual--and therefore possibly fraudulent--activity.