What Happens If I Miss My Train in the UK

If you have a BritRail pass you don't need tickets. You can get a reservation and for the rush hour train you want - especially for a Bank Holiday. The train will be - Rammed!

If you land on time at 2:15 (especially if it isn't a Bank Holiday - all bets are off!!) in normal days you should be off, through Immigration, collect luggage and walk through the green door of Customs in 90-120 minutes, maybe faster. So that's around 3:45.

An hour on the tube to Kings Cross and you may be able to hop on a train by 5. That would be better than 6 if it works... but you can't have reservations on every train! LOL

The unions only have to give 14 days notice of a strike so it is a bit early to know about any in September.

Are you sure that your BritRail pass is for the entire island including Scotland and not one of the more restricted ones for say, Greater London or England?

Thanks Nigel.

The reason I wanted to buy a ticket in advance is I heard on a bank holiday weekend some travelers will be standing with their luggage the entire trip if they haven't reserved a ticket, especially for standard class. I want to be sure I have a seat on the train.

If I want to be conservative and purchase a ticket for the 6 pm train, but there are delays for whatever reason, and I miss the 6 pm train, can I use the ticket for a later train? I contacted LNER customer service with this question by email a few days ago, but no response so far.

I worry that you have a seat reservation confused with a ticket to ride a train.

You said you are getting a BritRail pass. I asked you to clarify if it is valid in a section of England, all of England or all of England, Scotland and Wales. You haven't said anything about a Britrail pass since your OP.

Now you are asking more about buying tickets. You don't need to buy tickets when using a valid BritRail pass in its area of validity. Hence the question. The whole reason you bout a BritRail pass was so you don't have to buy tickets and can be flexible, right?

As I said previously you can buy a reservation for a train you want to ride. All a reservation does is, for a paying passenger and you paid when you bought the Pass, is provide you a designated seat on a particular train.

If you don't ride the train you bought a reservation for then that bit of paper or screen on your phone is a souvenir. It is not valid on any other train. You need a new reservation if you want a reservation on a different train. After all coach 8 seat 41 on the 10:30 does nothing for somebody wanting a reservation on the 11:30.

Does that make sense?

Now - are you giving up on the BritRail pass and wanting individual point to point tickets for the Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley journey?

To be clear a ticket is not the same as a seat reservation.

If you buy an Advance ticket (which includes a seat reservation) that's only valid for the booked train, not a later train.

If you buy an Off-Peak or Anytime ticket they are valid for later trains, but a seat reservation only applies to one train at a time. You can reserve seats at the station (maybe up to 2 hours before departure) if available.

Buying a rail pass seems like overkill. Trains between London and Edinburgh will be busy - it's festival time.

Have you thought about flying from Heathrow?

I will be getting a BritRail FlexiPass for England, Scotland and Wales. I'll be traveling to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Chester, Wales and back to London. When I compared fares for various trips, I found it would be cheaper to use a BritRail FlexiPass than to purchase individual point to point tickets for the times I'll be taking the train. Since I'll be making a number of train trips, I decided on the Pass instead of flying.

Thanks for explaining that I need a reservation and not a ticket. How soon can I make a reservation? Can I do it online? Since I don't know when I'll get to Kings Cross, should I wait until I get to the station, or will I be taking a chance that there won't be any reservations left for a specific train?

If I want to be conservative and make a reservation for the 6 pm train, but everything goes smoothly, and I'm able to take an earlier train, can I cancel the 6 pm reservation and make one for an earlier train?

What's your advice for efficiently getting to Edinburgh from London on a Friday bank holiday weekend by train?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I appreciate it.

The problem is that you want flexibility because you don’t know for sure which train to get, but you want a guaranteed seat. Usually, you can find an unoccupied seat when a service isn’t busy. But on a Friday, with a bank holiday looming and on one of the busiest routes out of London. Well, you can imagine…

I don’t know how to make seat reservations with a Britrail pass. It might involve an old-fashioned telephone call to the train company. I’d do it sooner rather than later, as on the day all reserved seats may be gone.

If you get to Kings Cross early, the easiest might be to ask the train conductor if there are any unreserved seats or look for yourself before the train departs

https://www.lner.co.uk/faq/on-board/seating/are-there-any-unreserved-seats/

It is possible to reserve a seat online: "Seat Reservations can be made in advance through SeatRez.com, one of our BritRail Suppliers own websites." Although from a test they want £4 for the privilege rather than doing it a station where would be free.

Some train operating companies do reservations over social media, especially Twitter, for people with regular tickets but I don't know if they extend this to BritRail passes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only way to ensure I get a guaranteed seat on a train on a Friday before a bank holiday, since a reservation may not be possible, would be to purchase a ticket for a specific train such as 6 pm and hope I get there in time. If I miss the train, I will be out the cost of the ticket.

Is this correct?

Thank you.

Wouldn't heading to Reading first, and taking a Cross Country service avoiding London not be a better option altogether? Would those trains be less crowded?

the only problem with Cross Country is that in Operation Princess (yes) about 20 years ago they cut the length of Cross Country trains in half and doubled the frequency. Except they often forgot to double the frequency. So even before covid they were regularly overcrowded.

On a Bank Holiday Friday I'd say all bets are off....

It is a long way to Scotland on a Cross Country

I still don't get it - why would you buy a ticket if you have a BritRail pass for the journey. Buy a reservation.

Cross Country trains are running at half the pre-Covid frequency, sometimes less and the units are not all doubled up. So very cramped at the busy times.

Don't buy a pass and then buy a ticket as well. Buy one or the other.

Are you aware that there are trains (not the Tube) called the "Heathrow Express" to and from Heathrow and Paddington? These are trains dedicated to that route and those passengers. They leave every 15 minutes from their own platform, which is at the same level as the trains' floors, so no heavy lifting. The service is 24/7. Each carriage has dedicated space at each end for your bags. You do not need to check bags and you can keep them in sight, so very secure. Paddington is a train station and has three Tube lines as well, so you can get from Paddington Tube Station to King's Cross on the Circle Line without changing Tube lines. You should reserve your seats on the Heathrow Express website; there are two classes. I seem to recall they recommend making your reservations early and you might get a discount if you reserve online, idk.

There's tons of stuff to look at at Paddington, plus lots of shops, including a Boots, a WH Smith, even a Marks & Spencer. Don't pack your toothpaste in your bag; just buy it there. (Also applicable at Heathrow, I expect.) Lots of walking space to stretch your legs (whew!). Recommend scooping up one of their baggage trolleys if you can, but you will need some British coinage, I think maybe the one pound coin.

I have done that Tube trip with two family members, six suitcases, three backpacks, etc. etc. Carriage was packed, so stood all the way, (45 min?) except for the time I spent perched on my American Tourister, c. 1970. (Boy, do I miss that bag.) Still have the flashbacks....

Ah. Me again. See the Transport for London website for searchable Tube maps.: https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/tube. cheers!

The Edinburgh Festival runs from 5 Aug. to Sunday, 28 Aug. Everything, everywhere will be massively crowded. There aren't enough hotel, B&B, etc., rooms and there are actually temporary campgrounds. If you haven't got a place to stay reserved by now, you might want to reconsider your timing. Or perhaps you have tickets? If so, that's fantastic!

Thanks for the information on the Heathrow Express and your suggestions. I will look into making a reservation and using the Transport for London website. We have reservations for Edinburgh and Glasgow. We have tickets for the Military Tattoo, but we aren't sure what we'll do with the Edinburgh Festival. I appreciate everyone's input.