Advance First from Heathrow...is this legitimate?

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

Just bought me an el-cheapo first class advance from Heathrow back to the folks in darkest Wales for 23 Dec - have left a significant amount of time between scheduled flight arrival time and train departure time as always, to be on the safe side.

For some reason there were cheaper tickets available for the route via Heathrow Express and Paddington (as opposed to RailAir via Reading). Train is booked from Paddington to Swansea at 1245, but since HEx doesn't have reservations it's just a "suggested service" (1157 on my booking printout) and doesn't come with a reservation coupon.

So...assuming my flight lands on time, is it legitimate for me to catch an earlier HEx service, then chill out for a little while in the first class lounge at Paddington before getting my booked connection from there? Seems a lot more appealing than the prospect of festering around Heathrow waiting for the booked HEx departure. And will they let me into the lounge at Paddington with a first class advance ticket? Can't see anything on FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s website that excludes this, although I may be looking a little haggard after an overnight flight so they may not want me in there 

[JayMac]

I'm assuming your ticket is +connections. So shouldn't be too problematical taking an earlier service into PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains). There is, after all, no specified maximum connection time with ADVs.

[Phil]

And yes, I've definitely sat in the 1st Class Lounge at Padd on an Advance 1st ticket. No questions asked.

[thetrout]

First Advance as Phil says is definately accepted in the First Class Lounge at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)... I've done it a few times with no raised eyebrows or questions asked

I shouldn't worry about looking haggard either, some of the people you see in PAD 1st Lounge are... shall we say... more than just a little scruffy...

[Phil]

You've obviously seen me there without me realising it, trout!

I recall an employee there once asking me "if I was in a band or something" a few years back... not too sure what to make of that really.

[thetrout]

I've also had something similar... A Taxi driver once asked me what I did for a living, so I told him I work in IT (Which is true) Well he thought I was someone famous and was using that as a cover story...! Not sure what to make of that either...!

But I can go one better than that, my friend doesn't find it even slightly funny, we all think it's hilarious...!!! One of my friends got approached by a random girl because she thought she'd seen him in a particular film... except the nature of the film was rather rude... if you get my drift His face when she asked him was a picture

[inspector_blakey]

Thanks for the advice! Obviously it's not for a couple of months but I'll try doing it the way I suggested above then report back, if I remember...

[inspector_blakey]

Bit of an epilogue here, but I spotted on the HEx website whilst checking something else that they say something along the lines of "only tickets explicitly marked Heathrow Express" are valid for travel. Which doesn't appear to be correct, since mine is apparently valid by HEx but had the route "AP Slough" printed on it.

And as an aside, would anyone like to guess just how many possible fares there are between Heathrow Terminal 5 and Whitland (when you add up all of the possible first/standard, single/return and walk-up/advance possibilities)...? Cheating by looking in NFM07 is not allowed

Suffice it to say, I was absolutely amazed - all for a little town in west Wales...!

[JayMac]

I'll guess at 47 before I go looking at NFM07.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I'll bid higher - 70 (and no, I haven't looked at NFM07, either - wouldn't know how to, honest!)

CfN. 

[SDS]

80?

I know there's weird routings on flows into Wales, AP Slough, GW^▸ (Great Western) Only, AP Not London (though how you can get to heathrow by rail avoiding london flows beats me.)

[inspector_blakey]

Those guesses are pretty good actually:

Walk-up fares, "not London" (so presumably either Heathrow Connect via Hayes and Reading, or using Reading Railair bus): 7
Walk-up fares, "any permitted": 9
Advance fares, "AP not London": 18
Advance fares, "Great Westn Only": 18
Advance fares, "AP Slough": 18

So a grand total of 70 - spot on Chris, and good guesses from bnm and SDS pad!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Bluddy'ell!!   That was a very lucky guess, then! 

[JayMac]

The 'AP not London' is an interesting one. Does anybody really want to change at Hayes and Harlington and Reading and Swansea?

A lot cheaper though!

[bemmy]

The 'AP not London' is an interesting one. Does anybody really want to change at Hayes and Harlington and Reading and Swansea?

A lot cheaper though!

I'm going from Bristol to Heathrow in November changing at Reading and Hayes & Harlington. Cost ^16.70 (booked early but missed the cheapest which is ^14.20 -- so I'm not the only one!). I have to leave 1/2 hour earlier than if I was getting the coach from Reading or changing at Paddington, but I'm not in a hurry.

Coming back I haven't bought an advance ticket because of the unpredictability of long haul arrivals, and I will be impatient to get home, so I'll give Heathrow Connect a miss and pay ^43 for an offpeak single via the Railair coach.