What is the risk?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I probably wouldn't do it again -- the National Express coach from Bristol is hourly, takes just over 2 hours and being direct is a lot easier than any train option, and usually cheaper if you can get a return. And on the way home, if your flight is delayed they don't charge you for changing your reservation to the next available coach.

I hate travelling by bus though, so if the train service to Heathrow was reasonable (in price and flexibility) I would use it every time.

Agreed ... we use the coach from Chippenham for Heathrow, which is useually operated by First even through it's under the National Express banner.  The Chippenham and Bath service is less frequent and usually goes via the centre of Swindon, but by the time you've faffed around with an East-facing train service when you want to head West ....

[bemmy]

Do you not have travel insurance.  It does cover for some delays

Yes:

Section 5 - Travel Delay & Abandonment
(a) ^20 per 12 hours, up to ^105 max
(b) Abandonment after 24 hours, up to ^5,000

Not really the kind of delays we're talking about here. I doubt that any policy would cover you for the risks of buying an inflexible advance purchase train ticket!

[Henry]

 Quite often I have got a cheap ticket the day before and booked in the travelodge in Oxford Road , Reading.

 

[basset44]

Thanks Henry, Travelodge at Heathrow on the 13th terminal 5 ^19, but the Monday is a Bank Holiday and
its even worse for times and tickets.

Used to fly from Bristol but after 2 disaster with early morning trains okay 1 was flooding act of God but the First train of the morning not turning up at about 4.00 was a right nightmare. Nobody would take responsability when I found people at Cardiff and saying I needed to get to the airport. Had to pay for Taxi's claimed it back with the help of the Rail Passengers Group.

So if you are a leisure traveller who wants a return journey to any airport and you want to pay a reasonable fare, do you

A) Travel by Bus ^88 return from Cardiff for 2

b) Hire a Car

C) Fly KLM^» (English name: Royal Dutch Airlines - original name: Koninklijke LuchtvaartMaatschappij. - website) from Cardiff to Amsterdam currently ^68 return and use the Trains on mainland Europe

d) Travel up the night before because of reliabilty and incidents which mean you have to allow extra time

e) Pay a small fortune for return on train ( Flights were ^50 in BA^» (British Airways - about) Sale)

F) Give up travel