Heathrow Ticket Offices

[transportphoto]

Hi All - Quick Question x2.

Is Heathrow Airport (hex express) Ticket Offices obliged to sell tickets for travel to/from other stations on the NR Network or Are they just obliged to sell Heathrow -> London tickets? Cause I know that all other station offices are obliged to.


Also - Do they accept Rail Travel Vouchers?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I will just expand on what I said yesterday (17/05 @ 21:45).

I am staying at a hotel near Heathrow Airport later this month - I also need to buy some tickets for use in the future.

What I need to know is:

Do Heathrow Experss Desks sell all National Rail Tickets e.g. Single from say Birmingham Stations to London Terminals (for Example)?

Also - when do they accept Rail Travel Vouchers?

 

[Any Permitted]

I can tell you that they do sell tickets to everywhere else in the NR network. Both the offices themselves the automatic machines have all destinations on them.

Whether they're obliged to, I don't know.

 

[transportphoto]

I can tell you that they do sell tickets to everywhere else in the NR network. Both the offices themselves the automatic machines have all destinations on them.

Whether they're obliged to, I don't know.

Ok, ta AP.

Any more?

Is there a document anywhere saying that they must issue a ticket?

I know that somewhere it states that "TOC's MUST issue a ticket when requested for travel on their services or not"!

 

[paulravuslante]

Hi, I may be a new member, but this post has made me feel obliged to join the forum as I can answer these questions with ease (being an employee of HEx).

The HEx ticket offices / ticket machines at Heathrow Central (T123) and Terminal 4 (although the T4 ticket office is 'temporarily' closed at present) can issue the following:

1. Heathrow Express tickets to Paddington
2. Heathrow Connect tickets to any station on that service's line of route and to destinations on First Great Western's Thames Valley network between London and Reading (including the branch lines)

We can also extend these tickets to destinations on the LUL network (although these are restricted to destinations in Zone 1 for Heathrow Connect tickets).
Neither ticket offices nor ticket machines at T123 or T4 can issue tickets to any National Rail destination (other than those outlined above).

Terminal 5 is different though. We operate both the HEx and LUL stations here and therefore can issue the above mentioned tickets as well as what I assume is the full range of LUL tickets. Interestingly, the LUL menu on our ticket machines (TOMs) here has a NR Day Single / Day Return option and here we can sell LUL tickets to a range of destinations typically in the South East (although routes out of Waterloo don't seem to be on the system for some reason - possibly as Woking RailAir is quicker for these??). Therefore it is possible to purchase a HEx ticket along with an LUL ticket to selected NR destinations at T5 ticket office only (you will get two tickets issued for this). The ticket machines at T5 are either branded for LUL or HEx (including Connect) and each sell only the respective tickets for those services.

Rail Travel Vouchers can be used at any of the above ticket offices.

If there is a document that states that all HEx ticket offices should issue tickets to NR destinations then please forward it to me as I for one would love to end the rather confusing situation I describe above. Lots of customers come up to us expecting to book a through ticket to anywhere in the UK, but as much as I would like to do this, the TOM will not let me! It's especially infuriating as NR stations can issue tickets to Heathrow Express, but we can't oblige for the reverse (other than the purchasing of two ticket types at T5).

If you want to book a through ticket when you are at Heathrow, consider asking at the National Express ticket desks. I have noticed when passing these that they offer rail tickets and seeing as they issue tickets for the two RailAir services coming into Heathrow, I have assumed that they can issue the full range of NR tickets. I may be wrong about this, but it's worth a try.

Hope you have found this interesting.
Kind regards,
Paul.

 

[transportphoto]

Ok Thanks Paul.

Will look into the National Rail Desks however I have a feeling they use the same system as the National Rail Travel Agents and therefore charge for the issue.

Thanks also to AP


Old Post Above --- New Post Below
Is it true that Hex. Exp. Ticket Offices/Machines Use a Branded Ticket Stock?

If so do the Hex Exp. Machines at Paddington (which allow pre purchased ticket collections) only issue that which has been ordered through Hex. Exp. and for travel on the Hex Exp?

So say I have a Reference No for collection at [stn]PAD[/stn] (tickets not for travel on HEX) - According to NRES Station Layout I can collect them at the Hex Machines or the FGW ones. Is this true or can I only use the FGW ones?


Any help Appreciated - TP

 

[Edvid]

HEX indeed use branded ticket stock. Additionally, the HEX ticket machines don't display the full alphanumeric list in collection mode, just 0-9 and A-F unless I'm mistaken. On that basis you'll have to use the FGW machines unless you're collecting tickets ordered via the HEX website, which only sells HEX tickets.

 

[Max]

When I tried to buy an NR ticket at Terminal 5 last year (for an onward journey after leaving London) the booking clerk told me that she wasn't able to!

 

[paulravuslante]

HEX indeed use branded ticket stock. Additionally, the HEX ticket machines don't display the full alphanumeric list in collection mode, just 0-9 and A-F unless I'm mistaken. On that basis you'll have to use the FGW machines unless you're collecting tickets ordered via the HEX website, which only sells HEX tickets.

That's correct. No collection at any HEx station for NR tickets, although certain websites seem to allow customers to select Heathrow as a station to pick up tickets at.

When I tried to buy an NR ticket at Terminal 5 last year (for an onward journey after leaving London) the booking clerk told me that she wasn't able to!

Where were you trying to book a ticket to Max?

Regards,
Paul.

 

[transportphoto]

When I tried to buy an NR ticket at Terminal 5 last year (for an onward journey after leaving London) the booking clerk told me that she wasn't able to!

As said by Paul - Hex Offices only issue the 'products' listed in the below quote.

I only found out when Paul Posted - Don't go thinking that I already knew the answer and I was asking a silly question

The HEx ticket offices / ticket machines at Heathrow Central (T123) and Terminal 4 (although the T4 ticket office is 'temporarily' closed at present) can issue the following:

1. Heathrow Express tickets to Paddington
2. Heathrow Connect tickets to any station on that service's line of route and to destinations on First Great Western's Thames Valley network between London and Reading (including the branch lines)

...

Neither ticket offices nor ticket machines at T123 or T4 can issue tickets to any National Rail destination (other than those outlined above).

Terminal 5 is different though. We operate both the HEx and LUL stations here and therefore can issue the above mentioned tickets as well as what I assume is the full range of LUL tickets. Interestingly, the LUL menu on our ticket machines (TOMs) here has a NR Day Single / Day Return option and here we can sell LUL tickets to a range of destinations typically in the South East (although routes out of Waterloo don't seem to be on the system for some reason - possibly as Woking RailAir is quicker for these??). Therefore it is possible to purchase a HEx ticket along with an LUL ticket to selected NR destinations at T5 ticket office only (you will get two tickets issued for this). The ticket machines at T5 are either branded for LUL or HEx (including Connect) and each sell only the respective tickets for those services.

 

[A60K]

That's quite a bizarre situation - it would surely be worth BAA investing in a standard ticketing system and training staff to sell the full range of National Rail tickets from all the Heathrow ticket offices, given the amount of commission they could get.

Basel Airport in Switzerland* has an SBB (Swiss National Railways) ticket office selling the full range of national and international tickets - yet it doesn't even have a railway station!

* the airport is actually in France with a curious arrangement making half of it legally in Switzerland

 

[transportphoto]

* the airport is actually in France with a curious arrangement making half of it legally in Switzerland

So you land and tell customs...

"Well I am going to France"

or

"Well I am going to Switzerland"

 

[jopsuk]

HEX indeed use branded ticket stock. Additionally, the HEX ticket machines don't display the full alphanumeric list in collection mode, just 0-9 and A-F unless I'm mistaken. On that basis you'll have to use the FGW machines unless you're collecting tickets ordered via the HEX website, which only sells HEX tickets.

wait, the HEx machines are Hexadecimal?

 

[A60K]

So you land and tell customs...

"Well I am going to France"

or

"Well I am going to Switzerland"

Don't laugh - that's exactly what happens in the arrivals area! One door marked "France" and one marked "Switzerland". You choose which one to go through, go past the passport officer for the country you chose, and the entire airport is then split into two, with walls and fences, with no way of crossing back.

If you're heading to Switzerland you go down a two-mile long road with high fences either side until you come to Swiss territory proper.

This may have/will change as Switzerland became part of the Schengen area last year - I haven't been to the airport for about five or six years.

 

[Edvid]

wait, the HEx machines are Hexadecimal?

That's right.

 

[paulravuslante]

That's quite a bizarre situation - it would surely be worth BAA investing in a standard ticketing system and training staff to sell the full range of National Rail tickets from all the Heathrow ticket offices, given the amount of commission they could get.

I hope they would do that but I doubt it will happen as it would mean all front line staff having to receive the training as we rotate between ticket office, platform and train duties. That could prove costly and time consuming. I don't think we get that many enquiries for NR destinations.

However, something must surely have to give in the years to come if projects such as Crossrail, Airtrack and HS2 take off....

Regards,
Paul.

 

[jopsuk]

That's right.

This amuses me more than it should

 

[A60K]

I hope they would do that but I doubt it will happen as it would mean all front line staff having to receive the training as we rotate between ticket office, platform and train duties. That could prove costly and time consuming. I don't think we get that many enquiries for NR destinations.

Interesting, didn't realise you were so flexible! Still think it would be worth setting up a proper office, signing it as 'National Rail tickets'. Even just getting a few S&B passenger-operated machines with the full range of tickets would be a start and test the demand.

 

[Greenback]

There used to be a proper office, until FGW shut it in 2000!

 

[A60K]

Was that in one of the terminals' arrivals area, or at the Heathrow Express station?

 

[Greenback]

IIRC it was in one of the terminals - Terminal 2 spings to mind, but I never actually worked there myself!

 

[A60K]

Yes, that would make sense - thinking back I believe there was a British Rail ticket office in Gatwick Airport as well, separate from the station.

I would be amazed if the volume of passengers passing through Heathrow didn't justify a full-service National Rail office with a couple of windows, perhaps down on the concourse between platforms at Heathrow Central south end, if there's room for it.

 

[Greenback]

According to someone who worked at the Heathrow FGW office, BAA were putting up the rent by a huge amount so FGW pulled out. Don't know how true that is, or whether any rent rise would actually have caused FGW to make a loss there, could have been a case of 'well, it's too much trouble to deal with for the money we'll make'!

Judging from the number of people who came to exchange their bus tickets at Reading for tickets further afield, there must have been quite a few people who used the office, not to mention those making journeys via Woking, Feltham or London!

 

[Any Permitted]

Hi, I may be a new member, but this post has made me feel obliged to join the forum as I can answer these questions with ease (being an employee of HEx).

The HEx ticket offices / ticket machines at Heathrow Central (T123) and Terminal 4 (although the T4 ticket office is 'temporarily' closed at present) can issue the following:

1. Heathrow Express tickets to Paddington
2. Heathrow Connect tickets to any station on that service's line of route and to destinations on First Great Western's Thames Valley network between London and Reading (including the branch lines)

We can also extend these tickets to destinations on the LUL network (although these are restricted to destinations in Zone 1 for Heathrow Connect tickets).
Neither ticket offices nor ticket machines at T123 or T4 can issue tickets to any National Rail destination (other than those outlined above).

Terminal 5 is different though. We operate both the HEx and LUL stations here and therefore can issue the above mentioned tickets as well as what I assume is the full range of LUL tickets. Interestingly, the LUL menu on our ticket machines (TOMs) here has a NR Day Single / Day Return option and here we can sell LUL tickets to a range of destinations typically in the South East (although routes out of Waterloo don't seem to be on the system for some reason - possibly as Woking RailAir is quicker for these??). Therefore it is possible to purchase a HEx ticket along with an LUL ticket to selected NR destinations at T5 ticket office only (you will get two tickets issued for this). The ticket machines at T5 are either branded for LUL or HEx (including Connect) and each sell only the respective tickets for those services.

Rail Travel Vouchers can be used at any of the above ticket offices.

If there is a document that states that all HEx ticket offices should issue tickets to NR destinations then please forward it to me as I for one would love to end the rather confusing situation I describe above. Lots of customers come up to us expecting to book a through ticket to anywhere in the UK, but as much as I would like to do this, the TOM will not let me! It's especially infuriating as NR stations can issue tickets to Heathrow Express, but we can't oblige for the reverse (other than the purchasing of two ticket types at T5).

If you want to book a through ticket when you are at Heathrow, consider asking at the National Express ticket desks. I have noticed when passing these that they offer rail tickets and seeing as they issue tickets for the two RailAir services coming into Heathrow, I have assumed that they can issue the full range of NR tickets. I may be wrong about this, but it's worth a try.

Hope you have found this interesting.
Kind regards,
Paul.

This makes me look incredibly thick. I swear I flicked through the ticket machines and saw NR locations but I must have dreamt it.

Sorry to lead the OP down the wrong path.

 

[transportphoto]

AP did you (at one point) work for Hex Exp?