RailAir Codes when using National Rail website?

[antharro]

Could someone please let me know what the codes are for booking RailAir tickets from Woking or Reading to Heathrow please? I'm on the National Rail website. I've tried all three "Heathrow Bus" options it offers, and it claims it can't find prices for any of them. I did a search of the forum and came up with "Heathrow Bus (5564)" and "HRE", neither of which are recognized.

Many thanks!

 

[kraiken]

The National Rail website can't sell you tickets, it will direct you to a retailer. I would suggest using the forums ticket website if you are booking it as a through ticket from a different station. Or if you are making your way directly to the station by other means, there is a RailAir website you can book through.

 

[janb]

"Heathrow Bus", LHR, 5564 is the destination. For whatever reason National Rail site isn't coming up with fares info.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

"Heathrow Bus", LHR, 5564 is the destination. For whatever reason National Rail site isn't coming up with fares info.

Do fares to Heathrow (from Woking on the RA2) work out slightly cheaper (maybe £11 vs £13 single) if booking through RailAir?

 

[alistairlees]

Do fares to Heathrow (from Woking on the RA2) work out slightly cheaper (maybe £11 vs £13 single) if booking through RailAir?

Hmm. I think they are selling tickets that don't exist in the rail data. For example a "90 day return" friom Guildford to Heathrow via RA2, for £21.00. This ticket does not exist on brfares.com - the nearest is a month return for £24.00.

 

[fandroid]

If you have a Senior Railcard, you can get the discount on the RA fares at any time of day on a weekday, and not just outside the morning peak, (as applies to train fares in the SE). A lot of online tickets sellers don't even apply the morning discount even when selling the RA bus tickets alone. Hopefully, the Forum's site will do a split to ensure that this happens.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jul 2025 ==

First Bus's online smartphone tickets come in the form of m-tickets, which are valid for a year and have to be activated no more than 30 mins before getting on the bus

 

[SargeNpton]

Do the various rail retail sites sell standalone tickets for the Woking/Reading-Heathrow buses? Or do they only sell through rail/bus tickets from your station of origin - with the bus driver left to deal with the bus only travel?

 

[fandroid]

The SWR app will sell a Woking to Heathrow (RA2) stand-alone bus ticket. When National Express used to run that service (badly!!) you had to buy from the driver, and Railcard discounts didn't apply at all. After Covid, First Bus took over and applied much the same rules as they had always done for the Reading Railair service (RA1)

 

[OscarH]

Do the various rail retail sites sell standalone tickets for the Woking/Reading-Heathrow buses? Or do they only sell through rail/bus tickets from your station of origin - with the bus driver left to deal with the bus only travel?

TrainSplit will sell them - I suspect most will because they're timetables/fixed links, and there are BDS/BDR fares, not the setup that causes problems (eg Glasgow Airport Bus)