Great Western Coffee Shop

I have an off peak return Melksham to Cambridge ... out on Sunday, back starting tomorrow evening, staying near Paddington overnight and meeting someone at Heathrow on Wednesday morning off an 07:30 flight arrival.  My ticket includes Cross-London tube travel.

I think I may need to pay extra for a diversion via Heathrow ... PAD to Heathrow and Heathrow back to Hayes and Harlington, or can the cross-london section be used on the tube to Heathrow, resuming my rail journey from there?  I think I know the answer (don't think I can) but would like confirmation ...

Cue Ollie?



Oh, no: perhaps not.  :P

However, in view of the excellent Ollie's recent move from the Great Western Railway customer information team to the Great Western Railway driving trains team - are there any other ticketing experts in GWR who could possibly help us with such queries, here on the Coffee Shop forum?

This page gives the list of tube / DLR stations where cross London (†) tickets are valid for appropriate through routes:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46587.aspx

Heathrow is not on the list, unsurprisingly perhaps.

So you can break your journey at any intermediate station. The example given (Victoria to Euston, break at Oxford Circus) is clearly an intermediate station - I'm guessing others within zone will be more debatable, but clearly Heathrow would not be permitted. 

Intermediate = a station you would pass through on your toute from London Terminal A to London Terminal B. so within the Circle (as was) Line. Also within zone 1. So Heathrow not possible

And you can only break at an intermediate zone 1 station on a cross London transfer. You cannot break and resume.

Cross London transfer National Rail tickets will be declined by a Zone 2+ tube station gateline.

Awkward questions will follow. Best case scenario - "Don't do it again". Worst case - £80 TfL Penalty Fare.

Thanks for the replies ... with Heathrow no more than a couple of miles off my "normal" route, and indeed in between two permitted routes, I wondered if there was any way it formed part of a permitted route, and if not what the best value add-in would be.

Assuming your ticket comditions doesn't restrict break of journey, you could swap trains in Reading to a slow that calls at Hayes & Harlington. Buy from there to LHR and back, and resume your journey to PAD.

Alternatively, and as no one will find out anyway, so usable with a ticket where you can't break journey, buy from PAD to LHR & back, whichever way you want to travel (tube/Connect or Express). Then resime your journey.

Not many alternative options to those two I can think of

Yeah ... I'm going with a single LHR PAD to HXX (not Hex  ;) ) and a single HXX back to HAY.   My CBG to MKM ticket take me Cambridge - King's Cross - Paddington, and the next day after a break of journey Hayes - Reading - Swindon - Melksham.   Nothing remotely questionable except how on earth I have the time to work all this lot out!

A single from LHR to HXX? Didn't know you needed a ticket to walk  :)
I'm guessing that should be PAD?

Correct guess, thank you.  I have gone back and modified the post so that it's clear for anyone else reading it, and the tickets I have to pick up at the TVM on my way to Paddington tonight are the correct ones.   Also have Lisa's HXX to MKM ticket in the same order.