National Express - missed coach?

[Hil]

Hi, does anyone have experience of trying to change a coach ticket after a delayed flight? Hopefully, it won't be necessary, but just trying to decide on our best options for getting to / from Gatwick from South Wales.

We're thinking about getting the train up and coach return from Gatwick next trip. We prefer the train, and the flexible Gatwick Flyaway (?) ticket is great, but the change at Reading on the way home is a pain, and we're always a bit worried about not being able to easily keep an eye on our luggage if the train's full. So we're considering getting the coach back from Gatwick.

My main concern at the moment is how difficult / expensive it could be if we needed to change the coach time. Is there anything equivalent to the Gatwick Flyaway ticket that would let us change coach times with no penalty?

[Majik]

My son had to change his ticket recently. Just phoned them explained the situation and they made the change charging him £5. It was all very easy.

[blodders]

When I did this years ago I was told to book a later coach than I expected to get. If I was early and they had seats I could go on an earlier one. If there were no seats I would at least be able to get the next one. If, however, I booked the earlier one and missed it , they would not be obliged to let me get on a later one. Maybe it has changed. I am talking about many years ago now.

[pinkspideruk]

last year our flights were early - we just paid £5 and they changed our ticket as there was room on the early coach.

We always use the coach - its cheaper than the train, your guaranteed a seat, your luggage is more secure and there is none of the crazy dash up the stairs across the platform you get on the train

admittedly it takes around 45 minutes longer (sometimes more) but it doesnt bother us we just snooze

[yay-disney]

I always get a flexible return ticket so when I arrive at the airport, I just give them a call and book for the next coach out. Always super easy

[LCS2008]

We booked later tickets than needed in the hope of getting onto an earlier coach if the plane was on time last August. When we arrived i went to the coach office and the woman behind the counter told us we couldnt do that - if we wanted to get on an earlier coach we would have to buy new tickets at a cost of £180 because our tickets were for a different routing - the coach we were actually booked on had a stop en route, the earlier one was direct with no stop. She was actually really nasty about it too. In the end, the coach departed with three people on board.

I called customer services and they transferred us, no problems, replacement tickets were sent via text instantly. He said that the transfer should have been done by the coach office without any problems at all but from the way he was speaking, it seemed that he had come across this problem before. So if I were ever to travel via coach again, Id either call the customer service line to change the booking on the day if needs be, or book an open ended ticket to start with.

Or get a train

[Leggibone]

Honestly the gatwick reading line can get busy, I wouldn't want to do it jet lagged, especially as there is very little room for luggage and they are not particularly comfy trains, I'm not sure about coach tickets, all I know is my parents once got a ticket for my brother to get the coach to Alton towers for £1

[parkgirl]

Not sure where about in South Wales you are but be aware of the length of time on the coach. I remember travelling from/to LHR - Swansea a couple of years ago - it wasn't called the national distress for nothing. Took us
Nearly 2 hours to get out of Wales!

[itsrachelhere]

If you get an amendable ticket, it should be fine. LCS2008 - how rude of that person. it's completely standard, especially for airport coaches where they see it all the time. At least you got there in the end!

[pchivvy]

We live in Newport and have used National Express a few times now- it might be a bit slow, but you have guaranteed seats, the luggage is secure and there are no changes to worry about. It was also relatively inexpensive.
You can either get an open ticket if you are unsure about timings.
Last time, my daughter and I arrived much earlier than expected and there was either a two hour wait for the coach we had booked on, or we could change for about £11 to the earlier one. We paid our money, got on the coach and were snoozing our way home within 20 mins.