It does seem absurd that a major rail hub which is less than 30 miles from Heathrow, and has indirect rail connections to the airport, does not have a direct train service to it and the only direct way of getting between the two on public transport is the Railair coach service.
The first thing to say about the Railair Reading to Heathrow link is that it's very expensive with day return fares at £19, period return fares at £26 and family(2 + 2) return fares at £55. For a distance of app 25 miles that's expensive in most peoples terms. To put things in perspective with a bit of searching and planning it can actually be cheaper to hire a car for a day to get to Heathrow and back than it is to use the Railair service. In addition to the high fares the service does not even serve all terminals at Heathrow with Terminal 4 being left out completely. If you need Terminal 4 you need to get off at Terminal 5, or 1 and then transfer via the Heathrow train service. Also, whilst the coach drops you off outside Terminals 1,3 and 5 it does not pick up from outside Terminals 1 or 3 and you have to trek to the central bus station in order to pick up the outbound coach.
As for the coaches themselves bizarrely First Great Western, who operate the service, seem to have opted for manual gearboxes on their newest coaches which results in a nasty jerky ride although some of that will also be down to the manner in which they are driven. Also, whilst the service is advertised as being air conditioned I have found it's often not turned on (even in the summer months) and I myself have had to ask drivers to even turn on the ventilation as they seem to be oblivious to the oven-like stuffy conditions on their coaches. I'll point out at this stage that it's not just me - I have witnessed other passengers also having to do this and, additionally, during the winter months the drivers seem to take a particular perverse pleasure in cooking you alive by turning the heat up to max. I do truly suspect that to become a driver on this service it is a requirement that you have your central nervous system surgically removed thereby rendering you immune from extreme temperatures.
Thankfully I do not have to use this service very often. My work involves travelling to Heathrow daily and I usually do this by car which, if you don't have to pay for parking and I don't, is significantly cheaper than using Railair.
In short, the Railair Reading to Heathrow coach link is an expensive, often uncomfortable service which does not even serve all terminals and it is also liable to traffic delays, although this affects all other road based options too. On a final note I'd say don't plan on spending too long in the waiting room at Reading station as it's a gloomy place with grubby seats and permanently closed toilets and they seem to choose to clean the place halfway through the day so expect to be vacumed around your legs if you're there around lunchtime. read more
