Could anyone actually use the wifi that’s now available on the Heathrow Express trains?

Fifteen minutes every fifteen minutes is my memory of the tag line for Heathrow Express.

Now my laptop takes about 3 minutes to boot (it’s never very stable when it comes out of hibernation) and takes another couple of minutes to find a wifi hot spot like btopenzone.com, log into it, and then VPN through to work.

So for a journey time of 15 minutes (maximum 30 assuming you’ve just missed the previous train and spend 15 minutes waiting in the station) there’s not much time to get any work done.

Besides, with a Bite discount card you get 20% off at most of the food outlets in Paddington station, so the journey back can be spent consuming a Chicken Royale meal from Burger King!

And if you’ve a BAA Visa card, then your normal Heathrow Express ticket (cheapest bought through their website in twelves to pick up both the carnet and online discounts) allows you to sit in first class and stretch out with a table to eat your junk food and then dart out the door nearest the Terminal 1 escalators and lifts (for those nights you’re running late).

Could be quite some time before I take advantage of their wifi service!