Something I witnessed directly at Heathrow during the last tube strike was the blatant ripping off by National Express staff at the Central coach station, terminal 4 and terminal 5.
At T5, there were TfL buses running direct to Hammersmith via T123. These were provided as rail replacement services. There were no ticket inspections as it were, and people were able to board dare I say, for free.
At Hammersmith, signs up in the ticket concourse were advising Heathrow customers to use this shuttle service from Hammersmith Bridge Rd.
When these TfL services were pulling up at Nat Express managed Heathrow Central coach station, Nat Express staff were only letting people on this service if they had bought a Nat Express ticket. When I saw a Sullivans bus pull in, the customer assistant kept the gate shut and was checking for tickets. I asked where the bus was going, and she said "London" and advised me to buy a ticket for £10.
At T5 it became clear it was not a Nat Express service and no ticket purchase was necessary.
I saw Nat Express staff in conversation with Sullivans service controllers , I didn't hear what was being said , but the inference was the Nat Express staff were not happy about losing custom to these services.
At T4, again I was told to buy a ticket to London, for £10 , and wait for a coach that were apparently running every 5 minutes. I decided to wait and see what happened here, nothing arrived that was bound for Victoria for over 80 minutes, I asked for a refund, and was told " Well how are you going to get to London dear!?" By a National Express member of staff.
I got my refund, and was again asked how I would get to London. The woman clearly assumed I was a tourist. I replied that I would get a 490 to Feltham then a train to Waterloo. Which in fact is the quickest and cheapest option.
TfL need to advise their customers much better at Heathrow to prevent National Express taking the p&&s