What website/app do you use when booking tickets?

[James H]

Trainpal recently gave me a 3% voucher as an apology for a technical glitch (which didn't affect me) which was nice.

 

[py_megapixel]

I've tried various sites.
Avanti (and c2c I believe) use the awful Pico booking system which is riddled with errors, so I only use them if they offer an itinerary for a cheaper ticket than they really should.
Chiltern and Northern are incredibly slow, so I only use Northern when they have a Flash Sale.
CrossCountry used to be my go-to but they started charging for TOD a while ago so I stopped using them.
LNER irritates me for various reasons.

GWR has a stupid bug which makes it impossible to buy tickets to Manchester Centralzone, but is otherwise very good. I therefore use the TPE app, which is the same as the GWR one but with different branding and for some reason that specific bug fixed.

 

[plugwash]

for some reason

Presumablly that TPE want to actually be able to sell tickets for thier trains.

 

[py_megapixel]

Presumablly that TPE want to actually be able to sell tickets for thier trains.

Fair point. Now I think about it TPE actually carry a fair amount of passengers into Manchester from within the TfGM area.

 

[Oscar M]

They used to years ago post out excesses, which is why the website still says to do it five days ahead.

Ah, that makes sense then. Thanks.

But I might mention Trainpal (slightly through gritted teeth due to their obscure overall ownership) - but they do giveaway (and sell) some darn good vouchers which massively exceed cashback sites..

I've been a bit skeptical of Trainpal myself.

CrossCountry used to be my go-to but they started charging for TOD a while ago so I stopped using them.

From my memory I believe at some point they charged £1 for a paper ticket, although that might have been for advance tickets only. The CrossCountry app doesn't actually give you the option to collect a paper ticket anymore and only allows you to purchase e-tickets, with the exception of journeys that cannot be done with e-tickets, in which case the app will sell you a paper ticket. I just checked and there doesn't appear to be any extra fee for paper tickets anymore.

 

[infobleep]

I use TrainSplit when booking online but most of my tickets are purchased from a TMV as they are walk-ups. If there are any savings on the walk-ups, it I usually nvolves starting short and/or finishing short.

 

[James H]

you could still ‘save’ at least 1% on walkup tickets by buying online and either collecting Nectar points or using cashback sites

 

[miklcct]

you could still ‘save’ at least 1% on walkup tickets by buying online and either collecting Nectar points or using cashback sites

I buy all my tickets on Trainsplit if I can, and if I need to buy something not available there such as PlusBus, I directly buy it from SWR. However, I can't see any points or cashback available for either of these.

What site do you use to buy train tickets which does not charge booking fee (unless there is split saving) and offers points or cashback?

 

[James H]

GWR is functionally the same as the SWR booking site but does offer Nectar points, so there is no benefit to using the SWR site.

A while back TfW was offering 5% cashback via TopCashback, so I bought some tickets that way.

 

[miklcct]

GWR is functionally the same as the SWR booking site but does offer Nectar points, so there is no benefit to using the SWR site.

A while back TfW was offering 5% cashback via TopCashback, so I bought some tickets that way.

Thank you for your suggestion. I will switch to GWR when I need to buy train tickets not available on TrainSplit.

Though a mere few pounds per year as a frequent train user do not justify me giving up the features and convenience offered by TrainSplit (in particular, specifying routing points, extra change time, etc.) even it has never offered me any split savings so far since I have come to the UK. 1% of £500 in a year worth of train fare is just £5 though.

 

[island]

From my memory I believe at some point they charged £1 for a paper ticket, although that might have been for advance tickets only. The CrossCountry app doesn't actually give you the option to collect a paper ticket anymore and only allows you to purchase e-tickets, with the exception of journeys that cannot be done with e-tickets, in which case the app will sell you a paper ticket. I just checked and there doesn't appear to be any extra fee for paper tickets anymore.

Yes, CrossCountry does (or at least historically did) charge for TOD (collect at station) bookings on journeys where an e-ticket was available – they don’t manage any stations so all of their TOD bookings involve paying another TOC for the fulfilment.

 

[[.n]]

I mostly actually prefer to buy my tickets from the guard or ticket office.

But there is (was) a nice feature on Southern that I like https://www.southernrailway.com/tickets/buy-tickets/money-back-guarantee which means if you book tickets and don't pick them up (TOD) then you can just login and obtain a refund.

 

[Joe Paxton]

I mostly actually prefer to buy my tickets from the guard or ticket office.

But there is (was) a nice feature on Southern that I like https://www.southernrailway.com/tickets/buy-tickets/money-back-guarantee which means if you book tickets and don't pick them up (TOD) then you can just login and obtain a refund.

Still exists - and is now available via any of the GTR brands (so Thameslink and GN as well as Southern).

It was initially called the "Rainy Day Guarantee" but was renamed to clarify that it didn't have to be raining in order for you to claim a refund!

Also, initially you could claim a Rainy Day Guarantee refund on Southern Advance tickets... but that stopped years ago! (No difficult to see how to exploit this - buy multiple Advance tickets for flexibility, use one and claim a refund on the others! However the refund mechanism used to be a manual process so doing this would have been something of a faff.)

 

[HughT]

One feature of the trainsplit booking service - and one which I'm sure I would appreciate even more if I were totally clueless - is the amount of information included in the booking confirmation. OK, there's a lot of text, but it answers all the questions that might occur to you, and plenty besides.

 

[Ken_Ilworth]

One feature of the trainsplit booking service - and one which I'm sure I would appreciate even more if I were totally clueless - is the amount of information included in the booking confirmation. OK, there's a lot of text, but it answers all the questions that might occur to you, and plenty besides.

Yes, definitely agree. And whilst I've never needed support, there are enough reports on this forum to make me confident of retailer support from Transplit were it ever needed..

 

[johncrossley]

EMR, because they sell e-tickets that other TOCs won't.

 

[alistairlees]

EMR, because they sell e-tickets that other TOCs won't.

Such as?

 

[yorkie]

Yes, definitely agree. And whilst I've never needed support, there are enough reports on this forum to make me confident of retailer support from Transplit were it ever needed..

Agreed; if anyone has an issue it's easy to contact the relevant people in the company through this forum, and indeed they are all forum members.

EMR, because they sell e-tickets that other TOCs won't.

Is that for flows that are not e-ticket enabled? If so that should be an accreditation fail.

 

[Gloster]

None of the above. I am technically illiterate and prefer to be able to question a human.

 

[BluePenguin]

LNER every time but there is a good reason

Because you work for them!

 

[johncrossley]

Such as?

See the threads:

eticket not available

Note - I am referring to 'eticket' in a very general sense. ie ability to buy a ticket online and store/use on phone (be that in app, barcode, apple wallet etc) I have found that generally I cannot purchase an eticket from PORTSLADE (Southern). This includes from thameslink, southern, lner, gwr...

www.railforums.co.uk

Availability of e-tickets

I am a recent convert to e-tickets [I know, being dragged into the 21st century!], and appreciate receiving them within a few minutes of booking and being able to store the attachment on my phone. I usually print out the ticket too -belt and braces approach! But not all booking engines seem to...

www.railforums.co.uk

The Southern website/app won't sell tickets mentioned in those threads, but the EMR app will.

Is that for flows that are not e-ticket enabled? If so that should be an accreditation fail.

Is that important? If I am sold a ticket for a flow that isn't e-ticket enabled, do I have an invalid ticket?

 

[Haywain]

I am technically illiterate

Apparently not - you are posting on an Internet forum.

 

[XAM2175]

Is that important? If I am sold a ticket for a flow that isn't e-ticket enabled, do I have an invalid ticket?

Oh it'll be technically valid. You might end up spending a lot of time arguing with staff about it, though.

 

[johncrossley]

Oh it'll be technically valid. You might end up spending a lot of time arguing with staff about it, though.

Why would staff even query it? It looks no different to another e-ticket. It even works ticket gates.

 

[XAM2175]

Why would staff even query it? It looks no different to another e-ticket. It even works ticket gates.

Without knowing the exact journey for which you hold tickets, neither myself nor anybody can say. As a rule, though, e-ticket fulfillment is blocked on journeys that involve operators that don't accept them - such as Southeastern and London Underground. If you procure an e-ticket for a journey like this you are liable to experience trouble because they won't work certain barriers, or because staff won't have the means to validate them. People have posted here about having such experiences.

If, on the other hand, you procure an e-ticket for a flow on which they are properly accepted (that is, all you've done is work around a certain retailer's inability and/or unwillingness to issue them), then yes you'll have no real bother.

 

[johncrossley]

Without knowing the exact journey for which you hold tickets, neither myself nor anybody can say. As a rule, though, e-ticket fulfillment is blocked on journeys that involve operators that don't accept them - such as Southeastern and London Underground. If you procure an e-ticket for a journey like this you are liable to experience trouble because they won't work certain barriers, or because staff won't have the means to validate them. People have posted here about having such experiences.

If, on the other hand, you procure an e-ticket for a flow on which they are properly accepted (that is, all you've done is work around a certain retailer's inability and/or unwillingness to issue them), then yes you'll have no real bother.

If you want examples, look at those threads I quoted. For example Three Bridges to St Pancras and Portslade to Clapham Junction.