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Acquire National Rail Photocard and boundary zone tickets at Heathrow stations

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hkstudent

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I have checked National Rail website that a National Rail Photocard for season ticket holder can be acquired from any National Rail ticket office.

As TfL Rail (part of National Rail) is now running regular services to Heathrow terminals, and there are point-to-point season tickets available from Heathrow stations to TfL Rail western section stations (and Thames branch lines as well). Does it mean that there are NR Photocards be available from all Heathrow stations? (at least for Terminal 2&3, 4?)

I am planning to advise some of my friends who are planning to go to London (after the pandemic, of course), to get a Zone 1-2 7-day travelcard on the orange stock to be eligible for the 2-for-1 offer. If so, they may also need to get a Heathrow Terminal 1,2&3 to Boundary Zone 2 ticket if they wished to travel on Elizabeth Line service (after 2021). Would it be possible for them to get the boundary zone ticket? As the ticket offices in Heathrow are managed by Heathrow Express despite the station is a National Rail station (if I am not mistaken?)
 
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Bletchleyite

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I don't believe so, no. The only proper NR ticketing at Heathrow is a few TVMs (there is no proper NR ticket office), and the only TVMs I know of that will do boundary zone tickets are those operated by SWR.

If not in a hurry, the cheapest way would probably be to use contactless (assuming they have it) to take a TfL bus to Feltham and sort it there (remember, no cash fares on board). Or if they don't have contactless, take a Tube cash fare on the chin and sort it at a central London terminus (or maybe if price is key Ealing Broadway, though that would involve a change of Tube line).
 

hkstudent

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I don't believe so, no. The only proper NR ticketing at Heathrow is a few TVMs (there is no proper NR ticket office), and the only TVMs I know of that will do boundary zone tickets are those operated by SWR.

If not in a hurry, the cheapest way would probably be to use contactless (assuming they have it) to take a TfL bus to Feltham and sort it there (remember, no cash fares on board). Or if they don't have contactless, take a Tube cash fare on the chin and sort it at a central London terminus (or maybe if price is key Ealing Broadway, though that would involve a change of Tube line).
Cheers.
What I am concerned is, whether non-European contactless card (Visa and Mastercard of course) are widely accepted.

Take a side note, National Rail website seems be wrongly marking Heathrow stations as National Rail station then...
 

Bletchleyite

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They are a National Rail station. Their ticketing facilities are equivalent to a rural halt with a TVM only and no booking office. (The "booking office" is just a Heathrow Express sales point).

I don't know regarding contactless, it seems to vary, possibly based more on what their bank allows than what TfL allows. I can only suggest to try it. If it's rejected on the bus, go to the Tube and buy a paper ticket into central London and sort it there. Or do the same on the Elizabeth Line which costs a little more.
 

island

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Contactless cards will almost invariably work for one trip. They might become blocked after that if the issuing bank gives a negative response to the authorisation request for 10p, but one trip is all you need.
 

IslandDweller

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"whether non-European contactless card (Visa and Mastercard of course) are widely accepted "
In general yes, cards from most countries will work. The known problems are with some cards issued in the US and the Netherlands respectively, where some banks have adopted different card standards to those adopted elsewhere.
American Express cards always work, they use the same standard in every country.
 

paul1609

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From our experience at the Kent & East Sussex Railway where we (did) have a lot of international customers from cruise ship s: Mastercard will normally work contact less from everywhere except USA, Canada & Netherlands. Visa will work OK from the USA but there are a number of issuers in Europe and elsewhere that have problems. This relates to the cards themselves mobile devices are quite frequently rejected only for the associated card to be approved.
 
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