Preference to buy tickets from a ticket office

[6Gman]

Moderator note: Split from

Best place to buy tickets

I am wondering where best place to buy train tickets is from. I want to maximimise buying from any sites that give cashback to bank account or where the trips add up. I have LNER account but despite booking many times via them have never had any rewards

www.railforums.co.uk

I am wondering where best place to buy train tickets is from. I want to maximimise buying from any sites that give cashback to bank account or where the trips add up. I have LNER account but despite booking many times via them have never had any rewards

Personally I like to buy a physical ticket from a booking office. The only drawback is if there's a queue.

 

[thames]

Personally I like to buy a physical ticket from a booking office. The only drawback is if there's a queue.

But no rewards given for that?

 

[yorkie]

If you are happy to be refused the sale of valid tickets on occasions, potentially spend time queuing, and be issued with a flimsy till-roll style piece of paper as your ticket, then take this advice...

Personally I like to buy a physical ticket from a booking office. The only drawback is if there's a queue.

...however, the proportion of people who have this preference these days is tiny, and reducing all the time, and I suspect this isn't what you have in mind!

 

[Purple Train]

If you are happy to be refused the sale of valid tickets on occasions, potentially spend time queuing, and be issued with a flimsy till-roll style piece of paper as your ticket, then take this advice...

...however, the proportion of people who have this preference these days is tiny, and reducing all the time, and I suspect this isn't what you have in mind!

A little unfair. The ticket offices in my area of the country (admittedly very distant from the OP judging by their stated location) are excellent. I do prefer using the forum's site and getting a Ticket on Departure, however, because spending however long drumming it into the website that I do not want an electric ticket is less tedious than queuing!

 

[yorkie]

A little unfair. The ticket offices in my area of the country (admittedly very distant from the OP judging by their stated location) are excellent. I do prefer using the forum's site and getting a Ticket on Departure, however, because spending however long drumming it into the website that I do not want an electric ticket is less tedious than queuing!

Maybe ticket offices in your area never refuse the sale of valid tickets; maybe they never have queues (to be fair, in my experience York generally doesn't, but that's only because on the rare occasions I use it, I'm typically the only one there!) and maybe they don't use the new style till roll format (in which case, enjoy CCST while you can, as it likely won't last too much longer).

If so, this makes you very lucky, and I'd be curious to learn where this is!

 

[Purple Train]

Maybe ticket offices in your area never refuse the sale of valid tickets; maybe they never have queues (to be fair, in my experience York generally doesn't, but that's only because on the rare occasions I use it, I'm typically the only one there!) and maybe they don't use the new style till roll format (in which case, enjoy CCST while you can, as it likely won't last too much longer).

If so, this makes you very lucky, and I'd be curious to learn where this is!

Taking up the invitation...

There's a queue in the peaks, naturally, but staff are quite proactive at dealing with it. I have on occasion queried the quoted fare and had a discussion about it, but that is at most once or twice and the staff are very understanding and accommodating if you pass the attitude test. It's TfL so CCSTs are still in use.

I know I'm lucky on the latter point - but are ticket offices in a dire state in general, and which are the better areas of the country?

 

[Benjwri]

My local ticket office won’t even issue tickets. They claim the machine is broken, something which I always accepted, however I once moved to the ticket machine, to buy a different ticket as the one I wanted couldn’t be issued by a machine, and the ticket machine suddenly started working again when the customer behind showed their Priv, a miracle!

This is an inner London ticket office, it seems they think their only job is to watch the gates.

 

[yorkie]

... It's TfL so CCSTs are still in use....

London Overground? I think all my interactions at LO ticket offices have been negative.

Fortunately, on my most recent unpleasant experience, I got a refund and compensation from TfL:

Thank you for your response email of <date> about your experience at Dalston Kingsland Rail station when using your National Rail ticket.

I was sorry to learn of your experience and can appreciate your frustration. Please rest assured that your complaint was raised with Arriva Rail London, who manage the London Overground on our behalf, to investigate the matter. The investigating manager has reported back with their findings.

We can confirm that actions have been taken to ensure that the station staff at Dalston Kingsland are aware of and comply with our fares and tickets policy, as to prevent such incident in the future. Once again, we’re sorry for your overall experience and to apologise for the inconvenience caused we would be happy to offer you a £10 gesture of goodwill and to refund the additional fare paid.

I didn't choose to interact with the ticket office; it was only because my valid ticket was rejected.

On other occasions, I've done mystery shopping at LO stations, and had numerous bad experiences. Others have reported issues too.

Note my original post said "on occasions"; I would say that for LO ticket offices I have experienced, that is being very generous!

 

[jfollows]

Ticket office, except for advance tickets, because I want to buy a ticket, I know what ticket I want to buy, and I don’t want to have to provide a stupid itinerary first.
But I am happy to accept that I’m probably in the minority for this, however there are plenty of people for whom asking a person in a ticket office for the most suitable ticket for their journey is preferable to the alternatives.
My ticket office is pretty good, and it’s a pain only when it’s closed when it shouldn’t be, and I’m forced to use a ticket vending machine.
And, yes, still proper credit card sized card tickets.

 

[yorkie]

Ticket office, except for advance tickets, because I want to buy a ticket, I know what ticket I want to buy, and I don’t want to have to provide a stupid itinerary first...

I tried that at Bedford ticket office, but they refused to sell me an Off Peak Return until I told them the time of my journey; they then sold me a Super Off Peak, which was not actually valid for the journey.

But I am happy to accept that I’m probably in the minority for this, however there are plenty of people for whom asking a person in a ticket office for the most suitable ticket for their journey is preferable to the alternatives.

Yes, maybe it is plenty in absolute terms, but it is a tiny proportion these days.

York ticket office used to be split into two parts, and the advance fares part usually had queues despite multiple windows open. It's now Sainsbury's. The replacement ticket office is tiny and often has no-one using it.

My ticket office is pretty good, and it’s a pain only when it’s closed when it shouldn’t be, and I’m forced to use a ticket vending machine.
And, yes, still proper credit card sized card tickets.

Enjoy while you can, as their days are numbered.

 

[Puffing Devil]

When I was combining a Weekly Season with 2/3 daily split tickets to London, the ticket office was the only way to easily get reservations for the whole trip on Avanti.

That said, my local ticket office was very helpful and enthusiastic about saving passengers money on fares.

 

[yorkie]

When I was combining a Weekly Season with 2/3 daily split tickets to London, the ticket office was the only way to easily get reservations for the whole trip on Avanti.

You can do that by creating an account on the GWR site these days.

That said, my local ticket office was very helpful and enthusiastic about saving passengers money on fares.

They are not supposed to do this; staff can get into trouble for it, and indeed memos have been released instructing ticket offices not to do this.

 

[Puffing Devil]

You can do that by creating an account on the GWR site these days.

They are not supposed to do this; staff can get into trouble for it, and indeed memos have been released instructing ticket offices not to do this.

"was" is the crucial word in both of those statements. Times have moved on.

 

[Trainbike46]

Maybe ticket offices in your area never refuse the sale of valid tickets; maybe they never have queues (to be fair, in my experience York generally doesn't, but that's only because on the rare occasions I use it, I'm typically the only one there!) and maybe they don't use the new style till roll format (in which case, enjoy CCST while you can, as it likely won't last too much longer).

If so, this makes you very lucky, and I'd be curious to learn where this is!

Merseyrail at Birkenhead Hamilton Square is very good in my experience. No till roll in sight, rarely queueing for more than about 5 minutes, and I've never been refused a sale, whether I was buying a mature student railcard, an off-peak return to Euston, or collecting a ToD ticket.

I've had bad experiences with Avanti's ticket office at Euston in particular, though. I tend to avoid it, and get tickets from a different ticket office if I need to buy a ticket while in London (which is rare, tbh)

 

[Purple Train]

London Overground? I think all my interactions at LO ticket offices have been negative.

Fortunately, on my most recent unpleasant experience, I got a refund and compensation from TfL:

I didn't choose to interact with the ticket office; it was only because my valid ticket was rejected.

On other occasions, I've done mystery shopping at LO stations, and had numerous bad experiences. Others have reported issues too.

Note my original post said "on occasions"; I would say that for LO ticket offices I have experienced, that is being very generous!

Elizabeth Line.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

The only times I've used a ticket office with any recency:

1. To get the Northern Newspaper offer (took a bit, I assume while they found the correct thing to print)
2. Because I didn't know if GM Accompanied Child tickets still existed (they definitely can't be bought online) so just asked for 1 adult and 2 children and they did give me them.
3. When the Avanti app and TVM both failed to take payment (was in a rush so didn't try other apps, and it was before I knew of trainsplit).

 

[mikeg]

If you are happy to be refused the sale of valid tickets on occasions, potentially spend time queuing, and be issued with a flimsy till-roll style piece of paper as your ticket, then take this advice...

...however, the proportion of people who have this preference these days is tiny, and reducing all the time, and I suspect this isn't what you have in mind!

I’ve been refused to sale of valid tickets more often by booking engines not interpreting peak time restrictions properly and fake compulsory reservations on websites and apps than I have by a ticket office (precisely zero times).

 

[HughT]

Whenever I'm down there, Cambridge station usually has three staff on duty. And a steady flow of customers (perhaps because there are so many visitors?). Interestingly, it's the ticket machines that are visibly under-used. Which suggests that the vast majority of passengers are either using online functionality or paper from a human.

Incidentally, I was on the 1737 from Liverpool St to Cambridge North this afternoon and there was an on-board ticket check taking place. I was more than a little surprised - given this is a peak-hour commuter service - to observe how many folk still offered up paper tickets. In a totally unscientific survey, I'd describe it as a significant minority (unless they'd all decided to sit in coach 9!).

 

[Trainbike46]

Whenever I'm down there, Cambridge station usually has three staff on duty. And a steady flow of customers (perhaps because there are so many visitors?). Interestingly, it's the ticket machines that are visibly under-used. Which suggests that the vast majority of passengers are either using online functionality or paper from a human.

The ticket machines were busy at Cambridge around 8 years, so possibly ToD being replaced with eTickets means the ticket machines aren't as busy anymore?

Incidentally, I was on the 1737 from Liverpool St to Cambridge North this afternoon and there was an on-board ticket check taking place. I was more than a little surprised - given this is a peak-hour commuter service - to observe how many folk still offered up paper tickets. In a totally unscientific survey, I'd describe it as a significant minority (unless they'd all decided to sit in coach 9!).

That is interesting! Though there may be a case of tickets also valid on TfL (cross-london, travelcards, etc?)

 

[Benjwri]

In a rare positive example that I’ve just thought of, London Bridge were excellent a few days ago. I was after a Cornwall Ranger, but needed it to be above the 16-25 minimum fare as I wanted to use it before 10am. I tried both my local ticket office (Typical reply broken ticket machine referenced above) and a GWR office, who just said they couldn’t do it, and that I’d just have to wait to travel till 10am.

As a fairly last ditch attempt I went to London Bridge as it is very close to my work, and they were absolutely excellent. They were also struggling, and I even said it was fine if they couldn’t find how to, I’d just travel later, but after trying to find a way within the system they overrode the fare for me to issue it!

I don’t think ticket offices should disappear, and I would be happy to support them where I can, but also I’m going out my way to do that, and if they want me to support them they need to at least provide a basic level of service. I’m not expecting them to go above and beyond like above, but when I want a basic point to point ticket issued, I should be able to get that the vast majority of the time. I shouldn’t go out my way to support them, and find them not even bothered to do their job, or the office just not open at all during hours.

 

[MrToad]

I have found with ticket offices, they demand to see any applied railcards there and then. If I buy from the machine outside, I simply have to press a button confirming that I hold the declared railcard.

This is a nuisance for me as I if I have to go to Salisbury, I will swing by the station and collect tickets for the following day - I need physical tickets as its easier with work for claiming the costs back. As I usually do not carry my railcard if I am not going on a train, I am unable to present this at the ticket office. I have even tried explaining this, but they refuse to sell me a discounted ticket if I am unable to show the railcard when I am purchasing.

 

[sheff1]

If you are happy to be refused the sale of valid tickets on occasions, potentially spend time queuing, and be issued with a flimsy till-roll style piece of paper as your ticket, then take this advice...

I would love to be able to all buy the tickets I want without queueing at an office. Unfortunately, it is not possible to buy some of them online or from the TVMs at the station.

At least when I do buy from the office I get a proper CCST, although the ones I have to get from the corner shop are on till rolls.

 

[saismee]

They are not supposed to do this; staff can get into trouble for it, and indeed memos have been released instructing ticket offices not to do this.

Do what? Save money by offering splits, or am I misunderstanding what you mean here? I know Liverpool Street tend to offer splits to save customers some money when using the Norwich services, and a friend who shadowed the ticket office staff was instructed to sell a split at Chelmsford.

I tried that at Bedford ticket office, but they refused to sell me an Off Peak Return until I told them the time of my journey; they then sold me a Super Off Peak, which was not actually valid for the journey.

Given that you told them the time and were issued a ticket in accordance with your specified itinerary, would that then make this ticket valid for travel? I imagine it would take a lot of hassle and possible be unprovable, but is it theoretically valid? I assume (and hope) you filed a complaint because it could certainly cause an issue for a less-savvy passenger.

I prefer buying from guards (where possible) as it gives them a little bonus, and they can do just about everything a ticket office can but they tend to be a little more personal in my experience. The only ticket problem I've actually had that required me to visit the ticket office was a smart card issue... that they couldn't even fix. It seems a bit ridiculous that these companies are pushing people to use smart cards but can't even support them properly. In that specific case I had to ask to exit the station to access the ticket office, then on the way back one of the staff refused to let me in until I bought a new ticket (my smart card one wasn't working)! I ended up paying the 2.15 to get back through and go home. Interestingly I am now friends with that specific member of staff (but they aren't in that role anymore). The friendly guard on my last train home told me I should get it refunded, but I would have to go through a lengthy customer services process (the 5 pound fee made it unrefundable) and I had scanned it on a gate to enter, so I decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

 

[Kite159]

Do what? Save money by offering splits, or am I misunderstanding what you mean here? I know Liverpool Street tend to offer splits to save customers some money when using the Norwich services, and a friend who shadowed the ticket office staff was instructed to sell a split at Chelmsford

I hope they then informed the customer that because they had been sold a split ticket they needed to be on a train which called at Chelmsford for it to be valid (unless it involves a season ticket)

 

[AlterEgo]

The best thing about a website is that even on the rare occasion if it fails to find a certain ticket, it doesn’t tell you “it’s always been like that” or that “I’ve been a website for 20 years, this is how it is”.

I’ve not used a ticket office in years.

 

[davews]

Certainly prefer the ticket office. Ours , Martins Heron, is friendly, rarely a queue, and quicker than using the machine. On one occasion he even reserved a seat without me asking, which I may have struggled with on the machine. Sometimes though he is emptying the machines or doing other duties so you have to wait but that is an issue with a one man station.

 

[saismee]

I hope they then informed the customer that because they had been sold a split ticket they needed to be on a train which called at Chelmsford for it to be valid (unless it involves a season ticket)

Certainly not a season ticket thing, I saw plenty of correct Chelmsford splits at the gates in Ipswich. The only PFs I saw were when someone lost a ticket (the second half, unfortunately) or blatant fare evaders. I imagine they only issue the split when someone is travelling on an XX:00 service, or when their destination is on a stopper.

 

[SWT_USER]

Can't remember the last time I used a ticket office, following a couple of poor experiences. Some staff are helping their own demise.

Regarding the withdrawal of CCST - how will this work for tickets valid on TFL given the till roll tickets don't work the barriers?

 

[thomasheywood]

You can do that by creating an account on the GWR site these days.

They are not supposed to do this; staff can get into trouble for it, and indeed memos have been released instructing ticket offices not to do this.

You’ve said that staff are ‘not allowed’ to recommend cheaper tickets on a couple of threads, do you have actual proof of this or is all conjecture?

 

[AlterEgo]

You’ve said that staff are ‘not allowed’ to recommend cheaper tickets on a couple of threads, do you have actual proof of this or is all conjecture?

They are bound by the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement which means they have to retail impartially. They cannot proactively offer split tickets or circumvent fare norms; they can only offer the appropriate fare. If you ask for specific splits they can sell these, but they can’t use their position to suggest ways to undercut the fare.