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Bristol Airport to Salisbury. How can you buy tickets ?

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johnnychips

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Morning.
This summer, I have three sixteen year-olds flying from Spain into Bristol Airport. They need to go to Salisbury. I have found a fare of £39 off-peak return. As they will not have credit cards to pick up a pre-booked ticket (and I don't know if the airport has a machine), will it be possible to buy their tickets at the airport with cash? If not, has anybody any ideas? Thanks.
 
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Mike395

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They'll be able to buy a single to Bristol Temple Meads on the Airport Express bus (think it's around £7) - then they've got the full range of ticket selling facilities (Ticket Office/cash-accepting TVM) at Temple Meads.
 

ForTheLoveOf

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Morning.
This summer, I have three sixteen year-olds flying from Spain into Bristol Airport. They need to go to Salisbury. I have found a fare of £39 off-peak return. As they will not have credit cards to pick up a pre-booked ticket (and I don't know if the airport has a machine), will it be possible to buy their tickets at the airport with cash? If not, has anybody any ideas? Thanks.
Do they have any debit/credit card at all? If so, provided it's possible to book the tickets on a website that doesn't insist on you using the same card you used for payment (e.g. Southern, which also has the advantage of offering fee-free refunds for walkup tickets not picked up), you could do that and they could just use any card plus the reference to pick it up.

That being said, I don't remember whether Bristol Airport has any National Rail ticketing facilities. It's a shame if so, because the fare on the bus is cheaper if included within the longer-distance ticket. But it will be a few pounds' difference, perhaps, so they can still pick the tickets up at Temple Meads. They'll obviously need to buy their tickets for the bus with cash or card.
 

sheff1

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The Airport website says "You can buy train tickets to most UK railway stations, and the Airport Flyer, from the rail ticket machine on the Bristol Airport Arrivals concourse." What it doesn't say is whether the machine accepts cash - probably a good idea to contact them and ask.
 

johnnychips

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Thanks very much. I went on Trainline - for research purposes you understand - and it said you can’t pick up prepaid tickets at Bristol Airport. However, your evidence suggests there is a ticket machine, so I’ll contact the airport then find out if the students hold U.K. valid debit cards.
 

alistairlees

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Having a ticket machine and having the functionality to collect ticket on departure are not the same thing.
 

johnnychips

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Thanks again. But hopefully they can buy a ticket. Can anybody think why a debit card issued in Spain might not work!
 

Hadders

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Couldn’t you buy the tickets and post them to them?
 

ForTheLoveOf

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Thanks again. But hopefully they can buy a ticket. Can anybody think why a debit card issued in Spain might not work!
In terms of buying for (i.e. paying for) a ticket, provided it's a normal Visa/Mastercard etc. then it ought to work fine, subject to any limitations by the issuing bank to do with extraterritorial use. In terms of picking up tickets, much the same applies - and if you buy the tickets through a site like Southern then you can collect tickets with any card.
 

johnnychips

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Couldn’t you buy the tickets and post them to them?
I would have to do the equivalent of registered post, which will probably be dearer than the savings on the through tickets from Airport to Salisbury than them buying separate bus and train tickets. But I will check.
 

danm14

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Buying the tickets with a Spanish card could easily cost more in transaction fees than postage for pre-purchased tickets.

The Spanish bank will charge a foreign transaction fee as well as a foreign exchange fee for purchases in the UK in Sterling. These are often around 2-3 percent each, and also often have a minimum charge of around €2-3 each.

Using the Spanish card to collect pre-purchased tickets won't incur any charges, as it's not being charged (the UK card is).

Assuming they have at least one card between them and the machine at Bristol Airport can dispense tickets booked online, it'll be cheapest to book them online on a no-fee, any-card-collection site (such as Southern) with your own UK card and let them collect them.
 

johnnychips

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Thanks, sorry for delayed reply, been away. I hadn’t thought about the transaction charges. Apparently the machine at the airport doesn’t allow collection of tickets. I got a prompt but somewhat unhelpful reply from the airport that said that there was a machine that sold bus tickets that took cash. If indeed this machine sells rail tickets too, the problem is solved. I will have to contact them again.
 

sonic2009

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I would have to do the equivalent of registered post, which will probably be dearer than the savings on the through tickets from Airport to Salisbury than them buying separate bus and train tickets. But I will check.

I can sort posting for you for £5 recorded, get good rates at work.
 

ooo

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For the bus from the airport to Bristol if you all install the first bus mticket app you can buy tickets on your phone with your card then share the tickets to their phones.
 

johnnychips

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Just in case you missed the first bit of the thread, the issue is buying combined bus/rail tickets. It might be easier all round if they used cash and bought them separately even if it is dearer.
 

sonic2009

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Is there not a TOC website that will send the tickets out to you via International Post? I know the Trainline do it.
 

johnnychips

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^ Thank you, yes they do for £10. This might be a solution to give the students peace of mind and not having to faff about at the airport for tickets in a foreign language.
 
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