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family railcard and child under five

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inolikeit

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I've been looking at the national rail enquiries website as I want to travel with my child aged 3. She could travel free, but I want to reserve her a seat so she doesn't end up on my lap for 3 hrs, so I have to buy her a child ticket. OK, that's fair enough. Can I buy and use a family railcard? The site says it's for adults traveling with children 5-15. As I'm buying a child ticket does that count? Or will they say it's not valid as she isn't 5? There won't be anyone else travelling with us. I tried the "ask Lisa" option on the website but didn't get an answer.

Thanks
 
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Urban Gateline

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In the terms of the F&F Railcard it says this:

However, if the only child in the group is under five, you'll need to purchase a discounted child ticket to qualify for the adult Railcard discount. All child fares are subject to a £1 minimum fare.

So it does seem acceptable for you to get her a railcard discounted child ticket alongside your discounted adult ticket, should work fine. I doubt any Guards or revenue staff would argue about an under 5 year old actually paying for a ticket :lol:
 

wintonian

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and as they have a ticket they are now entitled to a seat. ;)

It can be and it is (or was) recommended somewhere by National Rail or one of the TOC's (can't remember where) in such circumstances where it would be cheaper to buy an under 5 a ticket.

I'll have a hunt tomorrow if I remember.
 

MikeWh

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I've been looking at the national rail enquiries website as I want to travel with my child aged 3. She could travel free, but I want to reserve her a seat so she doesn't end up on my lap for 3 hrs, so I have to buy her a child ticket. OK, that's fair enough. Can I buy and use a family railcard? The site says it's for adults traveling with children 5-15. As I'm buying a child ticket does that count? Or will they say it's not valid as she isn't 5? There won't be anyone else travelling with us. I tried the "ask Lisa" option on the website but didn't get an answer.

Thanks
Simple answer, yes, you definitely can. In fact, once you have the railcard you'll find that on pretty much all journeys* the discount applied to the adult ticket is greater than the cost of the discounted child ticket, so it's a win-win situation.


* The exception is very short journeys where the minimum discounted child fare of £1 skews the calculations.
 

Urban Gateline

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* The exception is very short journeys where the minimum discounted child fare of £1 skews the calculations.

However, on very short journeys, the OP may not have the need to purchase a seat for their child if the undiscounted adult fare is cheaper ;)
 

blakey1152

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I've been looking at the national rail enquiries website as I want to travel with my child aged 3. She could travel free, but I want to reserve her a seat so she doesn't end up on my lap for 3 hrs, so I have to buy her a child ticket. OK, that's fair enough. Can I buy and use a family railcard? The site says it's for adults traveling with children 5-15. As I'm buying a child ticket does that count? Or will they say it's not valid as she isn't 5? There won't be anyone else travelling with us. I tried the "ask Lisa" option on the website but didn't get an answer.

Thanks

I can confirm that the you can definately use a friends and family railcard without any problems whatsoever - as I do this all the time with my 2 year old daughter - not only do you get the advantage of the seat reservation but will save money too..and if your journey is over 3 hours chances are you might even save on the cost of the tickets plus railcard over the price of the adult fare alone :)


Chris
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Thinking about it... if you have a 4 year old child using the family and friends railcard will possibly save you from the trying to prove that your child is under 5 and doesn't need a ticket scenario :)

I had enough trouble proving my 1 year old was under 5...lol :)

Chris
 

wintonian

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I can confirm that the you can definately use a friends and family railcard without any problems whatsoever - as I do this all the time with my 2 year old daughter - not only do you get the advantage of the seat reservation but will save money too..and if your journey is over 3 hours chances are you might even save on the cost of the tickets plus railcard over the price of the adult fare alone :)


Chris
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Thinking about it... if you have a 4 year old child using the family and friends railcard will possibly save you from the trying to prove that your child is under 5 and doesn't need a ticket scenario :)

I had enough trouble proving my 1 year old was under 5...lol :)

Chris

I don't know many guards that would be brave enough to ask a parent to prove the age of their offspring, or tell them that they have to sit the child on their lap for that matter.
 

blakey1152

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I don't know many guards that would be brave enough to ask a parent to prove the age of their offspring, or tell them that they have to sit the child on their lap for that matter.

For me..it wasn't a guard but a member of the ticket office staff that refused to believe my child was not older than 5 and must admit wouldn't fancy having a toddler on my lap for any length of journey these days either :)
 
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