"Gatwick Express Only" train ticket?

[railwaytrack]

I am a collector of train tickets and often when barriers are left open people just discard their tickets on top of the barriers. So when that happens i often take these tickets and see if there are any good ones that i do not have to add to my collection.

Just on Friday (20th) i found a ticket from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria that said "Gatwick Express Only" on it. The ticket was an Anytime Single for £19.90 and it was normal orange card sized ticket stock and other than the "Gatwick Express Only" routeing the ticket looked normal. So i am rather confused about this ticket.

I checked on BR Fares and i can find no such ticket. The only tickets are "Any Permitted" or "Not Gatwick Express" or "Southern Only" or "Thameslink Only" tickets. Also i can not find any ticket on BR Fares costing £19.90 either. I thought that "Gatwick Express Only" fares were withdrawn in 2008 when National Express lost the franchise.

I think i have heard that certain airlines and travel agents and other places issue Gatwick Express tickets? So is it possible it was issued somewhere like that? But would they have normal ticket stock? Even so would the ticket not still show up on the BR Fares database?

Does anyone know any more about this ticket? I would be very interested to know more as it has completely baffled me and i can find no information about this ticket?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Are you able to upload a pic of the ticket?

Think £19.90 was the walk up price in maybe 2020 or 2021 for a one-way adult Standard class ticket on the Gatwick Express.

 

[Mike99]

what is the date for travel on the ticket?

 

[railwaytrack]

Are you able to upload a pic of the ticket?

Think £19.90 was the walk up price in maybe 2020 or 2021 for a one-way adult Standard class ticket on the Gatwick Express.

what is the date for travel on the ticket?

Interesting. The date of the ticket is the 20 May 2022 so the same day i found the ticket. So it is definitely not an old one. Also even back in 2020 and 2021 i do not think there was any "Gatwick Express Only" fares.

How do i upload a photo to the forum? What is the best way to do this?

I have just taken a photo of the ticket on my phone and when i click on the "Attach Files" button it opens up my "Downloads" page where it shows all the PDF files that i have downloaded and lets me select a PDF file. I am not sure how i select a photo. It does not open up my photo page.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

How do i upload a photo to the forum? What is the best way to do this?

You should be able to click on the "Attach files" button which appears next to the Post reply / Create thread button in forums, where permissions exist to do so.

Most image file types, such as ones with a .jpg file extension, are allowed apparently.

 

[Mike99]

Interesting. The date of the ticket is the 20 May 2022 so the same day i found the ticket. So it is definitely not an old one. Also even back in 2020 and 2021 i do not think there was any "Gatwick Express Only" fares.

How do i upload a photo to the forum? What is the best way to do this?

I have just taken a photo of the ticket on my phone and when i click on the "Attach Files" button it opens up my "Downloads" page where it shows all the PDF files that i have downloaded and lets me select a PDF file. I am not sure how i select a photo. It does not open up my photo page.

Thank you for the reply and info, I was wondering if a passenger had 'emptied' their wallet!

 

[Hadders]

@yorkie may well be interested in this.

 

[yorkie]

Yes please take a photo/scan of it.

You may need to resize the image and I recommend saving it in a common format such as .jpg or .png.

Providing the file is not too large, and is a supported format, you can upload it by pressing "Attach files" and selecting the file in question.

 

[railwaytrack]

Am i meant to be doing this on a computer? Or should it work from my Android smartphone? How do i get to my photos once i press that button?

When i press the "Attach Files" button on my phone it brings up my documents folder with all the PDF files that i have downloaded and asks me to select one of those. But it does not bring up the photos folder. So i have no idea how i am suppose to upload the photo as it does not bring up my photos folder when i press on that button. I could try from my computer if that works better but i would need to transfer the photo from my phone to my computer first and i need to check if i have the right cable to do that.

 

[dastocks]

I am a collector of train tickets and often when barriers are left open people just discard their tickets on top of the barriers. So when that happens i often take these tickets and see if there are any good ones that i do not have to add to my collection.

Just on Friday (20th) i found a ticket from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria that said "Gatwick Express Only" on it. The ticket was an Anytime Single for £19.90 and it was normal orange card sized ticket stock and other than the "Gatwick Express Only" routeing the ticket looked normal. So i am rather confused about this ticket.

I checked on BR Fares and i can find no such ticket. The only tickets are "Any Permitted" or "Not Gatwick Express" or "Southern Only" or "Thameslink Only" tickets. Also i can not find any ticket on BR Fares costing £19.90 either. I thought that "Gatwick Express Only" fares were withdrawn in 2008 when National Express lost the franchise.

I think i have heard that certain airlines and travel agents and other places issue Gatwick Express tickets? So is it possible it was issued somewhere like that? But would they have normal ticket stock? Even so would the ticket not still show up on the BR Fares database?

Does anyone know any more about this ticket? I would be very interested to know more as it has completely baffled me and i can find no information about this ticket?

When I was commuting to Dublin I sometimes flew with Ryan Air and they sold rail tickets on the flight and in the departure lounge. I seem to remember that when I asked what they could sell it was limited to pretty much what you describe: Gatwick to Victoria, and only valid on the GX service.

A long time ago, in the days of Connex SouthCentral, it was possible to buy a Victoria to Brighton ticket that was cheaper than the equivalent 'Southern' offering that was only valid on Gatwick Express and Thameslink. I seem to recall another oddity was that this ticket could only be purchased from staff on the Gatwick Express train.

 

[alistairlees]

Am i meant to be doing this on a computer? Or should it work from my Android smartphone? How do i get to my photos once i press that button?

When i press the "Attach Files" button on my phone it brings up my documents folder with all the PDF files that i have downloaded and asks me to select one of those. But it does not bring up the photos folder. So i have no idea how i am suppose to upload the photo as it does not bring up my photos folder when i press on that button. I could try from my computer if that works better but i would need to transfer the photo from my phone to my computer first and i need to check if i have the right cable to do that.

Can you email it? I'll DM you, and upload it for you

 

[yorkie]

If the photo is in your photos folder, you'll need to navigate from your downloads folder to your photos folder.

However if the photo is large, it may be too big to attach; it may be easier to first transfer to a computer.

When I was commuting to Dublin I sometimes flew with Ryan Air and they sold rail tickets on the flight and in the departure lounge.

When was this?

Is anyone aware of airlines selling Gatwick to London tickets these days?

I seem to remember that when I asked what they could sell it was limited to pretty much what you describe: Gatwick to Victoria, and only valid on the GX service.

Even if it was advertised as GX only, if this was post-2008 merger into Southern it would actually have been valid (and no doubt accepted) on all trains operated by Southern, not just GX, and likewise since 2015 it would have been valid on all GTR operated trains.

 

[AlterEgo]

Is anyone aware of airlines selling Gatwick to London tickets these days?

Do they have a stall in arrivals these days? It may have a very old-configuration ticket machine?

 

[dastocks]

Do they have a stall in arrivals these days? It may have a very old-configuration ticket machine?

I think they did when I last went through (Dec 2018). I last flew on Ryan Air back in 2015/6 and I assume they were making money from selling the rail tickets. If that's still the case I can't think of any reason why they would have stopped doing it.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If the OP is able to upload a photo of the ticket, it might just be possible to determine where it was issued.

 

[railwaytrack]

I will see if i can get one of my grandchildren to help me upload the photo later on this week. I am really not an expert when it comes to technology. I have tried again and i can not get to the photos folder after clicking the "Attach Files" button. It just brings up all of my PDF files but there seems to be no way to get to the photos folder. There is no option to navigate to the photos folder.

I am thinking it must be a ticket issued either onboard the airplane or from a desk in arrivals or maybe even a travel agents. I am pretty sure Easyjet and Ryanair and Wizzair and possibly a few other airlines have indeed sold Gatwick Express tickets onboard so it is quite possible that they still do. Also i think there were indeed some desks in arrivals when you get off the airplane that sold Gatwick Express tickets so it is quite possible they still do. It is very difficult to find much information about this online but i have found some information from a few years ago that says Easyjet sell Gatwick Express tickets onboard. So i imagine they may well still sell them. I also found information saying that the onward travel desk in arrivals and certain currency exchanges at Gatwick Airport also sell tickets. So i imagine they may still sell them. So the ticket must have been issued in one of these places.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Perhaps the ticket issuer hasn't realised that ticket types/prices have maybe changed.

 

[_toommm_]

I will see if i can get one of my grandchildren to help me upload the photo later on this week. I am really not an expert when it comes to technology. I have tried again and i can not get to the photos folder after clicking the "Attach Files" button. It just brings up all of my PDF files but there seems to be no way to get to the photos folder. There is no option to navigate to the photos folder.

I am thinking it must be a ticket issued either onboard the airplane or from a desk in arrivals or maybe even a travel agents. I am pretty sure Easyjet and Ryanair and Wizzair and possibly a few other airlines have indeed sold Gatwick Express tickets onboard so it is quite possible that they still do. Also i think there were indeed some desks in arrivals when you get off the airplane that sold Gatwick Express tickets so it is quite possible they still do. It is very difficult to find much information about this online but i have found some information from a few years ago that says Easyjet sell Gatwick Express tickets onboard. So i imagine they may well still sell them. I also found information saying that the onward travel desk in arrivals and certain currency exchanges at Gatwick Airport also sell tickets. So i imagine they may still sell them. So the ticket must have been issued in one of these places.

I’m guessing you’re on Android. When you click attach files (or something to that effect), click on the three lines in the top left and that should let you have access to your photos on your phone.