GWR e-tickets

[WesternLancer]

Hi - I don't live in GWR land so don't tend to buy tickets from their website/app - but my young nephew does and asked for my advice.

So he's got a new smart phone (didn't have one before) and has not traveled by train on his own much before (and his family are infrequent rail users). He wanted to buy a Super off peak Single ticket and expected this to be able to be an e-ticket that he could simply buy, use and show on his phone (I'm personally well aware fo the debate on keeping your phone alive when you rely on such a ticket, recently on the disputes thread)

I had advised him to buy from GWR as they would be the TOC running the trains on the trip he is planning.

He asked if he was doing something wrong as it gave no option for an e-ticket / pdf ticket that could be used at gates etc (only for paper tickets to be collected at station or posted to him) when trying to buy on line.

GWR website implies 'most tickets' are available as an e-ticket yet this was not showing as an option when he was purchasing it via the GWR app or website which he had registered for.

Journey was Oxford to Bath via Didcot, so not an unusual route or type of ticket to want.

Is this this a route that GWR do not in fact provide as an e-ticket or were he and I doing something wrong / missing something?

Thoughts gratefully received!

 

[Haywain]

Hi - I don't live in GWR land so don't tend to buy tickets from their website/app - but my young nephew does and asked for my advice.

So he's got a new smart phone (didn't have one before) and has not traveled by train on his own much before (and his family are infrequent rail users). He wanted to buy a Super off peak Single ticket and expected this to be able to be an e-ticket that he could simply buy, use and show on his phone (I'm personally well aware fo the debate on keeping your phone alive when you rely on such a ticket, recently on the disputes thread)

I had advised him to buy from GWR as they would be the TOC running the trains on the trip he is planning.

He asked if he was doing something wrong as it gave no option for an e-ticket / pdf ticket that could be used at gates etc (only for paper tickets to be collected at station or posted to him) when trying to buy on line.

GWR website implies 'most tickets' are available as an e-ticket yet this was not showing as an option when he was purchasing it via the GWR app or website which he had registered for.

Journey was Oxford to Bath via Didcot, so not an unusual route or type of ticket to want.

Is this this a route that GWR do not in fact provide as an e-ticket or were he and I doing something wrong / missing something?

Thoughts gratefully received!

The ticket appears to be enabled for eTicket fulfilment, so it would seem to be the app that is at fault. Maybe he would be better using a different app, such as (I cringe at saying this) Trainline?

 

[WesternLancer]

The ticket appears to be enabled for eTicket fulfilment, so it would seem to be the app that is at fault. Maybe he would be better using a different app, such as (I cringe at saying this) Trainline?

Thanks Haywain. I didn't give Trainline a good review when suggesting where he buy from - but I could suggest he looks at other TOCs maybe. He was happy to collect a paper ticket from the ticket machine, but it seemed a strange old fashioned sort of thing to do as far as he was concerned

 

[Haywain]

Thanks Haywain. I didn't give Trainline a good review when suggesting where he buy from - but I could suggest he looks at other TOCs maybe. He was happy to collect a paper ticket from the ticket machine, but it seemed a strange old fashioned sort of thing to do as far as he was concerned

People seem to like the LNER app...

 

[WelshBluebird]

Just had a quick look on the GWR app myself (which I use fairly often) and it at least I am getting offered an eticket for it so not quite sure what went on for your nephew but you can absolutely get etickets for it! Looks like the website also offers an eticket for it too.

 

[WesternLancer]

People seem to like the LNER app...

Thanks

 

[Starmill]

In addition to some useful suggestions above, the Northern mobile website is fairly user-intuative at: https://m.buytickets.northernrailway.co.uk

Also the Trainsplit app is good at:

TrainSplit - Split Ticketing - Apps on Google Play

TrainSplit is the easy way to make your train travel up to 40% cheaper

play.google.com

 

[WesternLancer]

Just had a quick look on the GWR app myself (which I use fairly often) and it at least I am getting offered an eticket for it so not quite sure what went on for your nephew but you can absolutely get etickets for it! Looks like the website also offers an eticket for it too.

Thanks - I'll suggest my nephew does some other test bookings maybe and see what he gets - maybe it was just a glitch.

Actually - one thing I did not mention was that he needed to book a bike reservation (which he did successfully do) - is there a chance that if you are buying a ticket with a bike reservation you have to have a paper ticket?

As an aside there seemed to be no way to get the seat reservation to be guaranteed to be in the same coach as the bike reservation (IET coach B) which you think all bike owners would always want to be the case. Would not seem much to hold the seats in the same coach that then got issued with the bike reservation. Given there are only 2 bike spaces in the coach, holding back 2 seats would not seem too much of a problem to facilitate that.

In addition to some useful suggestions above, the Northern mobile website is fairly user-intuative at: https://m.buytickets.northernrailway.co.uk

Also the Trainsplit app is good at:

TrainSplit - Split Ticketing - Apps on Google Play

TrainSplit is the easy way to make your train travel up to 40% cheaper

play.google.com

Thanks - I'll check that out.

Basically my advice was to use the train company he was mostly travelling with - since as an inexperienced traveler if anything went wrong with his tickets etc it is better that when he needs help if on the move he is dealing with people from the same company (ie on the trains or at stations) that he bought the tickets off.

Of course when he gets a tutorial on split ticketing he may need to get familiar with another site anyway...

 

[Haywain]

is there a chance that if you are buying a ticket with a bike reservation you have to have a paper ticket?

Not some much a chance as an absolute certainty - there is currently no standard for issuing cycle reservations as eTickets.

 

[Trainbike46]

Last time when I got a bike reservation at GWR they insisted I come to the ticket office to collect a print out of my bike reservation, so that probably plays a role

 

[Starmill]

I am surprised GWR don't have "accompanied cycle" seating. Other operators do have designed spaces for that.

 

[WesternLancer]

Not some much a chance as an absolute certainty - there is currently no standard for issuing cycle reservations as eTickets.

Thanks - that settles it!

I am surprised GWR don't have "accompanied cycle" seating. Other operators do have designed spaces for that.

Yes, that was my thinking too.

 

[Kilopylae]

Not some much a chance as an absolute certainty - there is currently no standard for issuing cycle reservations as eTickets.

I don't expect that to change soon, either, as you have to put the reservation into the spokes of the bike wheel.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

GWR are happy to issue a bike reservation over Twitter or WhatsApp.

 

[Horizon22]

The GWR website will prevent you from getting certain types of tickets if the journey is less than 5 days in advance. Is that relevant in this scenario?

 

[Wallsendmag]

You cannot mix and match Smart Tickets and CCST in one basket so if you include something that cannot be fulfilled to Smart (a cycle res) the whole basket has to be CCST.

 

[WesternLancer]

The GWR website will prevent you from getting certain types of tickets if the journey is less than 5 days in advance. Is that relevant in this scenario?

In this case that would not have applied. It must be the bike ticket element of the booking, as explained by others.

You cannot mix and match Smart Tickets and CCST in one basket so if you include something that cannot be fulfilled to Smart (a cycle res) the whole basket has to be CCST.

Thanks

 

[Wallsendmag]

It would only normally be Postal fulfilment barred close to departure

 

[Argyle 1980]

Personally I find Arriva Cross-country's app the most straightforward to use both in layout and eticket use. I only use the GWR out of preferences because of the nectar points, well I buy from Web browser and they appear in the app.
The GWR app is a lot more straightforward now with etickets but has an annoying thing of signing you out of your account after using it. Something that the XC doesn't do.
Unless it's improved, I'd avoid Southerns app as the tickets are only attached to the email so can easily get lost in your inbox and need searching for. Although Southern are adamant you can save tickets to android and apply wallets like Avanti/LNER apps, I'm yet to manage to save a ticket to either my S21 Ultra 5G or S7+5G

 

[WesternLancer]

Personally I find Arriva Cross-country's app the most straightforward to use both in layout and eticket use. I only use the GWR out of preferences because of the nectar points, well I buy from Web browser and they appear in the app.
The GWR app is a lot more straightforward now with etickets but has an annoying thing of signing you out of your account after using it. Something that the XC doesn't do.
Unless it's improved, I'd avoid Southerns app as the tickets are only attached to the email so can easily get lost in your inbox and need searching for. Although Southern are adamant you can save tickets to android and apply wallets like Avanti/LNER apps, I'm yet to manage to save a ticket to either my S21 Ultra 5G or S7+5G

I guess ref choice of app also is a (albeit modest) factor of what the TOC customer services may be like like if you ever have post purchase queries - ie can you get through to someone / get any sense out of the TOC customer services via phone or e-mail if you ever need to. My exchanges with XC in that capacity (general customer services that is) have not given me grounds for optimism...

 

[Argyle 1980]

I guess ref choice of app also is a (albeit modest) factor of what the TOC customer services may be like like if you ever have post purchase queries - ie can you get through to someone / get any sense out of the TOC customer services via phone or e-mail if you ever need to. My exchanges with XC in that capacity (general customer services that is) have not given me grounds for optimism...

Only time I've had to deal with XC was when the 1900 Newquay to Plymouth got cancelled a few years ago and I asked them on twitter what to do and within minutes they replied saying there will be a taxi coming to collect me and my partner in about 20 mins and was instructed to wait opposite police station.
I think at moment most TOCs aren't very good with their customer service. I'm still waiting for refunds from GWR from October.