Why aren't e-tickets issued between Bournemouth and Crawley / Gatwick Airport?

[miklcct]

E-tickets are issued between Bournemouth and Brighton. Why aren't they issued going to Crawley / Gatwick Airport instead of Brighton? I want to collect Virgin Points taking trains but this is stopping me doing so as Virgin Trains Ticketing charges a booking fee if a paper ticket is issued.

 

[hkstudent]

E-tickets are issued between Bournemouth and Brighton. Why aren't they issued going to Crawley / Gatwick Airport instead of Brighton? I want to collect Virgin Points taking trains but this is stopping me doing so as Virgin Trains Ticketing charges a booking fee if a paper ticket is issued.

Maybe good for you to use Topcashback + Chilterns Railway for 1% cashback?

 

[Alex365Dash]

E-tickets are issued between Bournemouth and Brighton. Why aren't they issued going to Crawley / Gatwick Airport instead of Brighton? I want to collect Virgin Points taking trains but this is stopping me doing so as Virgin Trains Ticketing charges a booking fee if a paper ticket is issued.

Which ticket are you trying to get exactly? I’ve just checked on the LNER app and they issue an Off-Peak Day Return from Bournemouth to Gatwick Airport via Barnham on an eTicket.

I can’t actually find how to access Virgin Trains Ticketing without signing up for Virgin Red, but I noted the word “SplitSave” in the support documentation I found for it, so I’m assuming it uses Trainline for the backend, and interestingly the same ticket I tried above is only issued by Ticket on Departure on Trainline.

Trainline’s database of what format tickets can be sold in can be inconsistent with what it’s meant to be - this issue also extends to any ticket retailer that uses Trainline as its backend, such as Greater Anglia who don’t offer this as an eTicket.

 

[miklcct]

Which ticket are you trying to get exactly? I’ve just checked on the LNER app and they issue an Off-Peak Day Return from Bournemouth to Gatwick Airport via Barnham on an eTicket.

I can’t actually find how to access Virgin Trains Ticketing without signing up for Virgin Red, but I noted the word “SplitSave” in the support documentation I found for it, so I’m assuming it uses Trainline for the backend, and interestingly the same ticket I tried above is only issued by Ticket on Departure on Trainline.

Trainline’s database of what format tickets can be sold in can be inconsistent with what it’s meant to be - this issue also extends to any ticket retailer that uses Trainline as its backend, such as Greater Anglia who don’t offer this as an eTicket.

I bought to Crawley as a day return, Horley as a return, both via Barnham. (Sorry it should be Horley instead of Gatwick Airport as I ultimately decided to buy for one stop more) Finally I bought them on GWR and accumulated Nectar points.

Now I don't think my plan of accumulating loads of Virgin Points by taking trains will work any more as this, combined with the inability to buy multiple tickets in one transaction, and inability to buy PlusBus, is really a limitation. (splitting train tickets don't save me much normally, normally just a few dozen pence, so I just buy from GWR and give up any split savings I can find on TrainSplit in order to avoid a visit to the ticket office for a PlusBus)