London train tickets and strikes

[Twilightstar18]

I was planning on buying train tickets ahead of time for our trip in August for the early bird rate- Southampton Central to Waterloo, Heathrow Express and Euston to Waterford Junction for the HP Studio tour. My hesitation is with strikes. It seems these are considered discounted tickets and are therefore non-refundable? Is this the case? You would think that most tickets purchased ahead of time would have some incentive- in the case of a strike would they all be of no value? 

[Cotswold Eagle]

15 minutes ago, Twilightstar18 said:

I was planning on buying train tickets ahead of time for our trip in August for the early bird rate- Southampton Central to Waterloo, Heathrow Express and Euston to Waterford Junction for the HP Studio tour. My hesitation is with strikes. It seems these are considered discounted tickets and are therefore non-refundable? Is this the case? You would think that most tickets purchased ahead of time would have some incentive- in the case of a strike would they all be of no value? 

All the information you need about industrial action on the railways (pretty much) is on this page of National Rail.  The answer to the first question will reassure you (in terms of not losing your money, at least!):

 

"If you purchased an Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime ticket and choose not to travel at all because your service on either your outward or return journey has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled then you will be entitled to a fee-free refund or change from the original retailer of your ticket."

 

By the way, I'm pretty sure you mean Watford Junction, not Waterford....and presumably HP is Harry Potter, not the famous condiment 😀 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Cotswold Eagle

[Twilightstar18]

15 minutes ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

All the information you need about industrial action on the railways (pretty much) is on this page of National Rail.  The answer to the first question will reassure you (in terms of not losing your money, at least!):

 

"If you purchased an Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime ticket and choose not to travel at all because your service on either your outward or return journey has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled then you will be entitled to a fee-free refund or change from the original retailer of your ticket."

 

By the way, I'm pretty sure you mean Watford Junction, not Waterford....and presumably HP is Harry Potter, not the famous condiment 😀 

This is so helpful. Thank you! 

[Bob++]

After much criticism, they seem to be getting pretty good with refunds. My wife went to Portsmouth and back a few months ago and used her disabled pass to get a discounted ticket (she uses a wheelchair).

 

The trip down was fine, but the return went horribly wrong. The trip is in two parts with a change at Southampton, and the train for the first leg was so late that she missed the connection. This should have meant an hour's delay, but time went past and no train. There were several explanations but two hours later she was on a train that stopped in the middle of nowhere.

 

It turned out that there was a fatality on the line, and that stops everything while they investigate, check the engine for damage and find a replacement for the traumatized driver. In the end, I drove a 160-mile round trip to collect her from the station she eventually ended up at.

 

I completed the online claim form, expecting a long drawn-out process, but a week later I received a full refund for the whole round trip. That did at least partly compensate for the cost of collecting her.

 

[Island2Dweller]

There is no need or advantage in buying rail tickets for the trip to Watford junction.  Using a contactless bank card (or phone or smart watch) to open the platform gates is far more convenient and usually cheaper.  Your device (be it card/phone/watch) acts as your ticket, you never hold a physical paper ticket.

Heathrow Express is only a good idea if your hotel is at Paddington.  If elsewhere in central London, the new Elizabeth line is likely to be a more useful option (and much cheaper).  Again, don't buy tickets, just use card/phone/watch.

You do need a paper ticket for the train trip from Southampton into Waterloo.  If you are happy to commit to a particular departure time, an "advance" ticket is much cheaper - but only valid on the service you booked.  If you disembark late and miss your train you need to buy a new ticket.  If you get off early, you need to sit and wait until the chosen time.  You are trading flexibility for cost saving.

[Twilightstar18]

Thanks for these suggestions! I'm traveling with my mom (a senior) and kids aged 13 and 10. 

We are staying near Paddington. It seems that given kids travel free on the Heathrow Express, that might be the better route to go for us. 

What I am trying to figure out is how to use the contactless card for kids. I think the 10 year old is free to travel on public transit- does he just follow an adult? Is there a youth card that the 13 year old can pick up when we arrive? I'm presuming the 10 year old will need a train ticket from Euston to Watford Junction for which he will need his own contactless card or we would have to purchase a ticket. Interesting to hear that using a contactless card might be cheaper. Would it work for foreign bank cards- we are visiting from Canada. 

[Globaliser]

5 hours ago, Twilightstar18 said:

I'm traveling with my mom (a senior) and kids aged 13 and 10. 

We are staying near Paddington. It seems that given kids travel free on the Heathrow Express, that might be the better route to go for us. 

What I am trying to figure out is how to use the contactless card for kids. I think the 10 year old is free to travel on public transit- does he just follow an adult? Is there a youth card that the 13 year old can pick up when we arrive? I'm presuming the 10 year old will need a train ticket from Euston to Watford Junction for which he will need his own contactless card or we would have to purchase a ticket. Interesting to hear that using a contactless card might be cheaper. Would it work for foreign bank cards- we are visiting from Canada. 

 

IANAE, but I think that the 10 yo would need a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard to travel for free, and the 13 yo would need an 11-15 Zip Oyster photocard for the fares specific to their age.

 

If that's too much hassle (and there are a lot of steps involved for just a few days' discounted travel), then one alternative is the relatively poorly publicised Young Visitor Discount, which is added to an Oyster card when the child is in London and takes very little time for a TfL staff member to set, but wouldn't save you as much money.

 

You'd need to do the maths to work out whether it's worth your while getting Zip cards. In part, it'll depend on how long you're spending in London, and when you're coming. There'll be a limit to how much money you save each day because of the daily caps, so that will limit how much time it's worth your while spending on the project.

 

On Heathrow Express, if you pay by contactless you pay the full walk-up fare (£25.00 one-way). Are you really sure you'd want to do that even if the children can go for free? As you know your arrival date, wouldn't you be better off buying an advance purchase ticket? I think that these can be had for as little as £5.50. This seems to be one route on which paying by contactless does not make sense if you can do it a different and cheaper way.

[Island2Dweller]

"I think that the 10 yo would need a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard to travel for free"

That is only needed if travelling alone - it is really aimed at local school children using the tube or bus to get to school.  For visitors, so long as the child travels with an adult, no ticket or pass is needed.

[Globaliser]

  

19 hours ago, Twilightstar18 said:

What I am trying to figure out is how to use the contactless card for kids. I think the 10 year old is free to travel on public transit- does he just follow an adult?

 

3 minutes ago, Island2Dweller said:

"I think that the 10 yo would need a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard to travel for free"

That is only needed if travelling alone - it is really aimed at local school children using the tube or bus to get to school.  For visitors, so long as the child travels with an adult, no ticket or pass is needed.

 

Thanks - that's a bit that I couldn't find. It's been too long since I last had visitors of that age.

 

In this case, the best way to do this with contactless is to use the wide gate that should be available at every gateline: the adult touches in with the contactless card and then walks through with the child(ren) they're travelling with.

[Twilightstar18]

15 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

 

On Heathrow Express, if you pay by contactless you pay the full walk-up fare (£25.00 one-way). Are you really sure you'd want to do that even if the children can go for free? As you know your arrival date, wouldn't you be better off buying an advance purchase ticket? I think that these can be had for as little as £5.50. This seems to be one route on which paying by contactless does not make sense if you can do it a different and cheaper way.

Thanks! That is why I was asking about strikes- I do plan on buying the tickets ahead of time. Last I checked it was £33 for the 4 of us but now after confirming it's refundable (in the case of a strike) it's now £40. I think I will still go ahead and purchase it in advance along with the Southampton Central to Waterloo tickets. 

[Twilightstar18]

On 6/11/2023 at 4:05 PM, Island2Dweller said:

There is no need or advantage in buying rail tickets for the trip to Watford junction.  Using a contactless bank card (or phone or smart watch) to open the platform gates is far more convenient and usually cheaper.  Your device (be it card/phone/watch) acts as your ticket, you never hold a physical paper ticket.

 

Where can we find the fees for using a contactless card from Euston to Watford Junction vs pre-buying rail tickets. I'm presuming this includes Oyster cards. If this is the case, I now have 3 cards I can use but will still need to buy a single return ticket for a child at the station. 

[gumshoe958]

1 hour ago, Twilightstar18 said:

Where can we find the fees for using a contactless card from Euston to Watford Junction vs pre-buying rail tickets. I'm presuming this includes Oyster cards. If this is the case, I now have 3 cards I can use but will still need to buy a single return ticket for a child at the station. 

 

Euston to Watford Junction (off-peak) fares:

 

Adult one-way paper ticket - £12.20

Adult return paper ticket - £13.80

 

Adult one-way Oyster/contactless - £6.60

Adult return Oyster/contactless - £13.20

 

Child one-way paper ticket - £6.10

Child return paper ticket - £6.90

[Twilightstar18]

46 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

 

Euston to Watford Junction (off-peak) fares:

 

Adult one-way paper ticket - £12.20

Adult return paper ticket - £13.80

 

Adult one-way Oyster/contactless - £6.60

Adult return Oyster/contactless - £13.20

 

Child one-way paper ticket - £6.10

Child return paper ticket - £6.90

Thank you!! So the contactless will automatically calculate the return with the trip. 

[gumshoe958]

3 hours ago, Twilightstar18 said:

Thank you!! So the contactless will automatically calculate the return with the trip. 

There’s no return fare as such on Oyster/Contactless - that £13.20 is actually just two £6.60 one-way journeys. But it still works out slightly cheaper than buying a paper return ticket.

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by gumshoe958