Booking advanced train ticket

I'm returning from Malta to the UK on Dec 19th and want to advance book a ticket from Gatwick airport to Kingston-on-Thames. I've never done this before and having looked at the options I'm still confused. It seems you have to book a specific time of train and having once spent almost 2 hours at Gatwick waiting for baggage I can't guess a time of train. Also I haven't got a smart phone and don't know how they provide the ticket. Can they email it like an 'e-ticket' so I can print it off? Any links would be appreciated.

TIA
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  • Nasqueron
    Nasqueron Posts: 8,631
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    You can opt to collect tickets at the station, they email you a PIN and you enter it after you swipe your card at the terminal.

    Certain tickets do have to be on a fixed train (they tend to be cheaper as they aren't flexible) but you can get open ones.

    If you want to do it cheaper, buy the ticket and leave yourself say 2 hours of leeway and then have a coffee or whatever at the terminal until the train times, last time I went in you could get free refills of filter coffee at places like starbucks
  • elverson
    elverson Posts: 808 Forumite
    It will be the same price if you just buy the ticket at Gatwick when you arrive - no need to book in advance.
  • stockton_2
    stockton_2 Posts: 336 Forumite
    edited 16 October 2016 at 3:00PM
    Laz123 wrote: »
    I'm returning from Malta to the UK on Dec 19th and want to advance book a ticket from Gatwick airport to Kingston-on-Thames. I've never done this before and having looked at the options I'm still confused. It seems you have to book a specific time of train and having once spent almost 2 hours at Gatwick waiting for baggage I can't guess a time of train. Also I haven't got a smart phone and don't know how they provide the ticket. Can they email it like an 'e-ticket' so I can print it off? Any links would be appreciated.

    TIA

    Advance ticket means a specific train time. Miss that train and you have to pay again. You can book the ticket online and they send you an email with a registration no. You name the station where you want to pick up the ticket.

    Allow plenty of time to collect the ticket. If the machine isn't working go to the ticket office with the email and they will get the ticket for you.
  • pompeyrich
    pompeyrich Posts: 3,135
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    edited 12 October 2016 at 3:06PM
    As mentioned an "Anytime" single is £13.20 and can be purchased at the airport station on arrival. If you intend to travel around London on your arrival day and are arriving at Gatwick after 9 a.m. then a Thameslink off peak travelcard for £14.30 will give you the freedom to travel anywhere in zones 1-6, central London zone 1 Kingston zone 6, by train, tube or bus, so if you fancy a night out in London that day this would be your best option.
  • ThemeOne
    ThemeOne Posts: 1,471
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    I don't think there are any advance tickets available for the route you mention - the main feature of advance tickets being they are only available on the booked train.

    The problem is the poor design of the booking websites which now seem to make you select a specific train even for tickets which are not going to be restricted to just that train.

    For the sake of convenience I would book it in advance anyway then collect it from the ticket machine at Gatwick on your arrival.
  • ThemeOne wrote: »

    The problem is the poor design of the booking websites which now seem to make you select a specific train even for tickets which are not going to be restricted to just that train.

    I think this is done by default to enable people to make seat reservations. Of course, if your ticket allows it then you can travel on any train you wish.
  • martindow
    martindow Posts: 10,197
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    stockton wrote: »
    I think this is done by default to enable people to make seat reservations. Of course, if your ticket allows it then you can travel on any train you wish.
    Also forcing people to choose a particular train enables the correct peak or off-peak fare to be charged.
  • ThemeOne
    ThemeOne Posts: 1,471
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    stockton wrote: »
    I think this is done by default to enable people to make seat reservations. Of course, if your ticket allows it then you can travel on any train you wish.

    Except there are no seat reservations available on the route the OP mentions.

    The difficulty with forcing people to always choose specific trains is it gives the impression the ticket is only available on those trains. It probably does remove the issue of people booking an off-peak ticket then trying to use it on a peak service, but only at the cost of introducing confusion elsewhere.
  • techno12
    techno12 Posts: 720
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    stockton wrote: »
    Go to the ticket machine at the station. To collect the tickets you will need a bank card as ID. It does not have to be the same card you bought the ticket with. The machine will ask you to insert the bank card: then it will ask you to input the registration no that came with the email. Then it issues the ticket/s.

    It does have to be the card that you paid with. I came a cropper due to this a couple of weeks ago, as I tried to pick up tickets from the machine but I'd left the credit card used to buy them at home.

    The debit card I had with me wasn't accepted - the machine told me to go to 'customer services', but it was late and no staff were at the station.

    I ended up having to pick them up the next day using the original credit card.
  • pompeyrich
    pompeyrich Posts: 3,135
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    techno12 wrote: »
    It does have to be the card that you paid with. I came a cropper due to this a couple of weeks ago, as I tried to pick up tickets from the machine but I'd left the credit card used to buy them at home.

    The debit card I had with me wasn't accepted - the machine told me to go to 'customer services', but it was late and no staff were at the station.

    I ended up having to pick them up the next day using the original credit card.

    I think this varies from one company or type of ticket machine to another, which isn't helpful to anyone.

    On the one hand I've heard of people who have lost or had stolen, between ordering and collecting tickets, the card they booked with and the replacement card wasn't acceptable as it had to be "the original card you booked with". Virgin trains seem to enforce this rule, maybe others.

    On the other have I have booked tickets and the card only seems to "wake up" the ticket machine, I have used any card with a magnetic strip to collect tickets and have booked tickets for a friend 100 miles away and they used their card to collect even though the tickets were booked with my card, they just had to enter the ref. number.
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