Virgin Trains - Fast Ticket Machines

XDA

Im heading to Cardiff on Sunday, so im ordering up my train tickets online.

I have the option to collect them for the Fast Ticket machine which is no prob.

I am just wondering that if I order them today, will they be "kept on the system" until Sunday morning? Is there a maximum time they are held for?

Cheers

theartfullodger

Anything to do with Branson my personal experience has indicated I should be wary of trusting...

Read this book & learn!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Branson-Tom-Bower/dp/0007266766/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241685390&sr=8-1

Cheers!

Lodger

omelette451

theartfullodger wrote: »

Anything to do with Branson my personal experience has indicated I should be wary of trusting...

Read this book & learn!

What's that got to do with the question? Talk about having an axe to grind!

Anyway, yes it won't be a problem buying the tickets now and collecting them on Sunday. I'm pretty sure they stay on the system indefinitely until you collect them, but even if there is a maximum time it's definitely not until after all the trains on that booking have left, even if that's several months from when you order them. That applies to all FT machines, not just VT-operated ones.

ticketcollector

Yes.

Fast Ticket machines work on a ToD system. Your ticket will be allocated a ToD reference.
You can actually use the ToD reference at ANY fast ticket machine, not just the one you've selected to use. Also any booking office can print them off (that is if they are trained up on how to find it on the system!!).

omelette451

ticketcollector wrote: »

Also any booking office can print them off (that is if they are trained up on how to find it on the system!!).

Does this really apply to any station in the country? (Obviously as long as it's staffed!) I'm thinking Merseyrail local ones, if that helps...

ticketcollector

You can issue ToD at any ATOC station.
Its more likely that the staff have not been trained up/shown how to hunt the option down in the ticket issuing system, and will fob you off.

omelette451

ticketcollector wrote: »

Its more likely that the staff have not been trained up/shown how to hunt the option down in the ticket issuing system, and will fob you off.

Now that doesn't surprise me. I had a hell of a time once trying to buy a rover ("oh no, I haven't a clue how to do that and won't even try, go to a mainline station and if anyone asks why you don't have a ticket get them to phone me..."), and have had to practically beg them to work out how to issue reservations. Needless to say complaints to management simply resulted in the usual "our staff are well-trained, it must have been a system fault, regardless of what you were told on the day" response. I'll definitely try the ToD thing though, now that I know about it.

ticketcollector

If your buying a rover it is much better to try and get it off a mobile ticket machine. I.e. staff that issue tickets on the trains use the Grey/Blue mobile ticket machines.
There is a separate option under one of the menus which says "rover enquiry" and then it lists every rover in the UK on it. You do have to search for the rover using a few letters of the rover name.

Plus some of the people using mobile ticket machines get commission on the sale, so they'll like you even more!

omelette451

ticketcollector wrote: »

If your buying a rover it is much better to try and get it off a mobile ticket machine. I.e. staff that issue tickets on the trains use the Grey/Blue mobile ticket machines.

Not round here they don't... They use pen and paper!

chich21

What if my friend used his card to pay for my virgin train ticket and by the time i gotta collect the ticket, he's not with me i.e. the card used to pay is not with me either. What should i do?

dzug1

chich21 wrote: »

What if my friend used his card to pay for my virgin train ticket and by the time i gotta collect the ticket, he's not with me i.e. the card used to pay is not with me either. What should i do?

You buy a new ticket and lose the money paid for the original