Around London using a Family railcard

raddy59

I'm visiting London with the family in November.
I was trying to buy some railcards in advance on the TfL.
is there a discount for a Family & friends railcard
How do you use the card when buying online - there isn't a plce to enter the details on the checkout page

wealdroam

Start reading here.

Do come back with any further questions.

raddy59

I can see taht a family railcard gives a discount - but it doesn't show up when ordering. Would I have to but at a station in person to use the railcard? The TfL site doesn't make that clear

wealdroam

Raddy59, I think there is a slight misunderstanding here.

Do you currently have a Family and Friends Railcard, or are you considering getting one?

When you visit London, I assume you are thinking about getting Travelcards (not railcards) for travel around London.

To take advantage of the F&F Railcard discount you need to firstly have an Oyster Card, and then get the F&F Railcard loaded on it.

Or are you thinking of buying Travelcards from your out of London station, which includes travel to London as well as travel in London when there?
In this case you should be looking at a national rail website, not TfL, and discounts will only show at times when the railcard discount is allowed.

I suspect you are looking into the first option above, in which case your answers should be on that link I provided earlier.
In particular, click on the "How do I Apply" tab which describes loading the F&F railcard onto an Oyster Card.
Then the "How do I use it?" tab describes exactly that.

I hope that helps but as before, come back with further questions.

raddy59

Hi Wealdroam
Thanks for that

I have an Oyster card

The web link you provide says:
"Adding your discount entitlement to an Oyster card

For holders of Annual Gold Card, Disabled Persons, HM Forces, Senior and 16-25 National Railcard, if you want to get 34 per cent discount on pay as you go at off-peak times, you must register your Oyster card or Oyster photocard then get your discount entitlement added. "
It doesn't include F&F

I will call TfL today to clarify.
It's only 4 years since I lived in london, and I am finding out now (when I am taking DS for a trip) how labyrithine the whole system is to a non-res.

Cheers

wealdroam

Ah yes, sorry to have added to your confusion.

A Family and Friends Railcard cannot be added to an Oyster Card.
This is because an F&F Railcard covers more than one person and an Oyster Card doesn't.

Sorry about that.

raddy59

OK
Did the trip and here's what happened

1. Queued up at the visitor information kiosk at Euston (very quick moving)
2. Asked for 3 daily off-peak travelcards for 3 days (i.e. 9 cards in total)
3. Showed my family & friends railcard, et
4. voila 3 all zone paper travelcards each - 1 per day) for around £38 -

Absolute Bargain!

Angelina1

raddy59 wrote: »

OK
Did the trip and here's what happened

1. Queued up at the visitor information kiosk at Euston (very quick moving)
2. Asked for 3 daily off-peak travelcards for 3 days (i.e. 9 cards in total)
3. Showed my family & friends railcard, et
4. voila 3 all zone paper travelcards each - 1 per day) for around £38 -

Absolute Bargain!

Thank you for the info, we are going to Euston train station in Feb and have a family & friends rail ticket. Can I ask what is an all zone travel card. (never been to London and doing most of touristy things for three days).

sweetsheep84

All zone travelcard covers zone 1 to zone 6. Most tourists stuff is in zone 1 and 2 (largely 1). Check on the tube map and plan your travel so if you will be staying overnight at somewhere in zone 4 or 5 and going into zone 1, it is worth it getting all zone travel card. Hope that helps

Angelina1

Thank you, the nearest tube station to our accomodation is High street Kensington and we are travelling to Euston station. We are family of 4, (kids 12 and 10).

Any advice would be grateful. Will have a look at the tube map.

sweetsheep84

High street kensington is in zone 1. If you are 100% certain you will be in zone 1 only, no need of getting all zone travelcard. If you want to do go outside of zone 1 to see other stuff then all zone travelcard.

So yeah, plan where you want to visit so you know which zone you will be.