Online Vs Ticket office purchase - same price?

Shelldean

I am looking to buy some tickets, I normally purchase online and just collect at local station at a convenient time.


I've always presumed this is the cheapest way as opposed to buying in advance from a ticket office.


But am I correct in my thinking??


I know which trains I wish travel on and I know the prices we'd be charged online.


So my question is... if I go to local ticket office tomorrow and give the times of the trains I've researched online, will I get them for the same price?


I have to book with the ticket office this time as I have a voucher from Greater Anglia that's almost at the end of it's year long validity and it cant be used against online purchases

Cornucopia

In theory, the prices are the same because they all come from the same database.

Occasionally, some of the train company sites have discounts.

TheTrainline.com is always the most expensive - no discounts & booking fee.

Shelldean

Cornucopia


thanks for the swift reply.


Hope the prices are the same!


I've only checked National rail rather than an operators site ( will double check those now)


Never use trainline!!

Shelldean

have just checked the trains I want on Southern website ( local station and where I'll purchase tickets from) and Virgin (who we'll do the majority of the journey with) and both come up as the same as national rail.


So fingers crossed the fares are the same at the ticket office as they are online.

Shelldean

Just to conclude this


I've just been to my local ticket office ( a southern station) and booked from there to Birmingham and back for the same price as I saw online.


Spoke the chap in the office and he said on advance tickets the prices should always be the same. So long as you buy them enough in advance.
I was booking to go 7 April and return 8 April. But the special promotions often cant be brought at the office.

yorkie2

Shelldean wrote: »

So my question is... if I go to local ticket office tomorrow and give the times of the trains I've researched online, will I get them for the same price?

Probably, though not always. Some companies (e.g. FGW, East Coast) offer discounts on their websites.

It's almost always cheaper to avoid Thetrainline though, as they charge fees.

geordie_taxi

Shelldean wrote: »

I know which trains I wish travel on and I know the prices we'd be charged online.

Don't forget if your a 'cashback' chaser then the following can be had back by buying from the following online retailers;

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/rail-ferry-and-coach/cashback/

Red Spotted Hanky 1.57% all tickets

East Midland trains up to 2.52% on their train routes

SW Trains 2.73% all tickets

TP Express up to 4.72% on their advance fares

Trainline up to 3.53%* all tickets

*You have to work out whether the cashback is more that the fees they charge

wealdroam

One advantage of buying online from the Southern website might be to take advantage of their Money Back Guarantee.

Altarf

The problem with buying at the station, is the numpty behind the counter may not sell you the cheapest ticket.

I normally buy tickets online, but on one occasion I was dropping someone off at the station, so thought I may as well buy the ticket whilst I was there. Unfortunately the 'trained' member of staff behind the counter refused to believe that the advance ticket I wanted existed, as they thought it was too cheap. Even when I persuaded them to look it up on their machine, they still refused, muttering that it must be a supplement of some kind. I went home, bought exactly what I wanted online, and collected at the station.

On another occasion, a different 'trained' member of staff couldn't understand the restriction codes, so wanted to sell me a peak ticket, when an off-peak ticket was valid for the journey I wanted to make. So again, home to buy, and then collect at the station.

Also buying online, you can play around with splitting tickets to see if you can get cheaper, which is not something that you can do at the station unless you know the combination you want, and even then you get some numptys behind the counter who refuse to sell split tickets.

Stompa

geordie_taxi wrote: »

Red Spotted Hanky 1.57% all tickets

And of course they have a loyalty scheme which pays 1%:

http://www.redspottedhanky.com/loyalty/

Shelldean

The problem was I HAD to purchase at the station as I had a compensation voucher from Greater Anglia. This was because I nicely pointed out their online staff were useless.

The complaints dept agreed and sent me £20 as an apology.
This voucher is only valid for yr (runs out beginning of March) and couldn't be used online.


I wrote out my trains and the prices, told the bloke who booked me on the exact same train same time and same price.

My only snag is as he booked it I didn't get to choose forward facing seats as I would 've online. And I 'think' we're all in rear facing and I get sick if I sit that way around. But am sure we can sort something out