TfL Freedom Pass rail ticket booking

snaver

Can anyone help me please? I will be taking a train journey from London with a friend who has a Transport for London Freedom Pass, which entitles them to free travel from zones 1-6 on London Underground. Is there a money saving way or hack when booking on a rail company's website or the trainline etc to book their ticket to start from boundary zone 6, or do we have to queue at the station ticket office to do this or find out what the last station in the zones is and book from there? Any help greatly appreciated.

katejo

snaver said:

Can anyone help me please? I will be taking a train journey from London with a friend who has a Transport for London Freedom Pass, which entitles them to free travel from zones 1-6 on London Underground. Is there a money saving way or hack when booking on a rail company's website or the trainline etc to book their ticket to start from boundary zone 6, or do we have to queue at the station ticket office to do this or find out what the last station in the zones is and book from there? Any help greatly appreciated.

If your journey starts in London, the ticket machines at London stations allow you to you to choose to travel from 'Boundary of zone 6' but you can only buy off peak  tickets this way after 9.30 when the off peak starts. It blocks you before that . If you do it from the rail company website, there isn't the time restriction on buying it but you can't choose the option 'from the boundary of...'. I think you have to select a station at the boundary. I haven't done this yet because I have only had my Oyster 60+ (similar rules for travel) since March. 
I have bought a ticket from boundary of zone 6 to another station but had to go to the ticket office because it wasn't yet 9.30am when I bought it. 

MilesT6060842

There is a hack, but it is not as simple as it should be. 

Look on TfL maps for the rail station nearest the Zone 6 boundary for the line, and then use that rail station as the booking point.  Train doesn't need to call there.

It's my understanding that freedom passes are not charged for "incomplete" journeys (missing touch in or out), which is essential to make this work. 

Not sure of this works for zonal seasonal tickets on Oyster (or ITSO railcard), but should also work for rail season tickets on paper ticket (if valid on the specific line).

There are legal group actions running on the lack of ability to book boundary fares on ticketing systems.

katejo

MilesT6060842 said:

There is a hack, but it is not as simple as it should be. 

Look on TfL maps for the rail station nearest the Zone 6 boundary for the line, and then use that rail station as the booking point.  Train doesn't need to call there.

It's my understanding that freedom passes are not charged for "incomplete" journeys (missing touch in or out), which is essential to make this work. 

Not sure of this works for zonal seasonal tickets on Oyster (or ITSO railcard), but should also work for rail season tickets on paper ticket (if valid on the specific line).

There are legal group actions running on the lack of ability to book boundary fares on ticketing systems.

It does work the same way for zonal travelcards on Oyster. Before lockdown I had a zone 1 to 3 Goldcard on my Oyster account and could buy tickets from the boundary of zone 3. 

katejo

snaver said:

Can anyone help me please? I will be taking a train journey from London with a friend who has a Transport for London Freedom Pass, which entitles them to free travel from zones 1-6 on London Underground. Is there a money saving way or hack when booking on a rail company's website or the trainline etc to book their ticket to start from boundary zone 6, or do we have to queue at the station ticket office to do this or find out what the last station in the zones is and book from there? Any help greatly appreciated.

Does your friend also have a senior citizen railcard? May be eligible for a further discount on the journey beyond the boundary of  zone 6. 

Dahhhling

I’m trying to get from Waterloo to Guildford. I’d be grateful if anyone could tell me the nearest station to Guildford, where I can use my freedom pass from. Thanks people.

MSE_James

The last station in Zone 6 on the south western mainline is Surbiton.

It's best to obtain a ticket from 'Boundary Zone 6' to Guildford for your journey. Any ticket office  (and some self-service machines) can sell these.