Friends & Family Railcard and child turns 16 before expiry

Speculator

I bought by F&F railcard on 1st May and my daughter turned 16 on 19th May. According to the T&Cs, I understand she can still travel on the discounted fair until my railcard expires.

My daughters friend turned 16 on 20th August. Can I assume she can also get the discounted fair on my railcard if we travel together?

flaneurs_lobster

That's how I read the terms, any child aged under 16 when the card is purchased is OK, the relationship between the adults & kids travelling together is irrelevant.

Children aged under 16 at the time that the Railcard is purchased may still travel at the discounted child fare throughout the validity period of the 1-year Railcard, even if they become 16 years old during that time or, for a 3-year Railcard until the child turns 17.

Speculator

Tried to book tickets on Greater Anglia, Trainline and Trip app (for 3 adults and 2 x 16yr olds) but they force you to use groupsave, even though I selected to use my Friends and Family railcard! There is no way to decline groupsave and use my Friends and Family railcard!



Groupsave is about £1 cheaper overall (£37.15 vs £36.10) but I could get on the spot fines because the two girls are 16 yrs!

Luckily, the Trip website (not App) and Great Northern  offers me the option to decline Groupsave and use my Friends & Family.

flaneurs_lobster

My one and only attempt to use Groupsave was rebuffed because it had been suspended for a day - a major sporting event (the reason for my journey) made travel on the route rather more popular than a regular Saturday.

daveyjp

Unfortunately it's what happens when you have a very complicated rail ticketing system overladen with special tickets from specific train operators and then third party resellers come along.

A child ticket is valid between ages 2-15, but as you state a Family and Friends railcard classes children to 16 and even 17 if you buy a three year card!  

We had similar in Scotland.  My daughter had a 16-17 railcard, but this isn't recognised in Scotland.  However they do offer a group save ticket on some routes.  It did need a ticket office to explain that though.