Great Western Railway tickets London Paddington to Oxford

I have the GWR app but saw on an earlier post that it won’t work until I’m in the UK, so I’m a little wary of having tickets delivered to the app. I’ll be in the UK 4 days before the Oxford trip day.

You can still buy it online and they will send you a confirmation email with an attached ticket that has a QR code. Then just download the ticket to your phone and use that. Personally, that's what I would do as the app is a little glitchy even after you get to the UK.

I ordered mine as soon as the Advance tickets came out and that was actually easier than using the app (like you, I couldn't use it till I got to the UK).

You can also collect from the ticket machines at Waterloo. Depending from whom you buy the ticket you may need to present the actual card used for the purchase for collection.

I'm slightly baffled about the whole not being able to use the GWR app outside the UK thing. I've never had a problem with it, and use it frequently.

That said, the suggestion of booking online and printing the tickets (or just keeping them on your phone) is a good one.

Simon, it’s true. It happened to me. I was able to download the app, but every time I tried to login, it gave me an error message.

I contacted GWR and they told me that I would be able to login once I got to the UK, and I was able to. I’ll be curious to know, though, if I’ll be able to once I get back to the states. I’ll try it and check back.

You can collect from any ticket machine in the country.

You could collect at Inverness or Penzance if so minded!

At Paddington the ticket can be collected up until the departure time of the train.

The machines in the South East are generally more primitive than ours in the North, but you should be able to buy ahead from any machine in London.

I can certainly buy that ticket, at whatever advance fare is available for that date, here in Cumbria, and any other date into July and August.

Thanks everyone for the replies and advice. I will probably choose the option to order online and pick up the ticket at a station rather than do anything with the app. There are many poor reviews on it on the Apple App Store.