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Buying Advance Train Tickets in England

Posted by (SW, US) on

Buying Advance Train Tickets in England

I have been on the NationalRail website and located the Midland Mainline train that we (there are 3 of us traveling) need to take out of London Saint Pancras. There is a big difference in prices (7# to 56#). 7 pounds if I buy the tickets in advance, and the higher for flexible fares. National Rail doesn’t sell the ticket and refer me to the Trainline. The problem is that they are not set up to except a postal code outside the UK. (We are in the US)

A railpass would not be cost effective as we only need to make one roundtrip ticket to Derbyshire for the weekend.

Someone said to use FastTicket – not sure how that works and if I can book & pay for the Advance tickets.

Does anyone know how I can order and receive the tickets in the US ?

Posted by
36 posts

If you order through BritRail the fare is $112 each.
They will mail to the US.

It seems to me that the train system is not visitor friendly. The same ticket is available to someone with a UK address & credit card for 7 pounds or $14.
I guess they don't want to give us Americans a break.

Anyone know any other places that sell tickets to those living in the US>

Posted by
505 posts

You just need to use the postal code (and address) of (one of) the hotel or home you will be staying in whilst in the UK. The ticket can be collected at any of the stations with automated ticket machines.

I suspect the reason for the UK only addresses is both credit card security (it's not unusual for companies to prohibit the use of credit cards from another country - I had to switch one of my credit cards back to a US address to use many US websites) and increased security in general. Anyone travelling on a UK train should have some kind of address (hotel, relatives, friends) in the UK.

Kate

Posted by
8700 posts

Follow Kate's advice about registering, but do it on the site of the train company you will be using. Then book your tickets on that site and you won't have to pay the Trainline's booking fee.

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