With my U.S. magnetic strip credit card, I am soon purchasing 3 separate routes' "ADVANCE" train tickets for Sep 2014 online thru the nationalrail.co.uk website. It says I'll "need the payment card used and your collection reference" to collect tickets at a Scotland train station after arriving there. Edinburgh Waverly station ticket office is in Travel Center and prepaid tx supposedly available to collect there. May I assume there is no problem with using this card to collect train tx? Has anyone had any kind of trouble with using U.S. credit cards for confirming pre paid purchase if done at ticketing machine during closed ticket office hours?
Posted by
Rockford, IL, USA
11 posts
In mid-June, I collected tickets for various journeys I'm making during my five weeks here, and had no problem. You will need the card you used to make the reservation and the confirmation number for each set of tickets you've reserved. The machine accepts the card, then tells you to remove it, and provides a keyboard screen for you to type in the confirmation code; once you confirm you have typed it in correctly, the machine spits out your tickets.
I don't have any experience with after hours collection; I had a few days in Edinburgh before I traveled to York, so I didn't need the train tickets immediately, and collected them at leisure. I did forget to collect one set of tickets, however, and later picked them up at another, different train station with no problem.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32740 posts
Edinburgh Waverley ...during closed ticket office hours
that generally shouldn't be a problem as the published ticket office hours are:
Monday - Friday 05:00 - 23:59
Saturday 05:00 - 23:59
Sunday 07:00 - 23:59
Advanced Tickets can only be purchased between 09:30 and 18:30 Monday-Sunday.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Looks like you're on the right track. I've also had cool experiences with picking up theater tickets in Britain with my credit card - push the card in and get the correct ticket in an instant, with no other buttons or confirmation screens in the process.
Posted by
NC, United States
970 posts
Machines that confirm your advance purchase have always handled my U.S. cards. I've never had a problem. Pretty sure they just read your account info off the magnetic strip, then do a lookup to find your pre-paid booking. Buying tickets at a machine with the cards is a different matter.
Allow enough time to queue up for a human ticket agent, just in case.
Posted by
Bainbridge Island
3098 posts
It is very easy to retrieve your tickets from the machines. Magnetic strip card is no problem. And you can retrieve the tickets at stations other than the one designated when you bought them, as long as it has machines. The agents will hold you to your choice, at least in our experience.