Virgin Trains - Any card OR Same card collection?

[itfcfan]

I'm travelling to Chester from London tomorrow at short notice. My parents are also travelling to Chester, getting on my train at Milton Keynes. I'm buying all the tickets today, intending to use virgintrains.co.uk so I can easily seat us together (I'll use two separate transactions and then move the seats using the seat map). I need my parents to collect their tickets before they board at Milton Keynes. They won't have my credit card with them (I'll have it on the train with me).

Does anyone know if virgintrains.co.uk uses "any card" or "same card" as their policy for collection at ticket machines?

If they use "same card" are there any work-arounds? Can the call centre change bookings to "any card" by request? Or is it likely/possible the ticket office would allow them to collect it if I forward the email confirmation to them?

Thanks in advance for any experience on this.

 

[VT 390]

I'm travelling to Chester from London tomorrow at short notice. My parents are also travelling to Chester, getting on my train at Milton Keynes. I'm buying all the tickets today, intending to use virgintrains.co.uk so I can easily seat us together (I'll use two separate transactions and then move the seats using the seat map). I need my parents to collect their tickets before they board at Milton Keynes. They won't have my credit card with them (I'll have it on the train with me).

Does anyone know if virgintrains.co.uk uses "any card" or "same card" as their policy for collection at ticket machines?

If they use "same card" are there any work-arounds? Can the call centre change bookings to "any card" by request? Or is it likely/possible the ticket office would allow them to collect it if I forward the email confirmation to them?

Thanks in advance for any experience on this.

When I have booked with Virgin trains and their ticket machines would not read my card I just told them the collection reference and they printed the ticket at the ticket office, they did not even wan't to see the email so I would have thought it would be possible to collect tickets with just the collection reference.

 

[yorkie]

People who have had accounts for a while get "any card" collection apparently (I've been told mine is)

Call them and ask them what your account is set to.

Some retailers will change the status on any booking if you ask them.

And some retailers allow the use of vouchers or other non-card payment methods, thus ensuring any card collection.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Virgin Trains bookings will require same card collection unless you pay via PayPal. Gives you less protection if things go wrong, but it's a convenience factor.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Pay by PayPal to be sure of any card collection from the VT site. PayPal doesn't tell merchants the card number so they can't use it.

 

[itfcfan]

Thanks for the suggestions to use Paypal. I've had an account on the Virgin Trains website for a long time (so it's possible I have "any card" collection enabled), but I've used Paypal for this booking just to be on the safe side. Hopefully all goes smoothly with my parents collecting the tickets.