Book ticket on the wrong direction (advance return ticket).

[Moi]

English is not my first language sorry.

We are going on a cruise from Southampton

I realise that I bought our tickets FROM Southampton to London (on the day the cruise start) and on the last day of our cruise I book the opposite… from London TO Southampton

So all our tickets are in the opposite direction….

Will South Western Railway understand that our family make a mistake, because we are so bad in English, and scan our ticket and let us go - or they will ask us to buy new full price ticket each?

Do they scan the ticket before we enter the train or when we are seated in the train?

Help please
Hope you understand my English

 

[bcarmicle]

Both Waterloo and Southampton have gatelines. This means your tickets will be checked before you enter the train.

You will not be allowed onto the train with your current tickets. You would need to buy new tickets to travel.

You should contact whoever you bought your tickets from, and explain your situation to them. They will be able to change the dates of the tickets so that they are the right way round. You will have to pay any difference in fare, as well as up to £10 per ticket as an administration fee.

 

[Huntergreed]

English is not my first language sorry.

We are going on a cruise from Southampton

I realise that I bought our tickets FROM Southampton to London (on the day the cruise start) and on the last day of our cruise I book the opposite… from London TO Southampton

So all our tickets are in the opposite direction….

Will South Western Railway understand that our family make a mistake, because we are so bad in English, and scan our ticket and let us go - or they will ask us to buy new full price ticket each?

Do they scan the ticket before we enter the train or when we are seated in the train?

Help please
Hope you understand my English

Welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately it is in the conditions of advance tickets that they cannot be amended, but you have a couple of options available to you:

1) You can contact the retailer and request a refund, explaining the situation. They may offer one as a goodwill gesture.

2) You can 'amend' the tickets for the difference in fare plus an admin fee of £10 for each ticket. This may be cheaper than buying new advances!

3) You buy new tickets and chalk it up to experience.

Up to you which you go with! Who did you book the tickets through?

 

[AnyFile]

When are you travelling (days of the journey)?
Are advance ticket still available for that dates?

As bcarmicle has explained your tickets are not valid for your travel.

​

 

[Moi]

I book directly on South Western Railway

I do have a print screen that I selected an outbound train from Waterloo TO London at 9h30 — arriving in Southampton at 10h49

But I don’t know why later on when I add the return ticket and finalise the reservation the tickets were all opposite direction but same time!

Do you think the print screen of the process while I was doing the reservation (many print screen with credit card info and other with the confirmation number of the transaction) do you think that they will be kind?

It is pretty strange that this arrive I cannot explain where my mistake was…. Not with the print screen…

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jul 2023 ==

When are you travelling (days of the journey)?
Are advance ticket still available for that dates?

As bcarmicle has explained your tickets are not valid for your travel.

​

Tomorrow July 21st and August 4th

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jul 2023 ==

Both Waterloo and Southampton have gatelines. This means your tickets will be checked before you enter the train.

You will not be allowed onto the train with your current tickets. You would need to buy new tickets to travel.

You should contact whoever you bought your tickets from, and explain your situation to them. They will be able to change the dates of the tickets so that they are the right way round. You will have to pay any difference in fare, as well as up to £10 per ticket as an administration fee.

I try to contact them but today with the strike they were closed I wasn’t able to speak to anybody

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jul 2023 ==

Thank you for your information this is very hard for us travelling from overseas….

 

[bcarmicle]

Does your ticket for tomorrow show what time the train is supposed to arrive? Is it 10:49 or 10:55?

There is a ticket office at London Waterloo. Speak to them _before_ your train at 09:30 is scheduled to depart, as once the train has departed your ticket will have no value.

If you have a screenshot showing that you booked the tickets in the correct direction, then that sounds like they had a technical issue when issuing the ticket. The ticket office will be able to address the situation accordingly.

 

[Moi]

It shows that the train arrives at 10:49

I have a screenshot that are the correct direction in my basket the basket. Yes i have 3 screenshots that are the right direction with the date I purchased th ticket

Outward: from London to Southampton central
Return: from Southampton to London

This is why it is strange

 

[bcarmicle]

OK, in that case, it does sound like something went wrong when the ticket was issued, as the train from London to Southampton arrives at 10:49, while the train in the other direction arrives at 10:55. I would show your screenshots on your phone to the ticket office staff tomorrow who should be able to assist.

 

[fandroid]

Definitely go to the Waterloo ticket office this morning and get there a lot earlier than 09.30. You will need new tickets anyway for this morning's journey. Also, you should try to change the tickets for the later journey back from Southampton.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2023 ==

I believe that South Western Railway's Twitter team normally logs on at around 07.00. Contact them for advice as soon as you can. Their Twitter id is @SW_Help. But whatever they say, you will still need to go to the ticket office before going to the ticket barriers at Waterloo.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2023 ==

Edit:

I have just looked up some Waterloo to Southampton Advance tickets for later dates on SWR's website.

It does say there that Advance tickets can be changed for a fee before train departure time.

 

[Moi]

Definitely go to the Waterloo ticket office this morning and get there a lot earlier than 09.30. You will need new tickets anyway for this morning's journey. Also, you should try to change the tickets for the later journey back from Southampton.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2023 ==

I believe that South Western Railway's Twitter team normally logs on at around 07.00. Contact them for advice as soon as you can. Their Twitter id is @SW_Help. But whatever they say, you will still need to go to the ticket office before going to the ticket barriers at Waterloo.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2023 ==

Edit:

I have just looked up some Waterloo to Southampton Advance tickets for later dates on SWR's website.

It does say there that Advance tickets can be changed for a fee before train departure time.

Ok I am leaving our hotel, we should be there in 22 minutes from now! I hope that there is wifi in the train station! It is very hard that our phone package + 50 GB/month doesn’t work outside Canada! Very hard to have internet only at the hotel!

 

[fandroid]

Best wishes for your journey to Southampton and enjoy the cruise. You have probably discovered already that there's WiFi at Waterloo. The SWR WiFi on the trains is there but is close to useless, I regret to say.

 

[AnyFile]

I hope you has already been able to solve your problem in one way or the other and I wish you a pleasant cruise.

If you are not able to solve the problem at the ticket office and you think there was a technical problem when you bought your ticket, contact starting at South Western Railway (contacts) or go directly the form to contact them
(I actually noticed that on some fields there is not a possible selectable answer that match your exact case, just choose the nearest one).

You can also make a complain

 

[Moi]

Just to let you know that with the many print screen I get during the process of réservation the 2 person at guest service in Waterloo station said that it may be a website problem… so they cancel our ticket and gave us a voucher that is good also for return so everything is fixed now!

 

[AlterEgo]

Good to hear some common sense prevailed!