F&F railcard rules w/ 16 year old

SandsofEss · 22 Jun 2026

I'm trying to work out the ticketing rules for travelling with a 16 year old child.

The Family and Friends Railcard website says "If your little one turns 16 before your 1-year Family & Friends Railcard runs out, they can still travel at the discounted child fare for as long as the card is still valid."

I have two questions for how this applies in practice.

1) Does this mean my 16 year old and I can travel together, with no other children present, and avail of the discount?

2) Does this mean I can buy them a ticket at Child rate, even though they are 16, (rather than the discounted Adult rate using the card)?

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Watershed · 22 Jun 2026

SandsofEss said:
I'm trying to work out the ticketing rules for travelling with a 16 year old child.

The Family and Friends Railcard website says "If your little one turns 16 before your 1-year Family & Friends Railcard runs out, they can still travel at the discounted child fare for as long as the card is still valid."

I have two questions for how this applies in practice.

1) Does this mean my 16 year old and I can travel together, with no other children present, and avail of the discount?

Yes, that's correct. Effectively they are still treated as eligible for child fares because of your use of the Family & Friends Railcard. Therefore...

SandsofEss said:
2) Does this mean I can buy them a ticket at Child rate, even though they are 16, (rather than the discounted Adult rate using the card)?

Yes, you can.

It's a perhaps unexpectedly generous rule, given that in other similar situations (the validity of 16-17 Savers) the validity of the card ends when they turn 18, except for existing season tickets where it lasts a few months longer.

SandsofEss · 22 Jun 2026

Thank you @Watershed . Exactly that - I couldn't quite believe the generosity of it! Hence asking questions that are, on the face of it, answered by the excerpt I posted.

Excellent news that will save me a small fortune.

Watershed · 22 Jun 2026

No problem, it is certainly worth renewing the Family & Friends Railcard just before your child turns 16 to maximise the use of this 'easement'!

SECR 65 · 15 Jul 2026

Another very similar question about the family and friends railcard and whether to purchase a three year variant now to maximise its use. (I hope I’m alright to continue in this thread being very similar – apologies if I should’ve started a new one.)

In my family there are two adults, me who is 16, and my brother age 14. I’ve got a 16-17 saver, and then I can after that get a 16-25 railcard. By that point my brother will be 16, so no longer eligible for child tickets, but could get a 16-17 saver. If we were to buy a family and friends railcard now, I believe that would entitle my brother to child tickets until he turns 17, which would be within the three years of the railcard? So for two adults, a 19 year old, and a 17 year old, is it beneficial to have a family and friends railcard? Or would it be by the time we’d applied either group save and or a 16-17 and a 16-25 railcard, the discount from the F&F railcard would be negligible? I hope that makes sense and please feel free to ask for clarification.

Apologies that I’m not giving any specific journeys to work from here, but as a family we would normally travel off peak / at weekends. If an example is required Haywards Heath to London Bridge would be relevant for me. Additionally, the 16-25 and 16-17 railcards for me and my brother respectively would almost be given as we would need to travel individually for college etc.

Watershed · 16 Jul 2026

SECR 65 said:
Another very similar question about the family and friends railcard and whether to purchase a three year variant now to maximise its use. (I hope I’m alright to continue in this thread being very similar – apologies if I should’ve started a new one.)

In my family there are two adults, me who is 16, and my brother age 14. I’ve got a 16-17 saver, and then I can after that get a 16-25 railcard. By that point my brother will be 16, so no longer eligible for child tickets, but could get a 16-17 saver. If we were to buy a family and friends railcard now, I believe that would entitle my brother to child tickets until he turns 17, which would be within the three years of the railcard? So for two adults, a 19 year old, and a 17 year old, is it beneficial to have a family and friends railcard? Or would it be by the time we’d applied either group save and or a 16-17 and a 16-25 railcard, the discount from the F&F railcard would be negligible? I hope that makes sense and please feel free to ask for clarification.

Apologies that I’m not giving any specific journeys to work from here, but as a family we would normally travel off peak / at weekends. If an example is required Haywards Heath to London Bridge would be relevant for me. Additionally, the 16-25 and 16-17 railcards for me and my brother respectively would almost be given as we would need to travel individually for college etc.

The main advantage of a Family Railcard over using GroupSave for the adults and a 16-17 Saver for your younger brother is that it gives a 60% discount off the child rate fare for him, in other words he pays only 20% of the adult rate.

The other advantage is that the Railcard is often valid earlier on weekdays - GroupSave is only valid from 09:30 whilst the Family Railcard can be used as soon as Off-Peak tickets become valid for the journey being made.

For journeys from Haywards Heath to London the Off-Peak restriction code is C0 which allows you to arrive in London from 09:45 onwards, so you can therefore depart Haywards Heath anytime from the 09:01 train onwards.

Also, if you ever travel as a family on an operator where GroupSave isn't valid, for example Avanti or LNER, the Family Railcard still provides exactly the same discount. Both operators do have Family fares which can be decent value and don't require a Railcard, but these aren't available for every journey.

Haywain · 16 Jul 2026

Watershed said:
GroupSave is only valid from 09:30 whilst the Family Railcard can be used as soon as Off-Peak tickets become valid for the journey being made.

That’s not correct - GroupSave is valid when Off Peak tickets are available. The 0930 restriction only applies where “there is no Off Peak or Off Peak Day ticket offered for the journey”, where the discount can then be applied to an Anytime ticket.

Watershed · 16 Jul 2026

Haywain said:
That’s not correct - GroupSave is valid when Off Peak tickets are available. The 0930 restriction only applies where “there is no Off Peak or Off Peak Day ticket offered for the journey”, where the discount can then be applied to an Anytime ticket.

Sorry, my mistake!

SECR 65 · 16 Jul 2026

Watershed said:
The main advantage of a Family Railcard over using GroupSave for the adults and a 16-17 Saver for your younger brother is that it gives a 60% discount off the child rate fare for him, in other words he pays only 20% of the adult rate.

The other advantage is that the Railcard is often valid earlier on weekdays - GroupSave is only valid from 09:30 whilst the Family Railcard can be used as soon as Off-Peak tickets become valid for the journey being made.

For journeys from Haywards Heath to London the Off-Peak restriction code is C0 which allows you to arrive in London from 09:45 onwards, so you can therefore depart Haywards Heath anytime from the 09:01 train onwards.

Also, if you ever travel as a family on an operator where GroupSave isn't valid, for example Avanti or LNER, the Family Railcard still provides exactly the same discount. Both operators do have Family fares which can be decent value and don't require a Railcard, but these aren't available for every journey.

That's very helpful; thanks a lot.

CyrusWuff · 16 Jul 2026

Haywain said:
That’s not correct - GroupSave is valid when Off Peak tickets are available. The 0930 restriction only applies where “there is no Off Peak or Off Peak Day ticket offered for the journey”, where the discount can then be applied to an Anytime ticket.

Fares data has a blanket 0930 restriction on the use of GroupSave, even where the underlying ticket would be valid earlier.

I'm not sure when this was changed, but it's not reflected on the GroupSave page on NRE. Good innit?

Watershed · 16 Jul 2026

CyrusWuff said:
Fares data has a blanket 0930 restriction on the use of GroupSave, even where the underlying ticket would be valid earlier.

I'm not sure when this was changed, but it's not reflected on the GroupSave page on NRE. Good innit?

Ah, I knew I wasn't going mad when I said that!

F&F railcard rules w/ 16 year old

SandsofEss

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