Buying a railcard from overseas

[williamn]

Hi, I wondered if forum users could shed any light on whether it's possible to buy railcards from overseas. Friends of mine want to buy a Two Together railcard, and for ease would prefer to do it online and get a digital one (also so they could use it on the Heathrow Express). The Two Together site says in its Q+A:

Can visitors to Britain buy the Two Together Railcard?
Yes, you can.

Simply click ‘Buy Now on the website homepage to get started. When you get to the question 'Choose the type of Railcard you would like' select 'Digital' and follow the instructions on the screen to complete your purchase.

You can also buy a Railcard at Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport rail stations, Luton Airport Parkway and Manchester Airport – but NOT at London Heathrow Airport.

However it's rejecting their Canadian address and credit card and other searches I have done suggest that you need a UK address and credit card to be able to buy one.

Can anyone shed any definitive light on this?!

 

[Haywain]

You could try a different website, such as the forum site linked at the top of the page. I don't know if that will work but it's worth a try.

 

[Tetchytyke]

What’s the error message? If you type an address to the search box it doesn’t find it if the address is abroad, but if you type it in manually further down the page it should work. It has for me, and the Isle of Man is “abroad” for railcard purposes.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

What’s the error message? If you type an address to the search box it doesn’t find it if the address is abroad, but if you type it in manually further down the page it should work. It has for me, and the Isle of Man is “abroad” for railcard purposes.

And I have no doubt you have thought about this, but just in case - order a digital Railcard which will arrive electronically rather than a physical one which would have to be posted to your friends, and I imagine won't deliver outside the UK.

 

[Watershed]

Could you buy the Railcard for them with your UK card, and have them reimburse you? I'm pretty sure the website supports having a different billing address from the name of the cardholders.

You'll obviously need a passport-style photo of each of them. Once the purchase has gone through, you can send them the download code to add the Railcard to their Railcard app.

It may also be cheaper for them to buy Eurail or BritRail passes, depending on how much they'll be travelling.

 

[island]

They also should use the Elizabeth line line rather than the Heathrow Express

 

[williamn]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll try some other retailers.

They also should use the Elizabeth line line rather than the Heathrow Express

The price difference is minimal! £53.30 HEX versus £49.24 Elizabeth Line. (for two)

 

[Hadders]

The price difference is minimal! £53.30 HEX versus £49.24 Elizabeth Line. (for two)

Where are they travelling to?

 

[williamn]

Where are they travelling to?

Paddington!

 

[Watershed]

Is their final destination Paddington, or are they going beyond there?

Whilst the one way fare from Heathrow on the Elizabeth line is comparatively expensive, it costs only slightly more to get a Zones 1-6 Day Travelcard. Similarly if you use contactless or Oyster PAYG, the daily cap is only slightly more than the single fare.

 

[island]

Thanks for the help everyone! I'll try some other retailers.

The price difference is minimal! £53.30 HEX versus £49.24 Elizabeth Line. (for two)

That’s not a correct fare. For one thing, Elizabeth line (and all TfL) fares are all multiples of 5p. Where are you getting that price, Trainline?

HEX is £12.80pp one way from Paddington to Heathrow (or v/v) on contactless and 10p more on a paper ticket. A Two Together Railcard brings that to £8.55pp or £17.10 for two.

 

[Watershed]

That’s not a correct fare. For one thing, Elizabeth line (and all TfL) fares are all multiples of 5p. Where are you getting that price, Trainline?

HEX is £12.80pp one way from Paddington to Heathrow (or v/v) on contactless and 10p more on a paper ticket. A Two Together Railcard brings that to £8.55pp or £17.10 for two.

Think you mean the Elizabeth line there?

 

[williamn]

That’s not a correct fare. For one thing, Elizabeth line (and all TfL) fares are all multiples of 5p. Where are you getting that price, Trainline?

HEX is £12.80pp one way from Paddington to Heathrow (or v/v) on contactless and 10p more on a paper ticket. A Two Together Railcard brings that to £8.55pp or £17.10 for two.

Apologies, a typo, should have been £49.20 on Elizabeth Line. Price from trainsplit.

HEX price from their site.

Both prices are for a period return. Are singles cheaper?

Their final destination is Paddington.

 

[Watershed]

Apologies, a typo, should have been £49.20 on Elizabeth Line. Price from trainsplit.

HEX price from their site.

Both prices are for a period return. Are singles cheaper?

Their final destination is Paddington.

Singles can be cheaper if you buy sufficiently far ahead for HEx, as they offer Advance Discounted Singles costing between £6.65 and £14.65 per person with a Railcard (they are valid on any HEx service on the booked date). That could cost as little as £26.60 for a return journey if you manage to snag tickets at the lowest tier.

Otherwise, with no onward travel from Paddington, a period return will generally work out cheaper than two singles for both HEx and the Elizabeth line.

 

[island]

Think you mean the Elizabeth line there?

Yes, thank you.

 

[pelli]

So for two people travelling from Heathrow to Paddington and back another day, the prices per person and leg are (noting that any ticket with a Two-Together Railcard discount is not valid weekdays before 09:30):

Heathrow Express (HEX):
Contactless/Oyster Pay-As-You-Go tap in/out £25
Anytime Day Single £25, or £16.65 with railcard
Anytime Return £20 (£40 return), or £13.30 with railcard (£26.60 return)
"Advance" Single £10/£18.50/£22, or £6.65/£12.35/£14.65 with railcard (only available from the HEX website?, price depends on how far in advance purchased, valid for any time train in the specified direction on the specified date)

Elizabeth Line (EL):
Contactless/Oyster Pay-As-You-Go tap in/out £12.80 (counts towards daily Z1-6 cap at £16.30)
Anytime Day Single £12.90, or £8.55 with railcard
Anytime Return £12.30 (£24.60 return), or £8.18 with railcard (£16.35 return)
Off-Peak Day Travelcard (includes unlimited travel in Z1-6, not valid weekdays before 09:30) £16.60, or £11 with railcard
Anytime Day Travelcard £23.60 (likely more expensive than using an Off-Peak Day Travelcard and paying separately for any peak journeys)

Trainsplit can't sell the Contactless/Oyster fare, and won't show the Travelcard fares since they're more expensive than the single/return fares. You can get various different total prices for 2 people with Two Together Railcard depending on whether one or both legs are on a weekday before 9:30 when the railcard discount doesn't apply, such as £32.70 (EL railcard return), £53.20 (HEX railcard return), £42.90 (EL single + EL railcard single), £49.20 (EL return), £59.10 (EL single + HEX railcard single), or £80.00 (HEX return).

Please make sure you double-check the travel times, as you mention EL £49.20 which would only be offered if your search in both directions is for weekdays before 09:30 when the railcard is not valid (or if you've forgot to set the railcard discount!), but HEX £53.30 (on the HEX site, whereas it's £53.20 on trainsplit, due to different rounding) which is the railcard-discounted price so would not be valid weekdays before 09:30.

Another aspect to consider is which Heathrow terminal you use. Both HEX and EL go to/from T2/3, but HEX then goes to/from T5 only (every 15 minutes) while EL goes to/from T4 (every 15 minutes) and T5 (every 30 minutes). Your ticket only applies to the leg between T2/3 and Paddington, and you can use any train to connect between T2/3 and T4 or T5 for free. The main thing not to do is to use HEX for T4, since it doesn't save you any time: From T4 you have to first take the EL (say at 12:00) to T2/3 (12:05) and change there, so including the wait at T2/3 (until 12:17) you arrive Paddington at the same time (12:32) as the EL train you got off earlier; similarly from Paddington to T4 with HEX you'd have to change at T2/3 onto an EL that departed Paddington just a minute before your HEX.

 

[LostMittens]

Hi, I wondered if forum users could shed any light on whether it's possible to buy railcards from overseas. Friends of mine want to buy a Two Together railcard, and for ease would prefer to do it online and get a digital one (also so they could use it on the Heathrow Express). The Two Together site says in its Q+A:

Can visitors to Britain buy the Two Together Railcard?
Yes, you can.

Simply click ‘Buy Now on the website homepage to get started. When you get to the question 'Choose the type of Railcard you would like' select 'Digital' and follow the instructions on the screen to complete your purchase.

You can also buy a Railcard at Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport rail stations, Luton Airport Parkway and Manchester Airport – but NOT at London Heathrow Airport.

However it's rejecting their Canadian address and credit card and other searches I have done suggest that you need a UK address and credit card to be able to buy one.

Can anyone shed any definitive light on this?!

I was able to purchase a digital Two Together last week, from Canada, using a Canadian credit card. I can't remember the specific process but I can say I have routinely encountered difficulty with the address fields in UK online payment processers as I make my arrangements for my next trip. If you see the 'enter my address manually' option, click that before entering any other address information and then select Canada as your country (even though the address finder bar will still find your Canadian address). Otherwise, it can sometimes cause the processer to stick in UK address mode and it will fail the postal code validation check.