Day Returns on Smart Cards

[saismee]

It seems Greater Anglia (and GTR/GN) day return tickets are now available on smart cards. Completely caught me off-guard while focusing on connections and destination, ended up with a smart card ticket without my smart card on me. Thankfully the journey went (mostly) smoothly with helpful staff along the way doing everything they could (effectively nothing beyond letting it slide), even printing me a new smart card which didn't work with the ticket. A pesky ATG (Automatic Ticket Gate) operator forced me to buy a 2 pound ticket for the final leg of my journey, but I'll consider that a fee for my own mistake.

Just a warning to anyone attempting to buy day return tickets, ensure you either have your smart card, or that you ensure it is an E-Ticket. Certainly will be checking this in the future, even the people in the ticket office at Cambridge didn't know this was possible - it wasn't before! Unsure if this applies to any other operators.

 

[Bungle965]

What journey is this for?
I have had a quick look for a typical GA journey and it still offers me E-Ticket as the default fulfilment method.

 

[saismee]

What journey is this for?
I have had a quick look for a typical GA journey and it still offers me E-Ticket as the default fulfilment method.

Worked for me Derby Road Ipswich (DBR) to Kings Lynn (KLN) and DBR to Ipswich (IPS). They were both any-time tickets.
EDIT: Re-read that, it also showed E-Ticket as default on mine, it must've changed itself or I mistakenly pressed it, but it certainly wasn't an option before.

 

[Watershed]

Mod note:

We ask that any abbreviations are defined the first time they're used in a thread. I've done this for your latest post but could you please define what you mean by ATO in the original post? It's not obvious to me.

Thank you!

 

[saismee]

Mod note:

We ask that any abbreviations are defined the first time they're used in a thread. I've done this for your latest post but could you please define what you mean by ATO in the original post? It's not obvious to me.

Thank you!

Will do in the future (got the acronym wrong anyway)

 

[fandroid]

I have tried it for a pair of random Greater Anglia stations (off-peak day return) and the first option offered was for a mobile E-ticket. On choosing that I was then offered 3 options: mobile E-ticket, Smartcard Ticket loaded by phone, Smartcard Ticket loaded at a ticket machine (after 2 hours).

Were you overcome with enthusiasm which led you to choose that Smartcard option before realising that you didn't have your card with you? Or were you not offered the E-ticket option at all?

In most cases it should be possible to reverse the transaction for no charge if the refund is applied for immediately

 

[saismee]

I have tried it for a pair of random Greater Anglia stations (off-peak day return) and the first option offered was for a mobile E-ticket. On choosing that I was then offered 3 options: mobile E-ticket, Smartcard Ticket loaded by phone, Smartcard Ticket loaded at a ticket machine (after 2 hours).

Were you overcome with enthusiasm which led you to choose that Smartcard option before realising that you didn't have your card with you? Or were you not offered the E-ticket option at all?

In most cases it should be possible to reverse the transaction for no charge if the refund is applied for immediately

Didn't even think to check whether the ticket type was correct, I had assumed that they still weren't available on smart cards. It also doesn't allow refunding the ticket as it must be loaded onto the smart card first (which wasn't possible in the situation).

The main intent of the thread wasn't my own mistake, it was just to share that these tickets are now available for smart cards, for those who may be interested. My whole situation has already been sorted (at the cost of 1.95).