How to buy tickets from Germany

[sinalco]

Hi together,

google suggested this forums to me.

First i want to say sorry for my English, i know it's not the best.

With some guys we come to England in December. We fly to London City airport and from the next bigger Station, which should be London Bridge, we want to take a THAMESLINK to Brighton. And two days later we have to take a SOUTHERN to Southampton.

The problem is that i don't understand how to buy Tickets from Germany. It seems that i can't get them with your royal mail outside the UK.

If I buy them online now, can I collect them in a few weeks from a ticket machine (on the day we arrive)? Or should I do that in "the next hours"?
If i pay with paypal, can i use my german mastercard to get the tickets at London Bridge? Even if i did not pay them with this one?
Is there a difference whether i get the tickets on homepage of Southern oder thameslink?

I am a litte bit confused, may somebody give short instruktions to me...

Thanks!

A guy from Germany

 

[Clip]

You can buy them and then pick them up from the ticket machines at London Bridge - just make sure you have yoru collection code with you.

Enjoy your time here

 

[sheff1]

Welcome.

Your English seems fine to me.

Firstly, unless you want to buy an ADVANCE ticket, there is no need to buy a ticket before you get to the station on the day you travel.

As an ADVANCE ticket is only valid on one specific train, I would not recommend buying one of these if you are arriving by air. If the plane is delayed and you miss that train the ticket is worthless and you will need to buy another one.

If you do want to buy the tickets before you leave Germany, you should select the 'collect at station' option. You will get a reference number to input at the ticket machine at the station. You will need the same credit/debit card you used to make the purchase. Tickets can be collected at any time before you travel. Importantly - Does your credit/debit card have a chip to support 'Chip and Pin' ? If it doesn't, you will probably not be able to collect the tickets from the machines.

Enjoy your visit and if you need any more information just ask.

 

[Merseysider]

Wenn Sie Ihre Fahrkarten von London Midland kaufen, können Sie mit Paypal ohne weitere Gebühren bezahlen. (hier klicken: https://ticket.londonmidland.com/search) Das bedeutet, dass Sie irgendeine Karte brauchen, um den Fahrkartenautomat zu benutzen. Nach dem Kauf Ihrer Fahrkarten gibt es einen Code aus 8 Buchstaben. Das brauchen Sie auch. Sie werden die Fahrkarten nicht entwerten müssen.

Nur zwei Zugfahrten?

If you buy your tickets from London Midland, you can use PayPal to purchase them at no extra cost. You'll need any payment card and the 8-digit code you receive after the transaction. Tickets don't need to be validated.

If you give details of any other journeys you'll be making, we'll be able to tell you the cheapest option(s).

 

[maniacmartin]

I would just buy the tickets immediately prior to travel from the ticket office at London Bridge.. The cost isn't that great for walk-up tickets on the routes you wish to take, and it will give you flexibility in case you are delayed or change your plans. You can pay with cash or a Visa/Mastercard/Amex, but not a german debit card.

If you do decide to buy online in advance, you can collect the tickets immediately before boarding the train if you wish - just remember to take the reference code and the card you used online, as you will need to insert this card into the ticket machine to collect the tickets. You can buy from any company's website as they all sell each other's tickets at the same prices.

Note that the journey from City Airport to London Bridge will be made on DLR and London Underground Jubilee line (changing at Canning Town). These services are operated by TfL, which is London's city transport system. They are separate to National Rail and generally have separate ticket systems. To do this part of the journey you will need to either each have your own contactless credit card (one Visa/Mastercard/Amex per person) to touch in and out of the readers on the ticket gates, or you can buy separate tickets from the DLR ticket machine at City Airport to travel to London Bridge. Do not buy these tickets online, as there are no machines at City Airport to collect them from.

 

[sinalco]

Sheff1,

i prefer to pay with paypal and not with my mastercard. For Germans, thats the more usal way. So i asked if i could use my german mastercard at the ticket machine even i didn't pay the tickets with it. And yes our credit cards here have chips, i have never seen one without. :P

The hint because of a maybe delayed flight is good, but we have Puffer (as we say in German). Maybe it is buffer in English? What i want to say is, that we plan with much more time from City Airport to London Bridge than everbody would need (breakfast; a little sightseeing). So that shouldn't be a problem.

Clip,
thanks to you, too. I will make two printouts and a photo of the e-Mail/pdf with the "collection code" if i book.

Jake F,
yes just this two train rides are definite. A third could be from Southampton to Reading. But we could book that in Southampton last minute in this case?

maniacmartin,
thank you, it is important for me, that buying tickets at the office of London Bridge is not much more expensive. I thought it would be, because the price now in the internet seems for me very good!
From City Airport to London Bridge we would like to take a Taxi, it's not much more expensive, i think. And probaly easier for us. I read about the different transportation companies in the UK, that is really irritating for us Germans...

Best regards

 

[swt class 450]

Hi together,

google suggested this forums to me.

First i want to say sorry for my English, i know it's not the best.

With some guys we come to England in December. We fly to London City airport and from the next bigger Station, which should be London Bridge, we want to take a THAMESLINK to Brighton. And two days later we have to take a SOUTHERN to Southampton.

The problem is that i don't understand how to buy Tickets from Germany. It seems that i can't get them with your royal mail outside the UK.

If I buy them online now, can I collect them in a few weeks from a ticket machine (on the day we arrive)? Or should I do that in "the next hours"?
If i pay with paypal, can i use my german mastercard to get the tickets at London Bridge? Even if i did not pay them with this one?
Is there a difference whether i get the tickets on homepage of Southern oder thameslink?

I am a litte bit confused, may somebody give short instruktions to me...

Thanks!

A guy from Germany

Welcome to the forum.

I would personally recommend just buying all of your tickets on the day from the ticket office. You can pay with cash or card. It will probably be easier to do it this way. Other than advance tickets you wont save any money by buying your tickets online in advance.

You can check ticket prices for all of your journeys using the - www.brfares.com - website.

To get between London City Airport and London Bridge i would recommend taking the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) between London City Airport and Bank and then take the Northern Line between Bank and London Bridge. A Taxi will cost much more and will take much longer. The traffic throughout Greater London can get quite bad.

Just to point out as well as from London Bridge you can also get direct trains to Brighton from London Victoria / London Blackfriars / City Thameslink / Farringdon / London Kings Cross St Pancras International as well.

Also note that that Govia (GTR) who run Gatwick Express / Great Northern / Southern / Thameslink are in the middle of a dispute and are very unreliable with a high number of delayed and cancelled trains every day.

These maps may be of use to you during your stay if you havent seen them already.

Greater London Railway and Underground Map - http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf

South East Railway Map - http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/routemaps/LSE QR 5-16 (GTR).pdf

United Kingdom Railway Map - http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/posters/nationalrailoperatorsmapZoom.pdf

Hope you enjoy your visit to the UK.

 

[maniacmartin]

To get between London City Airport and London Bridge i would recommend taking the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) between London City Airport and Bank and then take the Northern Line between Bank and London Bridge. A Taxi will cost much more and will take much longer. The traffic throughout Greater London can get quite bad.

For London Bridge, changing onto the Jubilee line at Canning Town is quicker, but you miss out on some of the views and get to see a tunnel wall instead.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Even if you don't have a chip card it's not a big issue, the booking office can issue tickets by swiping the card and retrieving the booking that way.

 

[NicholasNCE]

As much as trainline.com is (rightly) vilipended here for charging booking fees, they could be a good solution in this case as they do offer international postal delivery: http://ehelp.thetrainline.com/app/a...2LzEvdGltZS8xNDc4MzUwOTczL3NpZC9fX1Fpb1Uybg==
It does cost £7.50 though

 

[30907]

i prefer to pay with paypal and not with my mastercard. For Germans, thats the more usual way. So i asked if i could use my german mastercard at the ticket machine even i didn't pay the tickets with it. And yes our credit cards here have chips, i have never seen one without. :P

The hint because of a maybe delayed flight is good, but we have Puffer (as we say in German). Maybe it is buffer in English? What i want to say is, that we plan with much more time from City Airport to London Bridge than everbody would need (breakfast; a little sightseeing). So that shouldn't be a problem

Unfortunately, Paypal is rarely used in the UK by major businesses, and credit cards are very widely used in preference to cash - very unlike Germany, sorry!
You could check on Drehscheibe-Foren (Auslandsforum) whether anyone has had problems with your type of card - there are plenty of trip reports from the UK there.

As you have time in hand from LCY to London Bridge, if your bags aren't too heavy, why not get DLR trains to Tower Gateway and do some sightseeing there, then walk west and over London Bridge to catch your Brighton train.

As others have said, the only sort of ticket that is worth buying before you travel is called an "Advance" - it's like a Sparpreis but with even stricter rules (Zugbindung, kontingentiert...)