London and Stuff...

[1B85]

Have a couple of Advance tickets to London, staying for a couple of days before returning on another couple of Advance tickets the morning of the third day. Just checking the situation is the same as when travelled previously...

1 - Getting around in London, one of us has a YP discount, the other doesn't, is railcard discounted Oyster PAYG (deposit refundable?) for one plus Contactless Credit Card for other still work out the most convenient way of getting around?

2 - Will have to go to Watford, is there a Oyster/Contactless fare? How much is it? Is it just a matter of touching at the barriers at Euston and again at Watford Junction? Any train services that can't be used/restrictions/anything else I might need to know about?

3 - Might do a bit of sightseeing, will our outwards and back Advance Tickets be valid for 2-4-1 attractions throughout the trip or is that only on the day of the tickets? Will we have to buy a Z12 day Travelcard each instead?

Thanks

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

1 - Getting around in London, one of us has a YP discount, the other doesn't, is railcard discounted Oyster PAYG (deposit refundable?) for one plus Contactless Credit Card for other still work out the most convenient way of getting around?

That's probably the easiest way of doing it. The deposit and the credit on an Oyster card can be refunded if you return it. If it's below a certain amount (I think £10) it can be done there and then at certain ticket machines. Otherwise you have to send it back by post and get a bank transfer or similar.

Oyster and contactless are in many ways the same, but there remain some differences between the two, and there are situations in which it is cheaper or better to use one rather than the other. This article discusses this further.

2 - Will have to go to Watford, is there a Oyster/Contactless fare? How much is it? Is it just a matter of touching at the barriers at Euston and again at Watford Junction? Any train services that can't be used/restrictions/anything else I might need to know about?

Watford Junction is within the Oyster/contactless pay as you go area, however it isn't within the standard Zones 1-6, or even Zones 7, 8 or 9. It's in an area where "special fares apply", so you will pay more than the normal fare to a Zone 9 station for example. You can see a map of all rail and Tube lines that you can use Oyster/contactless on, as well as the Zone of each station, here. You can check the fare you'll pay using either the TfL single fare finder or the LT Fares website (as fares will vary depending on the number of zones travelled through, the time of tapping in, as well as the route taken, and other factors). Note that, for example for Watford, it's significantly cheaper to travel to Watford High Street rather than Watford Junction, as this is in Zone 8 despite being less than a mile down the road (and being slightly nearer to the true centre of town).

The only notable restriction when travelling to or from Watford Junction is that Virgin Trains services only serve passengers travelling to/from beyond London, so you can't travel on Virgin Trains services between Watford Junction and London Euston (as they are pick up/set down only). However, London Northwestern Railway and London Overground services provide a very frequent service, so it's not a big problem. If you want to save some money without spending ages on the stopping London Overground service, you could in theory travel to Watford High Street via Watford Junction - and you would then only be charged the lower Zone 8 tube-scale fare (rather than the inflated "special" fare to Junction). Oyster is, as in most other rail services, used by tapping in at the Euston gateline (or validator if travelling from an ungated platform), and tapping out at the gateline at the exit.

3 - Might do a bit of sightseeing, will our outwards and back Advance Tickets be valid for 2-4-1 attractions throughout the trip or is that only on the day of the tickets? Will we have to buy a Z12 day Travelcard each instead?

Yes, Advances qualify for the 2 for 1 "days out" offer.

 

[gazthomas]

Yes
Yes - see the Tfl website
And Yes

 

[alistairlees]

Yes, Advances qualify for the 2 for 1 "days out" offer.

The Days Out Guide website is very confusing on the topic of validity of different ticket types for 2FOR1 offers, mostly due to very poor wording.
For instance, it states:

The following ticket types are valid for 2FOR1 and other offers on daysoutguide.co.uk:

• National Rail orange paper tickets including:
  • Advance

If... your ticket is valid for one day, you can use your National Rail tickets and offer vouchers only on the day of travel.

All tickets should show that you have travelled to the attraction by train, whether that be ‘London Terminals’ for 2FOR1 London attractions, or the train station nearest to the attraction itself. Tickets that have a destination too far from the attractions location may be denied by attraction staff.

This would suggest that an Advance ticket to London is valid for 2FOR1, but an Advance ticket from London is not valid for 2FOR1, as its destination would be too far from the attraction. This does make sense; the aim is to attract visitors to London, and it would otherwise benefit people leaving London.

The Days Out Guide website does further confuse things by also talking about return journeys and one way journeys; it would be better if it talked about ticket types only and did not refer to journeys (after all, a journey can be composed of multiple tickets, and it is the ticket that is being presented as evidence; the attraction knows nothing about your journey).

For the Advance tickets that are from London I think the OP should seek advice from the Days Out Guide by contacting them.

 

[Joe Paxton]

My reading and understanding of the tickets eligible for 2-FOR-1 discounts as per the text on Days Out Guide website is very much contrary to that of alistairlee's above!

The FAQ says an Advance ticket is valid, furthermore it says...

If you are making a return journey, you can use your National Rail tickets and offer vouchers any day on or between your outward and return journeys. For example, if you arrived on Thursday and will return on Sunday, your tickets will be considered valid for the offers on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

An Advance from X to London on say a Friday and then an Advance from London back to X on a Sunday constitute a return journey (to me at least!), and so presenting both Advance tickets (having kept hold of the ticket to London after arrival) to an attraction on the Saturday should provide for the 2-FOR-1 discount.

I don't think for a second that the TOCs or the attractions intend to exclude people making multi-day trips to London from elsewhere in the country who are using Advance tickets from the 2-FOR-1 discounts.

Furthermore I haven't come across any reports or accounts of people having trouble using Advance tickets to facilitate 2-FOR-1 discounts at attractions.

 

[island]

Advance tickets are single tickets so I can envisage attraction staff being awkward about it if they wanted to make a fuss. However my limited experience is that they will happily accept anything that looks like one of the tickets on the guide.