Northern app - buying a ticket for someone else

[aye2beeviasea]

Does anyone know if it is possible to buy a ticket on the Northern app for somebody else? There doesn't seem to be an option to say who the ticket is for, and the wording seems to assume that the ticket will be for the person buying it.

I will be with the person throughout the journey, and have my own separate ticket (a paper complimentary ticket).

They don't have a smartphone so can't buy it themselves.

Thanks!

 

[Haywain]

There doesn't seem to be an option to say who the ticket is for,

If there isn't such an option what prevents your "someone else" from using it?

 

[Hadders]

It’s absolutely fine to purchase a ticket for someone else.

If it’s an e-ticket it can either be printed or forwarded to them to be displayed on a phone (although I see the person you’re buying it for doesn’t have a smartphone).

If it’s a ticket that requires collection from a ticket machine then you’ll need to make sure it is collected before boarding the train. Most ticket retailers don’t need the card used for payment to dispense the ticket but there are some (eg LNER) that still do.

 

[Watershed]

In principle, train tickets are freely transferrable until they start being used. That means you can buy a ticket for someone else, or indeed you could buy it for yourself and then later choose to sell it to them (for no more than face value)

The exception is season tickets and other similar tickets that are shown as being issued to a specific person. You would be asked for a name and photo, or photocard number, when buying such a ticket.

So no, there is nothing stopping you buying a ticket for someone else. Just be aware of the potential pitfall that @Hadders mentions in connection with paper ticket collection.

 

[agk2126]

Very curious. What is the economic logic for prohibiting reselling tickets for more than face value?

I understand that is the law per section 5.1.3 (Transfer of Tickets) in the National Rail Conditions of Travel, but why is it illegal? If I wish to buy a valid ticket (on Northern or any other operator) and someone is willing to sell it to me at a mutually agreed price, why should it be my business (or a legal matter) what they paid for it originally?

Secondary ticketing (as well as secondary markets more broadly) can send important price signals about quantities supplied and demanded. Why would train tickets be an exception? In some countries (e.g. France or the United States) intercity rail tickets are not transferable at all, but why control the prices in private transactions?

 

[aye2beeviasea]

Thank you everyone. It'll be an e-ticket so it looks like all will be fine; I'll be with them so I'll just show the ticket on my phone at the gate.

 

[Wolfie]

Very curious. What is the economic logic for prohibiting reselling tickets for more than face value?

I understand that is the law per section 5.1.3 (Transfer of Tickets) in the National Rail Conditions of Travel, but why is it illegal? If I wish to buy a valid ticket (on Northern or any other operator) and someone is willing to sell it to me at a mutually agreed price, why should it be my business (or a legal matter) what they paid for it originally?

Secondary ticketing (as well as secondary markets more broadly) can send important price signals about quantities supplied and demanded. Why would train tickets be an exception? In some countries (e.g. France or the United States) intercity rail tickets are not transferable at all, but why control the prices in private transactions?

Would you really like train tickets to be like concert tickets where big companies such as Ticketmaster use automated systems to buy all of the cheap tickets and then look to resell them for a profit? Particularly given the amount of taxpayer subsidy of the railway.

 

[agk2126]

Would you really like train tickets to be like concert tickets where big companies such as Ticketmaster use automated systems to buy all of the cheap tickets and then look to resell them for a profit? Particularly given the amount of taxpayer subsidy of the railway.

Excellent question. Potentially, yes, I might prefer train tickets to resemble the concert ticket model. For example, if some stranger holds an Advance Single from Oxford to London Marylebone valid tomorrow morning, which they had bought weeks earlier for £5.40 and no longer need, it might not be worth their time and effort to resell it at face value. Their own sense of transaction costs might outweigh the £5.40, but if they could get, say, £20, perhaps they might go to the trouble. And someone who needs to travel to London urgently would prefer to buy their ticket for £20 than a last-minute Off-Peak Day Single for £37.

I entirely understand the argument to regulate secondary markets for price transparency, authenticity of tickets, information about any attendant restrictions (times, Railcards, etc) but am not necessarily sure why the resale price itself would be controlled, or exactly how society benefits from potentiallly mutually beneficial transactions being disallowed.

 

[thejuggler]

I buy for other people all the time, family members. All the tickets are on one phone and can be shared, but no problem scanning each one to let them through barriers.

 

[aye2beeviasea]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Can confirm that we had no problems at all.