Southern Rail Website

[Headbanger]

I have always used Southern Rail website to buy rail tickets without any problems. They have "improved" their site, and it now defaults to the most expensive option. The National Rail website gave me a Day Travelcard (Crawley to London) for £10.50 (Senior Railcard). When you check out it goes to Southern at £27.50!!!.. Has anyone else had problems with their "improved" site , or does anyone know how to order a Day Travelcard on their site. There is a helpline, but they take 14 days to answer.

[CrapAtCryptics]

i swear by trainline - easy to use and lots of friends have take my recommendation. Give it a whirl

[Headbanger]

Brilliant. Thank you.I got my ticket from the station in the end, but will use them next time.

[Buenchico]

CAC might swear by Trainline but there are also a great many people who swear at Trainline.

I used to run a railway station and I got fed up of explaining to customers that the ticket that Trainline had sold them wasn't valid for travel, meaning that they'd have to purchase another ticket at the booking office. (For example they sold tickets to one couple using an offer that was only valid with operator A, on a train run by operator B. Further, they'd managed to allocate reserved seats despite the fact that operator B's trains didn't even have numbers on the seats, yet alone accept reservations for them!).

AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

If you really must use a third-party website, use this one:
http://www.redspottedhanky.com/

However I've just tried the National Rail website and been quoted £10.50. Clicking 'Add to Basket', and then on 'Checkout', took me to the Southern website, where the same fare was offered.

Remember as well that you don't need to use the default ticket provider offered by the National Rail website. There's an option to let you choose a different provider in the blue 'Tickets' box underneath (and to the right of) the train times. For example, I can book that ticket via Abellio Greater Anglia or, indeed, with most other operators.

[Headbanger]

Thank you Buenchico, you're always very helpful. I did try National Rail again, but got an error message or a £27.50 ticket when it went to Southern. I also tried Thameslink- it must be an issue with my browser (Chrome) or very old laptop (Vista). Red Spotted Hankie was brilliant, though they add a £1 service charge,which Southern, when it works, don't.(Trainline was 75p)
Back to the old way- a man in a ticket booth at the station.!

[CrapAtCryptics]

While I hate to contradict people who are trying to help i think maybe Chico`s experience of Trainline is outdated. My wife, for example, has used Trainline for quite a while and never experienced the kind of issues mentioned and no one that I`ve recommended it to has ever come back with any issues. I do not give recommendations on anything lightly or without personal experience.

[CrapAtCryptics]

for the record Trainline does the £10.50 option

[Buenchico]

HB: It's possible that Chrome is forwarding the wrong information to the Southern website. I suggest clearing your cache and trying again:
https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95582?hl=en-GB

CAC: As HB's post indicates, one excellent reason to avoid any third party site is so that you don't get charged booking fees!

[Headbanger]

Thank you both for your help. I think I've finally sussed what I was doing wrong:
putting "Oxford Circus" in as the destination instead of " London Travelcard Zones 1-6" I did try clearing the cache, but still getting error messages. I don't need any tickets for the foreseeable future, so when I next need one it should be O.K.

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your post.

Even easier . . .
Enter your destination simply as 'London' and then, when the times and fares are shown, click on 'Add Travelcard'. That's how I always do it!