Etihad to add a second daily flight from Manchester

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• Rich says:

  17 Sep17 September 06:06

  The Virgin offer is limited to 2000 customers. It’s already been running for 10 days.

  • Cate says:

    17 Sep17 September 06:42

    Yes I noticed that. Wonder how you’ll know if you’re in the first 2000? If I click on the link it says I’ll only get 3 pts per £ so wonder if they’ve all gone already?

    • Rich says:

      17 Sep17 September 06:43

      I don’t think I found out before purchase, but the 2000 showed as pending almost immediately

• BJ says:

  17 Sep17 September 06:16

  I’ve heard of two peopme in past year ir so getting penaltiez when unable to bring up their digital railcards on their app so best screenshot them.

  • Rich says:

    17 Sep17 September 06:49

    A screenshot is not valid – it needs to show the moving digital watermark. Although it may be better than nothing to keep the guard happy.

    I’ve had plenty of trouble with railcards disappearing, even if it was there five minutes ago. Moreso on the third-party apps – the Railcard app has been fine in my experience.

    • BJ says:

      17 Sep17 September 07:05

      I didn’t realise the digital card was that sophisticated. I still get a physical card. The problem is that the guards rarely listen to reason and just write most off as fare dodgers.

    • Alex says:

      17 Sep17 September 07:35

      No moving watermark on the Virgin App

      • EvilGazebo says:

        17 Sep17 September 11:45

        Yes there is (on mine anyway).

      • Rich says:

        17 Sep17 September 14:53

        There is on mine. ‘Hologram’ type thing in the bottom right corner.

  • Rich says:

    17 Sep17 September 06:51

    I would not be best-pleased receiving a penalty in that situation, although the railway is a law unto itself (literally) in this area.

    • BJ says:

      17 Sep17 September 07:11

      One of the passengers concerned was personally known to me, she had to pay over £200 IIRC but I’ve no idea if she took ib further. Tge second case just came up in vonveesation but I cannit recall the details so there probably weren’t any other than it happened.

  • SamG says:

    17 Sep17 September 08:29

    If you cannot show a railcard you should be given the opportunity once per year to send it afterwards and no further action should be taken

    Personally I use the trainline app for my railcard, I found the “official” app flaky and I know of issues with trip.com if you are offline

    That said can’t recall last time I ever actually had to show it to anyone!

• memesweeper says:

  17 Sep17 September 07:13

  Download code only worked into the Virgin Trains Ticketing app for me.

• DCW says:

  17 Sep17 September 07:14

  The Virgin offer doesn’t include Veterans Railcards.

• Alex says:

  17 Sep17 September 07:33

  I’ve had a railcard for over 3 years and maybe been asked for it a handful of times. With barriers, it’s now becoming less and less common. I got this offer and the 2090 points were pending instantly.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    17 Sep17 September 08:20

    Indeed. Only asked for it a handful of times but I’d rather be able to show the (physical) card than not.

    And I have seen people being issued with penalties because they can’t show their card on the train – either because they don’t have one or because their phone isn’t working.

    • BJ says:

      17 Sep17 September 09:12

      Based on these comments it would seem that not being asked is the norm. I guess if you are asked then that’s a goon sign that you are dealing with the type of person that is going to make an issue out of it if you cannot then produced it. I’ve always presented my physical card along with my ticjets so I had no idea mostcweren’t bothered so I’ll probably not bother now too.

      • CamFlyer says:

        17 Sep17 September 09:34

        Every time my ticket is checked I am asked for my Railcard, if using a ticket that requires a Railcard.

      • Roy says:

        17 Sep17 September 10:19

        If your ticket is inspected on the train, you will be asked to show your railcard.

        It’s rather that on some routes ticket inspections on the train are quite rare, with the companies relying on ticket barriers, ticket checks in stations, etc.

        • @mkcol says:

          17 Sep17 September 10:53

          No you won’t Roy, it’s all down to the guard if you’re asked or not.
          People faffing around for their railcard is the last thing guards need to slow them down from their other duties.

        • will says:

          17 Sep17 September 11:36

          Whenever I’ve traveled on a rail card ticket and the guard has come round the train I’ve been asked for the rail card, been told screen shots not acceptable.

          Of course sometimes it’s too busy to practically check all tickets and barriers are definitely reducing on train inspections.

        • Richard says:

          17 Sep17 September 12:10

          I’m very rarely asked to show my Network Railcard on SWR, whereas when I’m travelling on LNER the policy seems to be that everyone is always asked.

          It might just be different policies with different companies, but I wonder if the type of railcard makes a difference? Anyone can buy a Network Railcard, so if you’re fiddling it, the lost revenue is only the cost of the railcard. Whereas if you claim you’re entitled to a Senior Railcard but actually aren’t, you could be scamming literally thousands of pounds if you regularly made long-distance trips.

  • ADS says:

    17 Sep17 September 11:40

    the Stansted Express staff at Stansted Airport end always ask for the railcard – both arriving and departing

    even if it makes you miss a train!

    • Richie says:

      17 Sep17 September 12:51

      …or plane.

    • Lumma says:

      17 Sep17 September 17:52

      Luckily, Stansted Airport is getting contactless soon so Greater Anglia won’t be able to use it as a cash cow any more

• Terry says:

  17 Sep17 September 08:52

  During the process you have to log in to Railcard to get the card. It won’t take my password even though it’s correct.

• Aston100 says:

  17 Sep17 September 08:57

  I see ticket inspectors on almost every Chiltern Railways journey to/from Marylebone.
  Not so much on Avanti West Coast

  • RussellH says:

    17 Sep17 September 11:05

    Really??
    I now live on Chiltern, and have never, in 3 years, seen a ticket inspector on a Chiltern Train. Local booking office does usually ask to see the railcard AND ask when I shall be travelling when buying a Euro Anytime Return (CIV) ticket.
    Used to live on Avanti – tickets regularly checked, though seldom asked for my Senior Railcard.

    • ankomonkey says:

      17 Sep17 September 18:02

      Have lived on the Chiltern line for over 20 years and get asked to show my ticket almost every time. It’s rare not to be asked.

• Mutley says:

  17 Sep17 September 10:09

  There are very few inspectors on Thameslink, but that’s because there are staffed barriers at every station on the line. London and north western, there are more inspectors, but less barriers, (Although after 21.00 they leave them open when staff have clocked off.) Its much more likely to have railcard checked on longer distance trains. Always good to have physical pass as its sods law your phone has no signal or runs out of battery at the most inopportune time.

  • Nick says:

    17 Sep17 September 11:35

    LNR actually have very few inspectors and those they do have are spread across both the southern and midland operations, but every service has a guard so ticket checks should in theory be frequent. Main difference being that a guard is not trained in full RPI duties so the penalties they can give are more limited.

    Conversely Thameslink has zero guards so everyone you meet will be a full revenue inspector.

  • Richard says:

    17 Sep17 September 12:02

    Your phone doesn’t need to have signal to display the Railcard (at least in the official app and the Trainline app, which are the ones I’ve used). But it does need to be charged of course.

    Different people have different priorities – I feel I’m much more likely to lose a physical ticket than I am to let my phone run out of juice, so having tickets on my phone is always better for me. The same logic applies to railcards.

    Back in the days of paper railcards, I also had more than one occasion when the print wore off so much that it became illegible! There was a publicised process for getting them replaced when that happened, so it was clearly a common problem.

    Bottom line – nothing’s perfect, choose the one whose imperfections matter least to you.

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