Thanks to this community for your advice and help. I need to buy two adult one-way train tickets from London (any station) to Edinburgh for the morning of July 7, 2025.
I already bought two Interrail Global Passes, good for any 4 days within a month. I would like to use those passes for this train ticket, but so far I cannot see how to do that. I live in Switzerland and have residency there but hold a US passport.
I’ve tried doing this with VPN set to Great Britain and and also without, neither seems to make a difference.
Here’s also what I’ve tried:
Interrail.eu : when I try to book on this site, while logged into my account, and I’ve added my passes to my account, I can see many trains throughout the day, but I get a red popup that says seat reservations are required for this train travel, but that I can’t make seat reservations from this site. The “more information” button says to try buying tickets on acprail.com
Acprail.com : I created an account on this site and tried to load my passes there but their site says they can only honor pass holders on UK and Eurostar trains. But when I search for tickets, it says request cannot be processed at this time. One search page on their site gives me the option of searching for “Tickets and Reservations” or only for “Reservations”. I assume this is where I would apply my rail passes, which count as the “Tickets”, and only need to make a (seat) “Reservation”. From their homepage, I can click a “Destinations” dropdown in the upper left, I select UK, then “Reservations for Pass Holders”. That page describes that I need a “BritRail Pass” to buy tickets. Is BritRail the same as Interrail Global? Every now and then I can get that site to show a ticket for sale for $112, but would obviously like to use my rail passes. When I click “Reservations only”, it says not possible. When I click “Tickets with Reservations”, I get train option of London Euston to Edinburgh Waverly 8:38-14:19, with a direct train for $206. Is there no way to use my pass for that trip then?
LNER.co.uk: I created an account here and tried to add my travel passes but when I try to add my Interrail Global Passes, the only option that looks possible from the drop down is “Network Railcard”. If I choose that and hit search, a pop up appears saying “Your travel card may only allow travel after 10am”. Even when I change my departure to 11am, it still has the same pop up.
TheTrainLine.com : Gives me the option of several trains, the best being 8am - 12:24, for 2 people for $159, but is there a way to use my travel passes? When I click “Add a Railcard” from the dropdown menu, I select “Network Railcard” (because I don’t see “Interrail Global Pass” as an option). With this selected, it doesn’t change the price.
SplitMyFare.co.uk : tickets available London Euston to Edinburgh, 7:30-12:20, for 113 EU total. It let me click that I’m using rail pass for all passengers, and also lets me select forward facing seats, table or not, and window or aisle. Is the $113 just the cost of the seat reservation then? If so, I guess this is my best bet?
So, my options as I see them:
- I can not make any reservation and wait until we get to England, go to a main station, and ask someone at a service desk to ensure we have seats and tickets for that day (seems risky).
- Don’t make any reservation, just hold our pass in our hand and step on the train, hoping we can find a place to sit or stand for 4 hours that day.
- I can buy the tickets on SplitMyFare now, paying the listed price, then show my rail pass when we get on the train.
- You magical rail wizards tell me what I’m doing wrong and help me secure these tickets from home.
Thanks all! I need your help!
Brian
