Trainline: Cheap Train Tickets Reviews

by Sketchypenguin

If you want no help and lose your money, use Trainline. Its convenient when buying your tickets, its a pain when asking for a refund.
I live in the USA, and bought train tickets for our trip in Spain. When our trip was cancelled by Renfe(Spanish train operator), I initiated a refund process with this app. this app responded that I should call Renfe( its a long distance call for me$$$), to get a refund. I was able to finally got hold of a Renfe call-agent after several days of attempting to get in touch with a Renfe agent($$$), and was told that, I should get hold of my travel agent because all tickets during our travel date was cancelled and was refunded back to our pay-source irrespective of ticket type. So, when I communicated again with this app. Guess what, I was again advised to call Renfe!!#%#%%*+*\\|*%%#%^*$$$@@:;;(##%%%*
My 2 cents, cut out the middleman and go directly to the service provider. The service provider all have online footprints now. So when travel plans go awry, you only have to deal directly with the provider.
DO NOT USE Trainline!!!!

by Lüxur

My train got cancelled and the Europe team are not responding timely to queries on how to change or refund. There are also no phone/chat option to contact the customer service team. Would not use again for Europe trains.

Trainline is great and booking are easy. Customer service is problematic

by Cfdnelson

I just bought 2 additional tickets for the same journey. my son and his friend missed their connection due to train delay in the Netherlands (on their way to Paris France) I called this app right away to exchange the tickets for the next available train. I got a voice message saying that due to COVID19 phone calls were not being answered and all question answered online(did not know you could catch COVID19 over the phone). They were stuck in a countryside town, train station was closed and no ways to exchange their tickets for a later train. They bought new tickets and will have to get reimbursement via internet. We will write a review on the process. Otherwise buying ticket is easy!

by Craig2042

Sure booking your trip is easy, but Trainline shows the train number and not the line number or platform when looking at your journey. On top of that, I purchased what I believed to be first class tickets for my departing and return trip, because I selected first class. When I boarded the train I was informed that I had second class tickets and had to pay €106 to “upgrade” my ticket, which I had wanted to be first class anyways. I recommend the DB navigator app in Germany as it has more information and clear platform and train information. Do NOT book with Trainline, honestly even the terminal at the station will be better.

by Simmybinker

Here’s a fun trick Trainline does: say you search for a train ticket for the next day, but you’re conducting a search just before midnight. If, by the time you make your purchase, it’s past midnight, it automatically books the ticket for the following day. So it doesn’t lock in a specific DATE, it uses “tomorrow”. Which is idiotically ambiguous. Then, when you want to reach support; they have no option for that either. So instead I just paid the train company an additional 25 euro to have my ticket changed to the correct day.

by App Has Gone Downhill

I purchased one set of tickets and went to book for a second trip. No matter which card I use (all with ample funding), Trainline and the website both refuse payment saying there has been an error. Incredibly frustrating when trying to book a trip.

by Schlieve

After working to purchase train tickets twice, Trainline suddenly stopped working. It says “oops” every time I try to submit payment - I’ve tried multiple different credit cards, Apple Pay and PayPal and none work. Yet I’ve used those cards in numerous other places with no issue and spoke to the card company and there is no block on my card. I reached out to their support two days ago and the customer service rep sent a generic form of info to fill out, then said he didn’t know what was wrong and was sending it up the chain. ZERO follow up since then. He also said them to purchase over the phone instead. No thanks, I have no interest in giving this company my business. Will purchase at the train station, directly from the train company instead. Avoid Trainline, it’ll just waste your time and frustrate you. A quick google search shows I’m not the only one with this issue either. Some from years ago yet the company still doesn’t seem to have a solution to their problem!

by Blyydro

Don’t book tickets with these scam artists. They will sell you tickets from train companies at a higher price! Always buy directly.

Can’t believe these crooks are getting away with this

by Bonny653683

I booked a ticket thinking it was giving me the dates of today and ended up buying a ticket for in 2 days. The refund you get is minimal against the charging fee. Trainline should allow you to just switch the day easily if there are confusions like this or make you put the date you want to travel first.

by Marko9000

Ive booked multiple tickets through Trainline and loved the ease of use. The problem Ive come across is trying to take kids into Belgium from France. Trainline gives an error message whenever I try to book my kids tickets. I’m sure it is a country related issue where kids might not need tickets to be on the train/bus or something like that. The problem is there is no clear guidance on how to proceed within Trainline . I’ve contacted customer service. They are good to respond within a day, but through email only and once you reply, it takes another day for a response and as of yet, after three separate communications over a week, I still have no solutions on how to proceed. Even a chat line with a customer service agent would be fantastic but the current form of email only, 24 hr window for response is ponderous at best.

by Digsfhhgg

Trainline was wonderful until you could no longer check tickets purchased over the website or in the past.

by Gtillz

Trainline was laid out in a user-friendly fashion. However, being that I am new to the area, I do not know exactly where some of the train stations are. If a map function is added, it should be accessed by the “View journey” button in the “My Tickets” tab. You should also be able to access prior to purchasing the ticket to ensure accuracy.

by MSM1990

Can you please add this function to your App. Thanks

by Hdvoice

Simple and clear

by Maxito33

Everyone shoul

by Miss Carus

Best way to travel. Best way to book it

by Calumkenny

New railcard feature is fab.

by Necker51

Faultless app easy to navigate and full of information… made process so simple

by Beast 55( God Rocks )

I live in Switzerland and use this for going anywhere outside of the country. It always finds the BEST prices and extremely easy to use. Highly recommend for europe

by Kristie Stewart

The most amazing app ever. No one should do Italy without it

by Mnbvqwerty1234987

I bought tickets using this app for my wife, my daughter, and myself to travel within the UK. The online, in-app tickets that we were sold did not have any seat numbers. The other passengers on the train all took their seats, which were reserved by their seat numbers, and we were left with nowhere to sit. I can’t believe that we paid for full price tickets and did not get seats. I might use Trainline to look up train schedules but I will never purchase tickets with it again.

by Black Adder1

Trainline is about as much good as their website. First I tried to book a ticket online and have it delivered electronically but this is not an option. The options are delivered by mail or pick up at a ticket machine. After I booked the tickets I find out you can’t pick up your tickets at Heathrow Airport because there’s no ticket machines there! You have to go to the rail station to pick up your tickets and then go to the underground. In frustration I downloaded Trainline in the hopes of transferring my ticket to my apple wallet. This is not an option. All I wanted was a ticket emailed to me so I wouldn’t have to walk around Heathrow trying to find my tickets after a 12 hour flight.

by Nije1

I bought a return ticket London/Edinburgh for my family.
My wife and I stood all through the outbound journey - 4 1/2 hrs! Surprised to know that we do not have seat.
We reported to the train operator (LNER) on arrival at Edinburgh Waverley. They said it’s this app and that they have have lots of similar cases. I called this app to report the issue/understand why I do not have seat. Then I heard the biggest shock in my life - “my trip was not confirmed and that I should have called to confirm my reservation”. Reservation.. for a paid and confirmed ticket...? There was the repeat of the usual “marketing script” from the the two Indian officers I spoke to. Unfortunately they ran out of ideas as script was obviously inconsistent with my questions.
I find it difficult to believe/accept that one has to call to confirm reservation after having booked, chosen a seat and confirmation received.
Summary; buyer beware! A very opportunistic platform with a high probability to cheat!
Use them again? Absolute NO!

by Allston-Tollcross

Trainline is convenient for finding dates and tickets, but In the last few months it has become pretty freezy and crashy on iPhone 6. This is a problem when you need times and tickets in a hurry like at a station.

It also takes quite some time to load barcode tickets on iPhone 6.

Performance is somewhat improved with WiFi turned off.

by MorgaScoot

I don't know what I'd do without Trainline! I'm on a train almost every day, and Trainline makes buying tickets so easy. It's quick, easy, and I can download my tickets on my phone so I don't have to pick them up at the station. I would definitely recommend Trainline to anyone.

by Carljw116

As a frequent visitor, I rely on Trainline to prebook my train travel. I love the ease-of-use, ability to see train durations to help me decide on which train to take and number of stops for each trip. I also really like the ability to use Trainline for mobile tickets at many stations.

by Ilovedessert

Updated review the post upgrade issue was resolved so must have been a server issue. Great app, very convenient, I use it all the time.

I love the previous versions of Trainline however after the upgrade my history of tickets and upcoming reservations no longer show up and Trainline shows an error message 'oops something has gone a bit wrong try again later'

by Bbear-01

I love using this application, and do travel on UK trains without. My only request (if the developers look at comments) would to have the user be prompted to select the ticket collection method rather than default to pickup. If you do not have time to pickup you ticket or cannot you are charge a £10 refund fee.

by JakesTech

Taking a trip back to the UK again at the end of June. Trainline is a must have for rail tix in the UK. Really really simple to use and quick! Purchased advanced tickets on VT, GW, and XC. All were able to be added to Apple Wallet in one tap after purchase. Learned about Trainline from All the Stations and decided to give it a try. Couldn't be happier! Thanks y'all!

by Agnesl

A quick, easy, hassle free way to buy tickets and keep travel times and dates organised. I'm not a regular commuter or business traveler but find myself traveling by train for work or pleasure about twice a month always to different places, making connections, returns from a different station. It easily becomes difficult to keep up with this as it is not just a familiar commuter routine. Trainline makes everything easy! Would highly recommend.

by Typhoon Stroller

I used this app to book advance purchase first class tickets on Virgin from Kings Cross to Newcastle, and Carlisle to Euston. The mobile tickets were readily available or activated the day prior to travel. One can save 30-60% by booking in advance and during off-peak. this app showed the price options and made the rail planning relatively painless. The only challenge would be if you must make last minute changes. That may require a phone call to this app. I will be recommending Trainline to my friends who plan to use train travel in the UK.

by Ccih

It gives you info for a specific journey, but even better: then you can ask it to generate a timetable for that trip for a full week. You can save these timetables at home, and then have a full set to refer to when you're in England and want data turned off. Great resource!