Underground in London

Old Feb 2nd, 2000, 08:34 AM
  #1  
Kat
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Underground in London

My family and I will be visiting London next month and I heard that you can buy a pass in the U.S. for the Underground system in London. I called several travel agents and they said that they never heard of it. I might have been misinformed. If so...what is the cheapest ticket that I can buy that a family of 4 (2 children) can buy that will allow them to use the system for a week?
Thank you in advance!
 
Old Feb 2nd, 2000, 09:20 AM
  #2  
elaine
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for good information on passes go to
www.londontransport.co.uk

Passes are sold in the US, but I believe these are only the all-zones-inclusive, expensive passes which most visitors won't need. Phone Rail Europe at 1 888 BritRail
 
Old Feb 2nd, 2000, 10:18 AM
  #3  
mary lewis
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We have been to London the past two Octobers and have purchased the tube passes ahead of time. Some will tell you they are more expensive than the ones you can get while over there, but those require an ID picture and some other hassles. We preferred having the passes paid for and ready to use at the airport (Heathrow, anyway) rather than spend our precious vacation time waiting in line to get a slightly cheaper pass. The ones you get ahead of time you can either just get the central zones (1&2) or all zones (1-6).Unless you are going to Kew Gardens or using the passes to get in from Heathrow I would just get the central zones - you can even get out to Greenwich with a zone 2 card! Don't remember exactly where we got the passes from - I will check at home and report back if someone else doesn't let you know.
 
Old Feb 2nd, 2000, 12:16 PM
  #4  
Gary Angelici
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My wife and I went to London in October and wanted to avoid the hassles that Mary talked about in getting tube passes while in London. I called the local AAA travel service to get the tickets in advance. I, too, was greeted by blank responses until I was connected with a more experienced agent in the office. I definitely got the impression they don't handle a lot of these.

Anyway, I ordered two passes for one week for the central zone only for $32 each. In a day or so, I was contacted that the vouchers were ready. The vouchers looked like airline tickets and didn't seem to mention the London underground anywhere on them.

I took both vouchers to the Piccadilly underground station. The voucher jacket on the vouchers listed about 6 stations that would accept them, which were mostly in central London, but also included Heathrow. I was asked when I wanted the passes to start and both passes were issued to me. That was it! It was truly a "no hassle" experience in London. The passes worked great all week.

Good luck, have fun, and mind the gap!
 
Old Feb 2nd, 2000, 12:30 PM
  #5  
susie
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We have found the best deal is to buy a family day pass. Take a photo (ID size) of your teenagers with you and the underground station will make you a card for them which allows them to be part of the family pass. When they make the pass and it only takes a few minutes, you will need some proof of age. We used to buy our pass at the station each morning and it allows bus and tube travel. The only stipulation is that you need to wait until after 9am or maybe 9.30am to travel. Some days we walked most places so we did not buy the pass. If you have many 'walking'days the week pass can be a waste.
 
Old Feb 2nd, 2000, 01:51 PM
  #6  
elvira
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After many trips to London, and organizing trips for 4-11 women, I still sit down with itinerary, pencil, paper and do the math.
There are so many different passes, plus the carnets(10 tickets for the price of 6-7) that I figure out how many subway trips per day (and when: before 9am? weekends?) and calculate cost for tickets, passes, etc. and which comes out cheaper.
We find weekend passes to be most cost-effective if we are there for just the weekend (then supplement with day passes or carnets if we are there Monday or Friday).
The site elaine gave you will help with costs - sorry, Kat, it's MATH time.
 
Old Feb 2nd, 2000, 05:26 PM
  #7  
Tom
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Tell the uninformed travel agents to look in their computer under Brit Rail.
Regards- Tom
 
Old Feb 3rd, 2000, 06:30 AM
  #8  
cheryl
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Just for fun, I did the math for you, and if you buy 2 adult and 2 children's 7 day visitor passes for all zones through Rail Europe, the cost is $184. Similar passes bought in London with photos will cost approximately $162. Each will involve waiting in a line of some kind, since you must exchange the visitor cards are actually vouchers that you exchange for passes, or get the photo card made, depending on which way you decide to go. I am not sure, but I believe the visitor pass also comes with a coupon book for London attractions (it did two years ago when I last did this). If you are not planning on taking the underground from Heathrow into the city, you probably just need central zone passes, and the cost would drop to $100 vs. $82 or even $72 (zone 1 only). Even if you are planning on taking the tube to and from Heathrow, if this is the only time you will need the outer zones, it is cheaper to buy central zone passes and then individual tube tickets to and from Heathrow. I hope this helps.

By the way, even if you decide to get the passes in the US, many travel agents are now charging commisions for making these purchases for you, so you might be better off ordering directly from Rail Europe. The website is www.raileurope.com.

To add my own question to this post, in the hopes that Elvira will be checking in, I am planning on doing this myself later this month, and getting the travel card that requires a photo. How much of a hassle is this? I have heard from several people on this site that it only takes a few minutes, is this true? And can I purchase these passes at Heathrow, or should I wait until I get into the city? Thanks.
 
Old Feb 3rd, 2000, 06:57 AM
  #9  
Richard
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The photo ID card can be obtained free at any underground station as long as you present a passport size photo. Some of the larger stations have photo booths where you can obtain photos for about 5 pounds. We decided to take our own photos before leaving the US. You'll need a 2" x 2" photo similar to a passport photo. We did ours with a disposable camera and a white sheet for a background. They were accepted without question.
 
Old Feb 3rd, 2000, 07:28 AM
  #10  
Flora
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To simplify the Photo Card process even more, we just took candid pictures of us that we already had and gave them to the clerk at the Tube station. He took a scissors to them and snip, snip, cut out our faces and laminated them onto the Photo Card. No special background is necessary. Just make sure the image of your face is approximately the same size as in your passport photo. The process couldn't be simpler.
 
Old Feb 3rd, 2000, 01:15 PM
  #11  
Kat
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Thank you to all for responding and a special thanks to Cheryl for doing the math for me! I went to Rail Europe's website and found the answer I was looking for. They also suggested a travel agent not far from my home that could print these passes. Thank you again!
 

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