How can I buy a ticket for a coach trip?
Are you looking for more info about buying and booking your coach ticket? Would you like to know if children can travel alone, how expensive a children’s ticket will be, or if there is a discount for seniors or people with disabilities?
CheckMyBus tells you how to book your ticket, how to pay for it and how to proceed in case of cancellation or modification.
Write to us! – We’re at your service.
How do I book a coach ticket?
The long-distance bus market is expanding unprecedentedly throughout Italy. Thanks to competitive prices and the continuous growth in the offer of available rides, more and more travellers choose the coach to get around. CheckMyBus is the search engine, which helps you find the most convenient and suitable ride. All according to your needs, by purchasing the ticket conveniently online.
Online booking
Booking a ticket online is probably the easiest option. First, you select your trip with the help of the CheckMyBus search function. Then, you can click on “View Deal” to go to the respective bus company’s website, where you can complete the booking process. Moreover, most bus companies will send you your ticket as an e-ticket via e-mail. You can then print it at home or simply use your smartphone screen to show it to the bus driver. Some companies also allow you to pick your printed ticket up in person.
Some companies, such as National Express, offer special deals – so-called funfares. These are only available if you book online and can save you a lot of money. An added benefit of booking online is that there’s no way you can lose your ticket! The bus company sends you the confirmation once you book, and most accept e-tickets. Then, all you have to do is show your ticket on your phone to boad. Sorted!
When it comes to payment methods, then credit and debit cards are the most common option since most bus companies accept these.
Buying the Ticket at the Bus Stop:
Some companies allow you to purchase your ticket directly at the bus stop. For example, on larger bus terminals, such as in London, you will find specific selling points of companies. While this allows for spontaneous journeys, an extra fee might apply and the ticket could be more expensive than an online fare. Consequently, you may also miss out on deals, like funfares, which are only available online. What you should also keep in mind is that the bus of your choice might already be fully booked. Also pay attention to the fact that not every bus company sells tickets at bus stops: The low-cost provider megabus, for instance, only offers online tickets.
How Can I Pay for my Coach Ticket?
Paying for your coach ticket is basically as easy as shopping on amazon. The majority of bus providers accept credit card, the most common payment method. In addition to that and in order to give customers a greater variety of options, larger companies such as National Express, FlixBus and Terravision also accept PayPal.
How can I Cancel or Change a Booking?
When it comes to cancelling a trip or changing a booking, it is important that you know which kind of ticket you have purchased. The conditions for changing a reservation or cancelling a ticket differ from company to company. Here’s a detailed overview over the different policies, which helps you make the right choice: If you are not sure if you can actually use your ticket or whether you will take the bus at a specific time, then we suggest selecting a refundable option. Some bus companies, such as megabus, only offer non-refundable tickets. However, you can change your reservation for a small arrangement fee. In conclusion, the table below gives you more information on the specific cancellation policies of major bus providers.
Here are the cancellation policies of the most renowned bus companies:
- Passengers must cancel within 72 hours before departure.
- Not every ticket type is refundable.
- Changing dates requires £5. Plus, passengers must pay a price difference based on the current price.
- Original ticket must be presented before boarding the coach with amendment reference quoted.
- Flexible fare add-on entitles to a full refund 24 hours before departure.
- For cancellation or amendment, passengers can resort to National Express 24/7 Customer Contact Centre online.
- Please have your ticket number at hand when making any changes or asking for a cancellation.
- In case of a flight delay, a later departure may be provided. Amendments of any kind are charged £5 plus ticket price difference.
- Changes must be made 24 hours prior to departure.
- Changes can conveniently be made online.
- Procedure fee is £1. Ticket difference based on current price.
- Refund not available.
- Modification of travelling date can be made at least 24 hours prior to departure.
- Terravision tickets are non-refundable.
- For further info, passengers can contact Terravision via e-mail
What Happens if I Lose My Bus Ticket?
If you lose your coach ticket, then unfortunately you need to book a new one. If you have only lost the printed version, then you can check your e-mails for the original ticket in order to print it out again. Should you lose your ticket on the way to the bus stop, then you can ask the bus driver or at a service point whether an electronic version of your ticket is ok for you to board or whether they can print out your actual ticket for you. Should you book a bus trip and you did not receive an e-mail, you should check your spam folder before contacting the bus company.
How Can I Save More Money with Discounts?
In order to compete with each other, the various coach companies offer different forms of discount. It’s always worth checking them out in order to find out, which bus provider really offers the best overall deal. Finally, in the table below you can see, which bus company provides discount for which customer groups and how to save money with a few easy tricks. For more information about which coach companies offer discounts, check our bus deals and discounts page.
National Express:
- Baby: 0-3 years old, free. Adult accompaniment is required
- Child fares: 3-16 years old. Proof of age is required
- Funfares: lowest priced tickets. Online only
- Discounts for students who are members of national union of students (NUS or NUS extra): 25% off the standard ticket price
- Young Person’s Coachcard (16 to 26 or full time student): 1/3 off the standard ticket price
- Disabled Persons Coachcard: 1/3 off the standard ticket price
- Senior Coachcard (over 60): 1/3 off the standard ticket price
- Family Coachcard: Free bus travel for children, but adults and children must travel together.
- Scottish Entitlement Card holder: free coach trip within Scotland
- E-voucher
megabus:
- Baby: 0-3 years old ride for free when with an Adult.
- £1 trip offered frequently through online booking
- Discounts for students who are members of national union of students (NUS or NUS extra)
- Scottish Entitlement Card holder: free coach trip within Scotland
Terravision:
- Cheap deals are frequently offered for online booking
- No booking fee
- E-voucher (6 months valid)
We remind you that CheckMyBus is a search engine that helps you find the most suitable coach for your trip, but that does not provide the transport service directly. For any questions regarding your ticket, for changes or cancellations, we always recommend that you contact the Customer Service of the specific operator.
409 Comments
Milan Veselka
Hello Dear CheckMyBus Support Team,
I am sales representative from Czech Republic. I plan trip to UK when borders will open again. I need to visit multiple cities within my trip. I am wondering if you have in your tickets offer any solution for me. Trip is planned for two weeks with traveling from London to Harwich and then along the coast to Plymouth. For me would be much more useful to have one ticket without limitations and with chance to just book my routes for next day and another day. Always one day in advance. Do you have anything like this available, please?
Kind Regards,
Milan Veselka
milanveselka.ml@protonmail.com
CheckMyBus
Dear Milan,
Thank you for your comment. Firstly, we recommend you to be aware of the travel situation in the UK before taking your trip. Many routes and bus operators have suspended their routes due to the coronavirus and many restrictions will be applied once the borders open again.
Regarding your trip, please, notice that CheckMyBus is an online comparator for buses and tickets, but we don´t operate with those buses directly. For your request from London to Plymouth, we recommend you contact the bus company you want to travel with and request more information about your request.
We hope you have a great time once you can travel again to the UK.
Kind regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
Paulina
Hello I have a question I have a bus pass do I have to pay anything and my baby she is one years old dose she have to pay .
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Paulina,
Thank you for your message. Please note that different long-distance coach providers have different policies regarding child ticket fares. Generally, most coach providers allow for infants to travel free of charge as long as they sit on their parent’s lap and don’t occupy a seat. We do strongly suggest you avoid travel at this time, however, unless it is an emergency. For more specific information related to bus policies and whether or not connections are operating during this situation, we suggest contacting the coach company you plan to travel with directly.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
Maria Warner
Are buses still able to leave Poland ? Looking to get back to UK ?
Maria Warner
We are looking at options of getting to the uk from Poland you appear to have buses leaving Warsaw to London . Can you confirm that these are still running before we book as we have tried FlixBus and the journey got cancelled last minute since the recent government announcements . Is this affecting your service too?? Thankyou In anticipation
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Gio,
Thank you for your message. As a UK national, you should be able to return from Poland to the UK. However, as the bus from Warsaw to London passes through countries, such as Germany, where travel restrictions are currently in place, we suggest checking with travel advisories to find the best way to get back to the UK. It may make the most sense to travel by plane. It’s also a good idea to check in with bus providers, such as FlixBus to see which bus routes are still available and under what conditions.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
Ju
Am I able to change the time of my journey,I.e if the bus has availability?
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Ju,
Thank you for your message. Please note that CheckMyBus is an intercity bus price comparison portal and doesn’t sell tickets. When you click “view deal” on a bus route in our system, you are then redirected to the company’s webpage to make the booking and payment. In this case, you’ll have to get in contact with the bus company you booked your trip with directly to see if you can update your ticket to travel at a different time and check to see if there’s availability for when you would like to travel.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
lee
Your ticket information for the journey from Guildford to Portsmouth is incorrect.
National Express does not stop at the Guildford Bus Station but does stop at a bus stop 2 miles away near the Tesco supermarket.
Please correct the information on your useful website
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Lee,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have corrected the bus station in our system so it should display correctly now. We’re always working to optimize our search engine, so deeply appreciate such feedback to help our future users.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
Michel Guignard
I have booked and traveled with Bla-bla-bus. (20th and 24th of February 2020) They have issued an invoice in Euro, with a French VAT which is pretty much useless to us.
(I have all the necessary references if needed).
They seem to be unable to issue an invoice in £, although I bought the ticket in Sterling for a journey from London to Paris and back, on an English website.
They have charged me 73.98 euros for an original quote of £51.98.
As it was booked through you, BBB suggested you would be the only ones able to provide us with the proper invoice and for the original quoted price.
Which I unfortunately suspect is not he same amount debited directly from our corporate bank account.
Could you please guide us on how to resolve this issue.
Best regards
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Michel,
Thank you for your message. We’re sorry to hear about your booking experience. Please note that CheckMyBus is an intercity travel price comparison portal and doesn’t sell tickets. When you click “view deal” on a route in our search engine, you are then redirected to the company’s webpage to make the booking and payment. To receive compensation, you must contact Bla-bla-bus directly.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
Christopher McGinlay
Hi I have booked a bus for the 25th a February from Santiago de compostello to braga at 17.30 I can’t find the confirmation in my emails anyway how can I recover this ticket ?
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Christopher,
Thank you for your message. Please note that CheckMyBus is an intercity bus price comparison portal and doesn’t sell tickets or operate buses. When you click “view deal” on a bus connection in our website, you are then redirected to the company’s webpage to make the booking and payment. To get the confirmation of your ticket or a refund, you must contact the bus company you booked your trip with directly.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
Terry Morgan
I have booked an outward trip from sofia Bulgaria on 12 March 2020 but haven’t had an email to confirm or print ticket. The same for the return from stara zagora back to sofia on 16 March 2020. Help please.
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Terry,
Thank you for your message. Please note that CheckMyBus is an intercity bus price comparison portal and doesn’t sell tickets or operate buses. When you click “view deal” on a bus connection in our website, you are then redirected to the company’s web-page to make the booking and payment. To get the confirmation of your ticket or a refund, you must contact the bus company you booked your trip with directly.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team
korella
We are two passengers to travel from Dover to Calais without a car. Can we get a coach service on the ferry?
CheckMyBus-Support
Dear Korella,
Thank you for your message. There are buses available from Dover and Folkstone which travel to Calais. You can find all available bus connections by entering your information into our search engine to find and compare the best deals. If you have any further questions, please feel free to get in touch with us again.
Best regards,
Your CheckMyBus Support Team