National express coach tickets... gone?

[loc]

Eh, help! We are going to Glastonbury with our 3 small children. We will take a national express coach from London Victoria to Glastonbury on the 22nd, and then back on the 27th. I bought tickets online for that trip on October 21st. I have paid, I have received a confirmation mail and I received the digital tickets. Now I logged into my account to see if I could change the times, because they are quite horrible: we leave from Glastonbury at 06:00 on the 27th, arrive in London around 09:55AM but our train back to Holland leaves at 18:06. Staying in London all day on the way back with big bags and small children that will be tired doesn't seem like such a good idea. Especially if they have to wake up in Glastonbury around 04:30 to even make it to the bus on time (taking down tents etc).

 

HOWEVER: when I log in to my national express account, it says I have NO tickets. If I fill in the ticket numbers, they are not recognized. At all. So something's wrong, but National Express is impossible to reach. I tried everything. Does anybody know if it's 'normal' that Glasto bus tickets I booked at National Express don't show up on the site (these are NOT tickets that are part of a ticket+coach package, I had to book them separately), or that something could really be wrong? And also: if it's even possible to switch to a later bus?

Worried now... 

[AmyShambles]

I've just logged in to check ours after reading this. Tickets weren't there initially but I clicked on 'Find Your Ticket', entered my ticket number and it did show up. It's now linked to my account (must have done guest checkout when purchasing). I bought these in March after the ticket resale.

Edited June 19, 2022 by AmyShambles

[giantkatestacks]

The buses down there and back from Victoria dont stick to timings, you just get in the queue around the right time so if you turned up at 8am that would be fine. We'll that's how it has always worked before anyway.

To the ticket point? No idea. But you have the tickets right?

[Spindles]

This got me worried so I checked my booking.  If you follow the link on your email to "printer friendly" page it should give you a page with a QR code and the booking details.

[giantkatestacks]

BTW as the queue is so horrid at VCS and snakes round the building with little cover make sure you have sun/rain protection, snacks and stuff to keep the kids amused.

[loc]

Yes, it's partly solved now: I tried the 'Find Your Ticket' option and then it showed a message that said it had to be linked, which could take up to 5 minutes. However, ever since I only get the message: 'We are sorry Something is not working in this area, bear with us while we try to fix this quickly. Please try again later.'

 

I tried logging out and in again, restarting browser, but I keep getting this message. So now I know the tickets are there, but still no option to change to a later bus (if that's an available option at all to begin with)...

The suggestion to just pick another bus later sounds a bit scary to me. I went to Glastonbury once before, in 2013, and I remember back then you really needed to go to the right bus at the right time. However, that was a bus ticket from a ticket+coach package. Don't know if that's different from the 'regular' National Express buses that go back and forth?

[loc]

23 minutes ago, giantkatestacks said:

BTW as the queue is so horrid at VCS and snakes round the building with little cover make sure you have sun/rain protection, snacks and stuff to keep the kids amused.

I don't understand this: why would there be a horrid queue, if all the buses have specific times they leave and tickets are assigned to those specific buses (in my case: at 11:00AM on the 22nd)?

[Deviceing]

4 minutes ago, loc said:

I don't understand this: why would there be a horrid queue, if all the buses have specific times they leave and tickets are assigned to those specific buses (in my case: at 11:00AM on the 22nd)?

Each slot is multiple buses, and if it's anything like the Download pilot last year you just continuously have buses turn up, fill up with people then leave, and the next bus arrives a few seconds later. Time on the ticket isn't a big deal as long as you aren't taking the piss (different story for coach+ticket packages, obviously).

Download pilot was about 20x smaller than Glastonbury is and I still queued for nearly an hour even though I was on time. Don't put too much stock into the arrival time on the ticket either.

[ilovelanegan]

25 minutes ago, loc said:

I don't understand this: why would there be a horrid queue, if all the buses have specific times they leave and tickets are assigned to those specific buses (in my case: at 11:00AM on the 22nd)?

 

11 minutes ago, Deviceing said:

Each slot is multiple buses, and if it's anything like the Download pilot last year you just continuously have buses turn up, fill up with people then leave, and the next bus arrives a few seconds later. Time on the ticket isn't a big deal as long as you aren't taking the piss (different story for coach+ticket packages, obviously).

Download pilot was about 20x smaller than Glastonbury is and I still queued for nearly an hour even though I was on time. Don't put too much stock into the arrival time on the ticket either.

Yep, plus factor in there will be some people arriving really early 'just in case' so you may find people with 12/1pm reservations in the 11am queue... who just get shoved onto the next available coach

[loc]

12 minutes ago, Deviceing said:

Each slot is multiple buses, and if it's anything like the Download pilot last year you just continuously have buses turn up, fill up with people then leave, and the next bus arrives a few seconds later. Time on the ticket isn't a big deal as long as you aren't taking the piss (different story for coach+ticket packages, obviously).

Download pilot was about 20x smaller than Glastonbury is and I still queued for nearly an hour even though I was on time. Don't put too much stock into the arrival time on the ticket either.

So.. that sounds like you're almost saying: take the 6AM bus, since it won't be very busy yet then so at least you don't have to queue forever? Something like that? I'm trying to fix things as smoothly as possible with the kids, the OLDESt is 7.. 😕

[loc]

1 minute ago, ilovelanegan said:

 

Yep, plus factor in there will be some people arriving really early 'just in case' so you may find people with 12/1pm reservations in the 11am queue... who just get shoved onto the next available coach

Do ALL those buses go to London Victoria then??

[loc]

(I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that the bus times on the ticket seem to not really mean anything) (argh) 🙂

[giantkatestacks]

Yes that's exactly the case. Especially to Glastonbury. Back to London theres a little bit more of putting people in pens but on the way out it's one hideous queue no matter what time you're on. They've got hundreds to get onto coaches. The only way to do that is to have a massive loading area like See do at the O2 or have one continuous queue.

[loc]

20 minutes ago, giantkatestacks said:

Yes that's exactly the case. Especially to Glastonbury. Back to London theres a little bit more of putting people in pens but on the way out it's one hideous queue no matter what time you're on. They've got hundreds to get onto coaches. The only way to do that is to have a massive loading area like See do at the O2 or have one continuous queue.

Thanks for all the answers. I guess we'll make sure we leave our hostel thingy early then, and then we'll see at what time we can actually enter a bus. 

I just remember why in 2013 I HAD to be in a specific bus with the ticket+coach package: you got your ticket IN the bus. I have zero memory of any queues. Not because there weren't any queues back then, I just can't remember. The only thing I remember from the queue in London was that it was also at the Victoria coach station and that I was wondering why SO MANY people were wearing wellies. That was also the first time in my life I heard the word 'wellies' to begin with. 

Less than a day later I found out why half of the people were wearing them. Or more than half (can't remember that either, I feel so old). I had sneakers. Lost one. Found it back. They were white. You know, before. After: not anymore. But they survived. 😉
 

[giantkatestacks]

At least from Gate A it is a quick walk to Wicket family camping. You will get a warm welcome in there.

[ilovelanegan]

48 minutes ago, loc said:

So.. that sounds like you're almost saying: take the 6AM bus, since it won't be very busy yet then so at least you don't have to queue forever? Something like that? I'm trying to fix things as smoothly as possible with the kids, the OLDESt is 7.. 😕

Queues should be far smaller for the early morning buses so I'd stick with it if you can. FYI there's a free property lockup close to Pedestrian gate A - you could always leave some of your stuff there Sunday evening, then just pack down your tents/ beds etc Monday morning and pick the rest up on the way out.

[One Tonne Baby]

Any chance you’re on an international version of the site? Just an idea

[moams]

Is it a first come first serve for all national express coaches? We’re booked on the 9.30 back to Chesterfield so ideally would still like to catch that coach  

[Madyaker]

It doesn't matter what bus you get on the way back. There will be a big queue for London and they will just keep filling busses as they arrive.

[giantkatestacks]

1 minute ago, moams said:

Is it a first come first serve for all national express coaches? We’re booked on the 9.30 back to Chesterfield so ideally would still like to catch that coach  

Think London is different.  

[giantkatestacks]

2 minutes ago, Madyaker said:

It doesn't matter what bus you get on the way back. There will be a big queue for London and they will just keep filling busses as they arrive.

One year we had to sit in the pen on the grass until nearer our time but that was Monday mid afternoon after our last shift. 

[loc]

6 minutes ago, Madyaker said:

It doesn't matter what bus you get on the way back. There will be a big queue for London and they will just keep filling busses as they arrive.

I'm just wondering now what happens if you show up late. Like: our bus back from Glasto is at 6AM. What if we show up at 9AM?

[Beerqueen]

My recollection is that National Express are much stricter about getting on the right coach than the SeeTickets coaches.  It may be different for London though, I've only got a Birmingham one in the past.

 

[loc]

10 minutes ago, One Tonne Baby said:

Any chance you’re on an international version of the site? Just an idea

Nothing in the URL to suggest that. I get the same message on my mobile as on my laptop

 

[Madyaker]

3 minutes ago, loc said:

I'm just wondering now what happens if you show up late. Like: our bus back from Glasto is at 6AM. What if we show up at 9AM?

Then you join the queue and when you get to the top of the queue you'll get on a bus. The times become meaningless for Glastonbury, at least for the destinations that have lots of people going to them like London / Bristol etc.

Edited June 19, 2022 by Madyaker