Flexi Season FAQs

A Flexi Season ticket provides customers with 8 days of travel in 28 days - any time between two named stations. The 8 days of travel doesn’t need to be specified in advance, giving part-time commuters more flexibility to travel when they want and need.

The Flexi Season ticket is priced between an Anytime Day Return and a 7 Day Season ticket, offering savings for commuters travelling during peak times, 2-3 days a week.

Flexi Season tickets will be available as a smart ticket only. So order a SWR smartcard today if you don’t have one already as these can take up to 5 days to arrive. Other retailers may offer Flexi Season as a Barcode ticket.

You will need to activate a day pass within your ticket before you travel.

A Flexi Season ticket is a new, more flexible, kind of season ticket that allows 8 days of travel in 28 days with unlimited travel, from the time you activate your day pass until 04:29 the next morning, between two stations each day that it is used. It’s great for commuters travelling during peak times 2-3 days a week, Monday to Friday, as it could offer an alternative to a traditional five-day a week season ticket.

A Flexi Season allows you to take advantage of a frequent travel discount, giving you 8 separate days of travel in 28 days between two stations, which don’t have to be used consecutively. In comparison, a Season ticket allows you unlimited travel within its validity period - typically for a week, or any period between a month and a year.

Season tickets are available in First Class and Child options, while Flexi comes in Standard Class only as it is aimed at commuters travelling during peak-times, Monday to Friday, 2-3 days a week.

Use the season ticket calculator to compare Flexi Season, day return and season ticket prices, then buy your ticket online, on our app or at selected SWR stations. If you have a 16-17 Saver or a Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card, you can also get an extra 50% off your Flexi season ticket saving you even more.

Yes, unless it is for a specified operator or route. If it is this will be stated at time of purchase.

Smartcard: Flexi Season tickets are available on our smartcard online and via our app. They will also be available from ticket offices that have been enabled for smart retailing. Click here for further details.

Barcode: Flexi Season tickets may be available from other retailers on barcode for online and App purchase. This will either be delivered as a pdf document attached to an email, which can be stored in your phone wallet, or it will be delivered to your app and stored there.

No, but Flexi Season tickets can be used for travel during peak and off-peak periods. Flexi tickets are aimed at commuters making the same journey 2 –3 times a week during peak times.

Flexi Season tickets are available for Standard Class only. We appreciate your feedback and will consider this as we develop these products further in future.

No, Flexi Season tickets are available for adults only.

If you already have a Flexi Season ticket on your smartcard with days of travel remaining, you must avoid having a second Flexi Season ticket with overlapping validity.

You should either use all your day passes before buying a new Flexi Season ticket or ensure the start date of the new Flexi Season ticket is after the last day of planned travel on your current Flexi Season ticket to avoid the new ticket being used before all 8 days on the active ticket have been used.

A Flexi Season ticket is a form of Season Ticket and comparing a Flexi Season ticket with the equivalent Monthly Season ticket, the minimum discount will be 20%.

A Flexi Season ticket could help to save you money if you’re commuting during peak-times at least two days a week. The cost of a Flexi Season Ticket is priced between the cost of an Anytime Day Return and a 7 Day Season Ticket.

16-17 Saver and Job Centre Plus Travel Discount Card holders will be able to get 50% off their Flexi Season ticket but no other Railcard or group discounts will apply.

Railcards cannot be used to get discounts on Season or Flexi Season tickets as they are already heavily discounted tickets.

Railcards were created to encourage people to make off-peak leisure journeys across Britain by train. There are terms and conditions in place on our Railcards to reflect this.If you travel during peak times, regularly, it might be worth considering a season ticket. A season ticket gives you 52 weeks of travel for the price of 40. Alternatively, the Flexi Season will give you 8 days of travel across 28 days any time between two stations and offers a minimum 20% off the equivalent Monthly Season ticket.

A Flexi Season ticket will provide better value and convenience for most commuters travelling two to three days a week, compared to existing daily tickets or traditional Season tickets. Railcards were created to encourage people to make off-peak leisure journeys across Britain by train.

We used research to ensure that Flexi Season tickets would be available on the vast majority of routes used by commuters. Thanks for letting us know that you would like a Flexi Season ticket on your route. We appreciate your interest and will consider this as we develop these products further in future.

Pay as you go on Oyster or Contactless already offer convenient flexible fares for London Underground and National Rail journeys wholly within the London Zonal Fare Area, which is why Flexi Season tickets aren’t available on these routes. Passengers in London already have an advanced customer offer with Oyster and contactless, providing a fully integrated service across all transport modes with daily and weekly price caps for part-time commuters.

Customers must touch in on a yellow smartcard reader before starting a journey which activates a Flexi Season pass. If they do not do this they may be considered to be travelling without a valid day pass. If the station doesn’t have a yellow smartcard reader to start a day pass, customers should download the National Rail Smartcard Manager app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and follow the instructions to activate a Flexi Season pass, alternatively a member of staff on-board may be able to help.

With a Flexi Season ticket you can make unlimited journeys between your named start and end stations. You can also break, start or end your journey at any station on your permitted route. Your day pass will be valid from the time you activate it until 04:29 the next morning.

In most cases you can use any operator between your start and end stations.

If your Flexi Season ticket is only valid on one operator but you wish to travel with a different one then you will need to buy a new ticket for your journey.

If your Flexi Season ticket is restricted to a particular to route you can change the route it covers and pay the difference in fare.

Yes, unless it is for a specified operator or route. If it is this will be stated at time of purchase.

No. Journeys within the London Zonal Fare Area are not available on a Flexi Season ticket. You can use Pay as you go on Oyster or Contactless for onward connections on Transport for London services.

A photocard is not needed for a Flexi Season ticket.

You can check this by logging into your ‘My Account’ section on the SWR website, going to 'Manage Your Smartcards' and selecting the smartcard that has your Flexi Season on it .

You can check this by logging into your ‘My Account’ section on the SWR website, going to 'Manage Your Smartcards' and selecting the smartcard that has your Flexi Season on it .

If you don’t make all of your journeys within 28 days, your passes will no longer be valid to use. You can request a refund for the remaining passes before the expiry date from the retailer you purchased your ticket from. The refund will be calculated from the difference between the price you paid for the Flexi Season and the cost of an Anytime return ticket for each day you have used. An administration fee of no more than £10 will apply.

Currently, we recommend that you have a smartcard just for a Flexi Season ticket and a separate smartcard for using Tap2Go for pay as you go travel and other types of train tickets. If you have Tap2Go or a ticket with a similar journey on the same smartcard as their Flexi Season ticket, we can’t guarantee our system will select the right ticket or charge the correct fare. Additional smartcards to be stored within the online SWR account can be ordered free of charge.

When you order a new smartcard in your online account, you can choose a nickname for your smartcard to help you to tell the difference. For example, you could give your new smartcard the nickname ‘Flexi Season’. You may also wish to amend the name slightly that will be printed onto the card to.

Just like a traditional season ticket, you can break your journey at any of the stations between the Flexi Season ticket’s origin and destination station.

It’s important that you touch in and out when travelling with a smartcard. If you don’t tap in at the start of their journey, your Flexi Season day pass won’t be activated so you won’t have a valid day pass and this means you could be subject to a Penalty Fare. If they don’t tap out it may be difficult to verify any Delay Repay payments they may be entitled to.

It’s important that you tap in or out on the gate reader even if the gate is open (the reader still works even if the gate is open). If the successfully read, it will make an audible beep and the screen will show ‘enter’.

If the gateline reader is covered over or out of us you should use a validator if available, usually located on the platform.

If you decide not to travel due to disruption or delays, you can claim a full refund for the cost of that day’s pass. If there are no delays but you decide not to travel anyway they can still request a refund, however an administration fee will be payable. To process a refund you should contact the Customer Service Centre on 0345 600 650.

You must tap out when leaving the station so that it can be verified that you did not travel.

Yes, you will need to activate your Flexi Season ticket by touching it on the yellow smartcard reader before boarding the replacement bus service.

A refund is calculated from the difference between the price you paid for the Flexi Season and the cost of an Anytime return ticket for each day you have used, minus an administration fee of no more than £10. If you only have one or two journeys left on your Flexi Season you may find that no refund is available.

Unused Flexi Season tickets that have not expired are refundable. If you purchased your Flexi Season ticket from our website or app, you’ll need to fill out the online train ticket refund form. If you purchased your Flexi Season from one of our ticket offices, please return it to one of our smart enabled tickets offices and one of our stations team will be able to assist you.

You must apply for a refund from your retailer before the end of the 28-validity period. The refund will be calculated based on the price of an Anytime return ticket for the journey your Flexi Season is valid for, the number of travel days used within the ticket's validity minus the administration fee.

If you experienced a delay of 15 minutes or more on SWR services then you are eligible for compensation under our Delay Repay scheme. With our Smartcard, you can also sign up for Automated Delay Repay notifications. Further information on our scheme can be found here.

Compensation for delays must always be claimed from the operator you travelled with, other operator schemes may vary. You can find information on other delay repay schemes here.

You can’t exchange a Flexi Season so, if you’ve already been using your Flexi ticket, our recommendation would be to use up your eight journeys and purchase a Season Ticket once you’ve used all your journeys. Alternatively, you can request a refund less the admin fee and purchase a Season ticket.

If you were sick and couldn’t use your Flexi Season ticket you must apply for a refund before the end of the 28-Day validity period. There must be a minimum of one unused journey left to refund and a £10 admin fee will apply. If you can provide evidence that you were not able to apply for a refund because of illness (such as a doctor’s note), we will still consider your refund application after the expiry date.

It is not possible to change one Flexi Season ticket for a different journeys. You will need to apply for a refund on your remaining Flexi Season ticket passes and then buy another Flexi Season for your new journey.

If you lose or forget your Smartcard or Flexi Season ticket you will need to purchase a new ticket in order to make your journey. Contact the retailer of your Flexi Season for more information.

If you are having problems with your Flexi Season ticket, you will need to contact the Customer Service Centre via the web form, by emailing smartcards@swrailway.com or by phoning 0345 6000 650.

You should contact the Customer Service Centre on 0345 6000 650 as soon as you realise your smartcard is missing. The card will be disabled and a new one issued; this can take up to 7 days.

Any paper tickets purchased in between are not refundable as we are unable to deduct them from the Touch Smartcard. Any unused Flexi Season ticket day passes may be refunded before they expire.

A growing number of our stations can also help you with a lost smartcard. Click here for the full list.