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Should I Use Zip Buy Now, Pay Later for Travel Expenses?

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"Buy now, pay later" services are a way of financing in-person or online retail shopping. Now, many BNPL companies, including the Zip (formerly Quadpay) buy now, pay later app, offer pay-in-four plans to secure travel bookings, like airfare and hotel accommodations.

If you have unexpected travel come up, you might consider Zip BNPL for travel expenses at checkout. Here’s what to know.

How using Zip for travel expenses works

Zip BNPL offers a pay-in-four installment option. To make travel-related purchases on Zip, follow these steps:

Launch Zip and search your travel needs. Open Zip’s buy now, pay later app and search for a travel provider that Zip partners with. Travel providers that support Zip include Hilton , TripAdvisor, Hotwire, JetBlue Airways , Booking.com, American Airlines and Lyft.

Choose "Pay with Zip." Once you’ve added your travel expenses to your Zip cart, select “Pay with Zip” to request an installment plan.

Confirm your order details. If you're granted spending power with Zip, you'll see the order summary, order total, finance charge and total cost. You’ll also see how much is due today, and the amount due for each remaining installment. Verify everything looks correct. You can also select your preferred payment method during this step. Select “Agree and continue.”

Make your first installment payment. Zip automatically fills in your payment details based on your saved payment method. Confirm the details are up to date — including your card’s expiration date and CVV — then, complete the order.

» Learn more: Zip buy now, pay later review

When using Zip for travel expenses might be useful

Paying for travel with Zip can offer a couple of benefits, instead of paying for your travel arrangements in full and upfront.

If you don’t have strong credit or a credit history, Zip can be a straightforward option for acquiring financing for your travel costs. Although it’s short-term financing, it whittles large expenses into bite-sized installments you might otherwise not have access to.

Zip’s BNPL service might be preferred over other buy now, pay later apps because of its payment date flexibility. If you can’t make your installment on the due date, you can change the payment date for free. This feature is available for free once per month. Subsequent payment date changes in the same month incur a $2 fee. It’s a useful perk for travelers needing more flexibility with their BNPL payment due dates that other services might not offer.

Why Zip pay later might not be ideal for travel purchases

There are circumstances when making Zip travel now, pay later purchases is a fair — if not practical — way to pay for travel in smaller bursts. But there are also downsides to financing travel costs with Zip pay later.

1. Upfront installment fee

Zip doesn’t directly charge interest on its four-payment installment plan. Technically, it’s 0% interest. What’s easy to overlook, however, is that it imposes a finance charge, which Zip calls its “installment fee.”

This fee is automatically divided into four and added to each installment payment on your plan. It ranges from $0 to $7.50 per order. How much you’ll pay depends on the order’s purchase price and the Zip product chosen. Although it seems like a relatively small sum for the convenience of avoiding a lump-sum expense, it adds up.

For example, let’s say you’re a member of your best friend’s wedding party and planning a trip across the country to celebrate their special event. You don’t have the cash to pay for everything upfront, so you use Zip pay later for your wedding attire, gift, plane ticket and hotel room. Each of these transactions incur an installment fee. Assuming a $7.50 fee for each expense and an order total of $1,000 for the four transactions, you would pay $30 in fees or a 3% finance charge.

2. No monthly repayment term option

Zip doesn’t offer a monthly payment plan, unlike its competitors. Any Zip travel pay later installments must be made by the due dates within a six-week period.

Americans expect to spend $3,594, on average, toward a summer vacation this year, according to a NerdWallet survey of over 2,000 U.S. adults. With a $7.50 installment fee added to that sum, each installment would cost $900 per payment.

Based on Zip’s pay-in-four option, you would need to make this $900 payment every two weeks which can be restrictive for some people. If you miss a payment, you’ll be hit with a $7 late fee and Zip will automatically pause your account until you are caught up, meaning you won't get approved for additional orders.

Conversely, alternative financing options offer a longer repayment term that can make monthly payments more palatable. And though BNPL can be a convenient and low-cost payment option, you’re still taking on debt, and it’s rarely a good idea to go into debt for a nonessential purchase.

» Learn more: BNPL vs. credit cards: What's the difference?

3. Getting a refund takes time

When making a traditional credit card purchase toward travel, credit card refund timelines vary based on your card issuer’s process. You’ll typically receive a travel refund back to your original payment method within a few days.

With Zip, processing a refund requires the merchant’s approval. Once it receives the funds back from the merchant, it can take up to an additional 13 days for Zip to process the refund. This processing time might not be ideal for people who need their refund faster.

» Learn more: The best travel credit cards right now

Is using Zip pay later right for you?

Zip can be a practical option to get urgent travel on the books, without having to pay for the expense before your trip. If you have an irregular financial situation and need leeway with your payment date, it might be worth looking into Zip.

However, it may not be worth it if you're planning a more costly vacation, as all payments must be complete within six weeks. And many of its competitors, such as Affirm and PayPal , offer a similar payment plan without an installment fee.

If you choose to use Zip for BNPL, be sure you go in with a strategy and know what you can afford.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2024 :

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

On a similar note...

How to Get A Zip Card If You Want Free London Travel For Kids

Here’s how to get a zip card and free london travel for kids.

Here’s how to get a child’s Zip card, which means kids over five can travel for free in London

Want to know how kids over five can travel for free in London? Easy – apply for a Zipcard, or Zip Oyster card. Here’s how.

Want Free Travel For Your Kids In London?

While babies and children under five can travel for free across London transport, did you know that as soon as your child hits five you need to pay for them travel on some modes of transport in London – unless you apply for a travel card, otherwise known as a Zipcard?

A lot of people don’t know this! It’s worth having a London kid’s railcard / Zipcard to access free transport in London for kids if you live in or near London, or travel in an out a lot (lots of people we know would never drive into central London, for example).

And as the mum of two tall girls, I can confirm that their ages will be checked in London train stations on train services in to London. And inevitably, children will tell the truth when asked!

It seems like yesterday that I was writing a post on how to get a baby on board badge , and giving advice on how to use London’s public transport with a pram . now the babies are all grown up *sob*. Well, not quite…

So..what do you need to do?

Want Free Travel? Apply for a 5-10 ZipCard .

• If you apply for a 5-10 ZipCard for your child, it means between the ages of 5-10 they can travel for free throughout London.
• For older children there is also the child travel card 11-15 for those aged between 11-15
• Having the cards means they can tap in and out of the Oyster barriers in stations, and also on busses, which a) makes travelling around a lot easier and b) is lots of fun.

Where Can Children Travel For Free In London With The Zip Oyster Card?

• On the Tube
• London Overground
• TFL Rail Services and National Rail Services inside the London transport zones that accept touch and go payment (this is the big one for us, as we are in zone five use these trains to get in and out of central London).
• It also gives you a discount on the Clipper boat services and the Emirates Air Line.

Where Can Children Travel For Free In London Without A Card?

• You don’t need a travel card for buses or trams
• You also don’t need one for when children are travelling accompanied by adults on the Tube, DLR, London Overground and TFL Rail.

How To Apply For Your Child’s Zip Travel Card: Zip Card Application

• Take a digital, passport-style head shot of your child (the guidelines aren’t as strict as for passport photos though, it just needs to be a reasonable likeness)
• To process the application, parents need to set up an online account with TFL here .
• You’ll need to pay a one-off admin fee of £15 per card.
• Via the account, you can apply for the card. Once you’ve applied, as long as your application is approved it should arrive in about a week.

More questions you might have about applying:

How much does a Zip Card cost?

• You pay a one-off payment of a £15 admin fee, then that’s it.

What happens if my child loses their Zip card?

• You can apply for a replacement Zip card using your online TFL account, and they should send a new one out.

How long does a Zip card last?

• The 5-10 Zip travel card lasts until their 11th birthday, when you’ll need to apply for a 11-15 Zip Oyster card. Once they are 16, you’ll need to apply for the 16+ card.

What happens if I forget my child’s Zip travel card when travelling in London?

• It depends! Occasionally they will let you through the barriers. Or you might need to pay for a child’s ticket.

The best places for children to go in London with your Zipcard

Once your child has a Zipcard, go to one of these brilliant places in London:

• The London Transport Museum
• The Science Museum
• The Discover Story Centre in Stratford
• The Florence Nightingale Museum
• The Biggin Hill Memorial Museum
• Our favourite south London parks
• The Horniman Museum

Make sure you’re following me on Instagram for more of our London-based adventures…

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How to Automatically Top Up a child’s TFL Zip Oyster Photocard

Adding Auto Top-Up to a child’s Zip Oyster photocard should be as easy as it is to do the same for an adult Oyster Card but Transport for London (TFL) has made the process unintuitive to say the least.

But it isn’t tricky if you follow our step-by-step tutorial below. Basically, you need to add your child’s Zip Oyster card to your own personal Oyster account to set up auto top-up. Detailed step-by-step instructions below.

Children aged 5-17 can get free and discounted travel on TFL’s services with a Zip Oyster photocard.

Kids aged 5-10 Free travel on Tube, DLR, London Overground and TfL Rail but require the Zip Photocard to prove their age and residency.

Children aged 11-15 get free travel on buses and trams, and child-rate Pay As You Go fares on Tube, DLR, London Overground and TfL Rail, plus 50% off most fares on National Rail services and on the Thames Clippers River Bus services.

Children aged 16-17 can get 50% off adult PAYG fares on bus, Tube, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail and most National Rail services in London, plus child-rate 7 Day, Monthly or longer period Travelcard and Bus & Tram Pass. If they live in London, you get free travel on buses and trams

A parent or guardian must apply for an Oyster Zip photocard .

Kids older than 10 using a Zip Photocard get cheaper travel on the tube and trains but they do need to have money on the card to pay these reduced fares.

The easiest way to make sure that the card always has money on it is to set up Auto Top-Up, where your bank debit or credit card is charged when the card is nearly empty of cash.

Many adults set this up on their Oyster Card.

It’s not as easy to add Auto Top Up to a Zip Card. But it is possible!

Here’s how to add Auto Top-Up to a child’s Zip Oyster Card.

Zip cards aren’t automatically part of the parent’s Oyster account. You have to ‘Add an existing card’ to your account. This will actually be the child’s Zip Card.

1. Sign in to your Oyster Account.

2. In the right-hand menu, go to ‘My Oyster Cards’ or click the ‘Add an existing card’ box.

3. Type in the 12-digit card number that’s on the top right on the back of the Zip Photocard.

4. This takes you to the Top Up section where you can follow the instructions in the same way as topping up an Oyster Card. Select the ‘Pay as you go with Auto top up’ in the Select product options box.

5. Choose the amount you want to be added to the card when it runs low.

You will receive a summary of the Auto Top-Up.

6. Once completed you must wait 30 minutes before using the card to activate the Auto Top-Up.

Author: Simon Jary , Contributor

Simon was Editor of Macworld from the dark days of 1995 to the triumphant return of Steve Jobs and the launch of the iPhone. His desk is a test bench for tech accessories, from USB-C and Thunderbolt docks to chargers, batteries, Powerline adaptors and Fitbits.

Recent stories by Simon Jary:

• Amazon stops shipping non-essential goods
• Ancestry updates family tree software
• Online dangers: online safety tips for parents, kids and teens

Contactless vs Oyster Card – Which is Top for London Transport?

By: Author Tracy Collins

Posted on Last updated: June 22, 2024

If you’ll be visiting London and want to see the sights by public transport, then paying by contactless vs Oyster card is one of the first things to think about. Transport for London (TfL)’s public transport network is affordable, fast, and reliable, comprising underground and overground trains, IFS Cloud Cable Car, buses, Croydon trams and Uber boats. When using these, though, is it best to use a contactless card or the Oyster system to pay for your journeys? 

Wherever you want to go in London, having a quick and easy way to pay for travel can make life much simpler. Which in turn can free up more of your precious time – and hard-earned money. 

This guide to using Oyster or contactless on the tube, buses, trains, and boats in London will steer you through the maze. If you have burning questions – such as is an Oyster card cheaper than contactless – then you can expect to have them fully answered in plain English by the end of this article. At that point, you’ll also be well-placed to choose which is most suitable for you and your travel plans.

Here are the pros and cons of using contactless or an Oyster account for London Transport. The TfL Oyster & Contactless app is also covered, as is everything you need to know about Oyster cards for kids. 

Let’s get started by taking a look at how you can pay for public transport in London, plus pros and cons of each method. 

Contactless

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• Can help you budget and track your spending and save on overseas bank charges if applicable
• Cash fares can be more costly
• Cash payments aren’t always accepted eg buses
• Cash is difficult to recover if it’s lost or stolen

If you’re wondering why use Oyster instead of contactless, then maybe it’s worth thinking about cash as a third option. You could always use pounds sterling to pay for your journeys. 

The problem is that some forms of transport, including London buses, don’t accept cash payments. Also, cash can be the most expensive way to pay, even where it is an option. So if you want to use all forms of transport, and save money, cash is best avoided. 

If you don’t use cash, you won’t have to change so much money to pounds sterling, or worry about carrying the right coins with you. Lost or stolen cash isn’t always covered by travel insurance policies, either. Whereas a credit or debit card can be cancelled instantly. 

These reasons are why we cannot recommend paying with cash for transport in London – although a small amount can be useful for emergencies, tipping, and minor purchases. So now we’ve discounted cash, let’s consider contactless versus Oyster card payments. 

• You won’t need to change as much money when paying by card
• Fare caps mean paying a maximum daily amount (the amount depends on the Zones travelled)
• You only have to carry one card around
• Contactless cards are widely accepted
• You can also pay by smartphone
• Your bank might charge for transactions in a foreign currency 
• Contactless customers such as seniors cannot benefit from Oyster card discounts

Contactless is the modern replacement for cash. Just tap your contactless card to pay your fare, instead of using coins and notes. The cost will be automatically debited from your account. Though your bank might charge a fee for a foreign currency transaction. 

Contactless is now the most popular payment method in the UK. It’s easy, convenient and widely accepted across the London Transport network.

There’s only one downside. Any bank based outside the UK is likely to charge you for all transactions made in pounds sterling. (Euros are not UK currency, and never were, and in fact the UK has now left the EU.) So check what fees your bank will charge before travelling and paying by contactless, if you want to avoid nasty surprises!

Alternatively, you can use Apple or Android pay when using your device rather than a contactless card. Whatever you use, just make sure you tap the same contactless card or device when touching in and out. Otherwise you could be charged for two separate trips. 

So how does the Oyster card compare when paying for London Transport?

• The colourful Visitor Oyster card makes a good memento of your trip
• You can track your spending more easily as the card is pre-loaded
• Separately, more than one person can use one Oyster card
• There are special discounts for Visitor Oyster card holders 
• The card is specifically designed for London Transport
• Fare caps mean paying a maximum daily sum relevant to your travel zones
• You can use your Oyster card to get into London from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City .
• You’re likely to leave an unused amount on the card at the end of your trip
• Oyster cards can’t be used at stations between Reading and Iver on the Elizabeth Line
• There’s a £7 or £5 upfront charge for each standard or visitor card
• Cards must be topped up before travel
• You can’t use Oyster cards in taxis

An Oyster card is a payment card, like contactless, but differs because it is London Transport specific. Unlike contactless, you also need to top it up in advance of travel. Oyster cards are available in standard or visitor versions. 

If you use an Oyster card, then you will need to carry around that extra card. So is there any reason to choose it over contactless?

There are two additional costs to factor in when using an Oyster card. A £7 non-refundable fee applies to the standard Oyster Card and £5 for visitor versions. The second cost comes in because you’re unlikely to use every penny stored on it. You can return the card to London Transport to redeem this – but in reality, lots of people never get round to it!

Oyster cards can be topped up in £5 increments only. You can add between £10 and £50 every time. 

If you do buy an Oyster card, though, it can be used during a repeat visit. Or you could pass it onto a friend or family member for their visit to London. They cannot be used in London taxis, though.  

As they’re targeted at tourists, Visitor Oyster cards do offer holders some special discounts. These can include some money off attraction entry fees. 

Now let’s take a look at the pay as you go system on London Transport. This lets you use either an Oyster card or contactless. 

London Transport and Pay As You Go

You can use contactless or Oyster cards on the following types of transport in London:

• Overground trains
• Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
• Uber Boat by Thames Clippers
• Underground (or tube) trains
• Most Elizabeth Line trains
• IFS Cloud Cable Car
• London buses
• Trams 

A number of the same benefits apply to both contactless and Oyster card payments.

• Only pay for the journeys you make
• Travel where and when you want to
• Use the TfL Oyster and contactless app to track your trips 
• Fare caps mean never paying more than the Bus and Tram Pass or One Week Travelcard price, even when making multiple journeys between Monday and Sunday. A full day’s travel will also be cheaper than One Day Bus and Tram Pass or One Day Travelcard

Whether you want to pay by contactless or Oyster card, download the free TfL Oyster & Contactless app before you travel. It’s available via Google Pay for Android and the App store for Apple. 

You can top up Oyster cards via the app. You can also view your trip history, check your remaining balance, and receive advance warning of any Travelcard expiry dates. 

You can use the app with more than one contactless or Oyster card. It’s thus an easy way of using the same card across multiple devices.

Zip Oyster photocards and Young Visitor discounts for kids

There is a special version of the Oyster card for children. It’s called the Zip Oyster photocard, and comes in two age ranges. These are 5 to 10, and 11 to 15. 

Free travel for 5 to 10 year olds is available on London Transport. A card isn’t always needed, as up to four kids can travel free per fare-paying adult . They can travel on tram, bus, and some train services without a card. 

Holders of the card also get free travel on tubes, DLR, and Elizabeth line services, apart from between West Drayton and Reading. They also get a child rate on the IFS Cloud Cable Car, and a 50% discount on adult fares for the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers. 

A parent or guardian can apply for a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard online. There’s a £10 admin fee, and you’ll need a clear digital photo plus their passport. 

The 11 to 15 Zip Oyster photocard works in much the same way. There is a higher £15 admin fee for applying, however. 

11 to 15 year olds can also get free travel on trams and buses. But they pay child rate fares on tubes, DLR, Elizabeth line, and London Overground services, and the IFS Cloud Cable Car. 11 to 15 Zip Oyster photocard holders also get 50% off Uber Boat by Thames Clippers, and most National Rail fares. 

Non-resident 11 to 15 year olds can get discounted travel for up to two weeks via the Young Visitor discount scheme. This is added to an accompanying adult’s standard or visitor Oyster card. 

You’ll have to apply when the child is with you. You can apply at any tube or overground station, some Elizabeth line stations, or a TfL visitor centre. 

The London Pass is also worth thinking about when deciding whether to use contactless or an  Oyster card. 

Various London Pass packages include an Oyster card. The London Pass is a London visitor card that gets you into over 80 London attractions. This pass also includes hop-on, hop-off bus routes for exploring the city. 

You can buy a London Pass for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 10 consecutive days. Find out more by visiting the London Pass website . 

To promote their goods and services to UK visitors, big brands make special offers only available to Oyster card holders. 

Those with a Visitor Oyster card can, therefore, make the most of exclusive deals on entertainment, shopping, and food in the UK capital. 

Contactless v Oyster Card – FAQs

Both contactless and Oyster cards use the same Pay As You Go system, and both can also be used with the free TfL Oyster & Contactless app. Costs are very similar, though there is a £5 or £7 upfront fee per Oyster card. You also have to top up an Oyster card before you travel. 

For Visitor Oyster card holders, however, exclusive deals and discounts are available. For some tourists, it may also be more cost effective to get a London Pass that includes an Oyster card. 

An Oyster card for London Transport is a pay as you go smart card. You can use it across the city for most forms of travel, including the IFS Cloud Cable Car and Uber Boat by Thames Clippers services as well as buses , trams, tubes, overground trains, DLR, and most Elizabeth line trains.

A Visitor Oyster card is among the cheapest and most convenient ways to pay for journeys on tubes, buses, trams, DLR, the Elizabeth Line, London Overground, and many National Rail services. You can also use it on Uber Boat by Thames Clippers and the IFS Cloud Cable Car. 

Visitor Oyster cards also give holders exclusive discounts and deals, making entry to London attractions cheaper. You may also get money off dining and shopping. And you get to keep the card as a souvenir!

If you’re weighing up contactless versus an Oyster card, there are a few things to consider. 

Though it costs £7 to get one, using an Oyster card can help you to avoid any foreign currency transaction charges that might be levied by your bank when using contactless. Simply top up your Oyster card before travel and use this to pay, so you can avoid these.

The fare cap also means you’ll pay a maximum sum per day or week. This can work out cheaper if you travel a lot. 

London Passes that include an Oyster Card can be worthwhile if you want to visit a lot of attractions. Visitor Oyster Cards also give you exclusive deals on shopping, food, and entertainment. 

The same Pay As You Go system is used for both Oyster cards and contactless payments. You cannot use cash on London buses, so if you want to use those you’ll have to choose between contactless and Oyster.  

The colourful Visitor Oyster card also makes a nice souvenir of your time in London. Just keep in mind the £7 upfront Oyster Card cost!

Read next – Best day trips from London by train

On This Day: January 7th 2008

Tfl unveils the zip card.

On January 7th 2008 Transport For London (TfL) unveiled the Zip Card, a travel card giving Londoners aged 11-18 free and discounted travel across the city.

Text by Esta Maffrett | 07.01.22

The young person’s travel card is a saviour for most young people, getting around their city or up and down the country. Providing cheap travel, they give you the opportunity to stop relying on adults and take those first steps of independence away from home life. It is more than a discount, it is the beginning of freedom. Taking you to a sleepover, getting you up to that festival in a field and ensuring education is accessible to all. Railcards have changed their appearance over time from taped down photo booth images, printed plastic and now going mobile but their use has always stayed the same. Once you have one, a whole world of opportunities is opened up.

In 2020 it was announced that the government would cut the Zip Card for under-18’s as part of the conditions of a TFL bailout. A cut that would of course hit poorer households and ethnic minorities harder by reducing accessibility and opportunities for young people in the city. The petition ‘Zap The Zip’ was launched by Joshua Brown-Smith in the summer of 2020 and gained support across generations at lightning speed on social media. Young people shared stories online about how free travel had helped them, from getting home safe after dark to expanding their world outside of their borough and travelling to work for free whilst being paid a lower under-18’s wage. After pressure online and through Youth Parliament it was announced that the removal of the Zip Card would be delayed at first for a number of weeks and then months. By November 2020 after continued campaigning by young people, it was announced that the Zip Card and free travel for under-18’s would be protected. In the midst of a pandemic young people joined together to defend and preserve what was important to them, ensuring that not only themselves but future generations are part of a more accessible world.

We gathered a selection of young people’s travel cards submitted to the archive. If you have an old card or a story about the importance of free travel to your youth, submit to our website.

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Arrival/Departure History Now Available on I-94 Webpage

Customs and Border Protection launched a new webpage on May 1 that offers nonimmigrant U.S. visitors access to their I-94 arrival/departure record and their arrival/departure history.

The new CBP webpage allows nonimmigrant travelers to access arrival/departure records going back five years from the request date. This electronic travel-history function means that travelers may no longer need to file Freedom of Information Act requests to receive their arrival/departure history, greatly speeding their process. Travelers will have electronic access to the date and port of entry of their arrivals and departures.

When travelers visit the I-94 webpage they can retrieve their I-94 arrival/departure record number and five-year travel history by entering the required name, date of birth, and passport information.

Clicking on “Get Most Recent I-94” will return the I-94 number, most recent date of entry, class of admission and admit-until date. The information does not reflect changes of status, extension of stay or adjustments of status granted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Travelers then have the option to print the record.

Clicking on “Get Travel History” will return their five-year travel history based on their I-94 records, which they also can print.

Travelers can also cancel pending Freedom of Information Act requests for travel history information—after they have received the information from the new website—by adding their FOIA Request Number and clicking on “Request FOIA Cancellation” button.

CBP began the online version of Form I-94 in April 2013. The positive public response to that streamlining prompted the agency to offer travel histories online as well.

If a traveler has lost a paper form I-94 that was issued prior to the online system and the record is not available online, the traveler can file a Form I-102, Application for Replacement/Initial Non-Immigrant Arrival-Departure Document, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

Oyster Fares Central

Journey History

This is an old page.   The current version can be found here .

This is one of the most useful tools on the Oyster website.  It allows you to see what journeys the Oyster system thinks you’ve made, and therefore enable you to spot errors.  Warning: it could also be used by a disgruntled partner to prove you hadn’t stayed late at the office.  As with all things to do with Oyster, it is more complicated than it needs to be.  There are actually two ways of seeing the information and both have a delay of about two days.

Display on the screen now

Each line of the table corresponds to a single action, starting with the most recent.  The fare column is poorly formatted.  Entry results in a negative amount (the maximum fare) but the minus sign is above the amount.  Exit then shows a positive amount unless you actually used the maximum fare.  The price cap column does not appear to be used, even if you do trigger a daily cap.  In the early part of 2010 this display often missed out chunks of journey history, but recently it seems to be more reliable.

Statement sent by email

Overall this layout is far superior to the online version.  Each multi-leg  journey is combined into one entry with the exception that pink route validators are shown underneath the relevant journey.  The price cap column correctly shows when you’ve been capped and the history starts with the oldest journey which is much easier to understand.  The only issue I’ve found so far is with incomplete journeys, especially where it included a double entry touch-in which was ignored by the system.  Plus there is a cosmetic error where National Rail journeys are described as Tube/DLR.

163 thoughts on “Journey History”

great info!

thank you so much! you actually saved me alot of time, effort and money. i really honestly thank you!!:-)

Note comment about chunks of journey history missing on-line. This has happened to me on at least three occasions this month. Does e-mail statement do the same?

I’ve never seen the email statement miss out journeys. I haven’t personally seen any bits missing from the instant history recently, so I’m disappointed to hear that they’re still having problems.

Noticed something weird with one of the days on my journey history… it has only recorded my bus journeys and not tube ones! Indeed still happening but not too much of a problem. Requesting an email statement now to see if it is the same!

I’ve seen that before too. Looks like they do still have problems then. I’d expect the email statement to be fine, but do please let us know if it isn’t.

I think they’ve removed the option to get a statement by email? I’ve tried to follow your instructions above and there isn’t an option. My online statement isn’t complete for my journey on 20 Nov – I’ve hit the daily cap, but only one portion of the journey is shown, with a total of £4, but looking at the remaining amount on my card, they’ve obviously taken £5.60, but the rest of the day’s travel isn’t shown. So they are obviously still having problems.

They have slightly changed things so that “Oyster help” takes you into a different part of the help system. I’ve amended the instructions above using a different link and you don’t even have to be logged in to use this version. Thanks for letting me know about the change.

I ordered £15 p.a.y.g. and received an e-mail that it would be picked up at Waterloo Underground on 11/12/10. I touched in and did not receive the £15. I checked my journey history and there is no record of the journey. I travelled from Northwick Park to Uxbridge on 12/12/10, again no record!Strangely the correct fare amounts were deucted. I have made a complaint and will let you know the result.

Hi Toneser,

Don’t forget that it takes a few days for journey history to be updated. I’ve just checked my card and it is showing bus travel on December 10th but not the train travel on or after December 11th. I must admit that this is a bit longer than I would usually expect to wait and may indicate that there are more issues with this facility. Perhaps you should check again later today, or request a statement to be emailed to you.

As for the missing top-up, I have once had issues where a topup did not take place as advised. The system knows that you haven’t got it and will refund you if you fail to pick it up within a certain number of days (I think it’s 8). A call to the oyster helpline may reassure you if you don’t think it’s worked.

I hope this helps.

Hi Mike Thanks for the advice.I checked today and the two journeys are still not showing.What is odd is that the return journey on 12/12/10 is showing and the final journey, I made on 13/12/10 is also showing. I have requested a statement be sent by e-mail.I was travelling with a relative on the same journey and her history online is identical to mine. I know we should get a refund but it’s very annoying not to have the credit in the first place. How would one stand if questioned about a negative balance in this situation? I am not a regular user of Oyster and use it for perhaps 9 trips of about 3/4 days to London per year. Toneser

It certainly looks like the missing entries gremlins are back in the journey history facility. I’ve just checked mine again and it is showing a trip I made on Tuesday, but not the ones at the weekend. It’s frustrating.

As for your other query, I cannot say for certain (and I am not a lawyer). But if you had an email saying that you should be getting a top-up and later on you could produce a bank statement showing the money being taken, then TfL wouldn’t have many legs to stand on. The bigger problem would be what would happen if you had no cash and the card wouldn’t open the gates or let you on the bus. I can only suggest that you ask the helpline what their policy is if the system breaks down like this.

I recived an e-mail with my journey history today. It does show the 2 “missing journeys”. However they are still missing when I logged on to Oyster! How long do you think it will take to get a response to my complaint?

I would not expect the missing journeys to ever appear on the online history. There is a bug, which TfL are aware of, but they don’t seem that concerned about it. It is disappointing and frustrating I know.

As to your complaint, I really don’t know. My personal experience when I’ve written to them is not good. If you have heard nothing after a week or so then you might consider contacting London Travelwatch.

This looks far superior to what we see online – but does it show when a weekly season ticket is loaded and those journeys are made – i.e. journeys within the paid for zones.

Hi Claudette,

Sad to say I don’t know for certain. I’ve not yet needed to add a travelcard to my Oystercard, so my personal experience of anything linked to having a stored travelcard is limited. Perhaps another site visitor might know the answer?

The info about getting email statements is great – why this useful facility is buried like this, suggests to me either obfuscation or poor design by TfL, neither is very impressive. Also, if registered and logged in, you still have to fill in all details manually, after struggling to remember your security question/answer (at least you can change this online if you’re already logged in, although yet more delay incurred).

No matter how often I order, my email statements don’t arrive. TFL tried to blame my email system, but I receive everything from everybody else, ironically even TFL! It’s just statements that don’t arrive. When I talked to them, I was told that other people had this issue and set up alternative email addresses just to receive statements! When I said that suggested a fault in their system, they denied it and retracted, saying that no-one else really had a problem, they were just suggesting an alternative! Since then, they continue to fail to arrive, not just to my personal email account either. Even my online bog standard email address fails to get them when I tried that. (So much for the alternative).

Anyone have any ideas what is going on?

I’ve not personally experienced problems with this. Some ideas I might suggest are checking your junk/spam folders in case something has decided that you don’t want to see the message. If it is there then sometimes adding the email address used to send the statement to your address book can help. Also, it may seem obvious, but did you put the security answer in correctly? And did you type the email address in correctly? I once muddled up bits of two email addresses and used that repeatedly because the value was auto-filled by my browser and it looked right.

I hope this might help.

In short: yes, I did check spam and junk folders. All were empty. The security answer was put in correctly as this was checked by customer services when I phoned to talk about it. (They contact you by email if the security answer is incorrect btw.) And yes, the email address was correct because they also checked that too when I called.

As I said, they told me other people were having the same problem and set up different email addresses to find a system that would receive the email statements. When I said it sounded like a problem with TFL’s system if the emails were not getting through to other people as well, they said they didn’t say anybody else had an actual problem as such, just that they weren’t receiving emails and happened to find a work round was to set up another address! (Presumably they were phoning customer services to tell them this because they had no problem at all.) Most of these problems date back to Spring last year. My latest attempt was this month. I have since received a statement to my main email address this month. Nothing has arrived at all as yet at the second email account I also tried as a back-up, a bog standard free online address. Who knows what’s going on? Maybe they have attended somewhat to last year’s problem. I believe there were many teething troubles around rolling out the system to include London overground trains. Perhaps it was to do with that. Who knows?

Hmmm. That’s a puzzle. Trying to think logically, is there an email address linked to the card when it was registered? Is that the email address you are giving? It shouldn’t matter, but just a thought. Otherwise I really can’t see what else could be wrong. I’ll try and request a statement to a different address to my usual one and see what happens.

I refer to my previous posts in December. I complained about my Oyster card not being credited and also missing journeys. I have now had a reply. Customer Services state this was due to problems at Waterloo. They do not state if these have been resolved. I have been told that a cheque for £10 will be sent to me “gesture of goodwill”. Shows a complaint is worth making.

Thanks for letting us know, Toneser. A good result all round.

@Claudette Baxter

Yes, if you have a Travelcard loaded on your Oyster the PDF’d email statements do show your journey history. The first page of the statement shows what tickets, if any, are loaded e.g.

Tickets Start Date End Date Ticket Type Period Zonal Validity 16/Nov/10 22/Nov/10 Travelcard 7 Day Zones 1 – 6

and the ‘Notes’ column as shown in the screenshots (in the original blog post) will show the ticket details.

——

Regarding the ‘price cap’ column on the online Journey History, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

Personally I prefer the online journey list as you can use it to work out why you have been charged what you have for a multi leg journey which you can’t on the PDF’d email version.

How I wish for an ‘Export to spreadsheet’ feature……

Thanks for the info, Simon. I agree about the usefulness of the online history for working out how a journey has been priced, I just wish they would sort out the formatting. And yes, an export to spreadsheet function would be very useful.

Things seem to be quite behind on the online history at the moment (unless it’s just me). I have been making journeys daily for the last few days and the last day visible (as of 1115 Sunday) is last Tuesday….

If your card balance on the summary screen is different to the ending balance on the history then it does look like it’s behind. You may find that the missing history will remain missing. If you request a statement by email the journeys should be there.

I have done just that, Mike. My theory – it stopped working after the Gold Card discount (IoW trick) was added….

I’ve finally remembered to use a different email address to order my latest statement to see if it works. I’ve had a response, but not the one I was hoping for. They’ve decided to update the email address on my account to be the new one, and the statement wasn’t actually attached yet. So, I think we can assume that using a different address is not the cause of your problem.

First a big Thank you for Your site and to be honest Transport for London should be funding you as the Oyster site is complete rubbish .

Who would ever think of looking under Complaints to find a area where its possible to request a Journey History ? but you have to wonder why they don’t allow everyone to see this online who has registered their PAYG card without having to buy a online credit – I live one hour away from my nearest tube station so I buy my top ups from a shop.

I don’t travel on the tube much so its very difficult to predict a time when I will next make a journey just to collect a credit that I can do fifty yards away at my local shop so its very frustrating that this rule is in place as they could easily allow everyone to see it.

Anyway thanks for letting us know about the e-mail option – why they don’t have that link on the actual account page is a big mystery.

———

by the way I also found your Out of Station Interchange page very useful as I was completely unaware that when I arrived at Victoria underground I was being timed as in other years I was not counting the time – I work at music festivals and the coaches leave from Clapham Junction so in the summer this is a reguler journey for me and up to now I would meet others in my Crew at Victoria and then catch the train – we were all standing there not knowing that it was costing us money – in future we will be racing up the stair and grab the first train to Clapham Junction.

Thanks again you are a star.

Can you make sense of this extract from an emailed TFL journey history? These are the final four lines of a busy day and I was already capped at £8.00 with a £2.80 balance. Note the out-of-sequence clock times! Other journeys were truncated into single line entries (eg “10:14 – 11:01 Tube/DLR Enfield Chase – Euston LU”). However, my final journey was broken out as follows:

Date Time Activity Journey Notes Fare Total Capped Credit Balance 16/May/11 16:47 Incomplete Tube/DLR Chingford 6.50 14.50 N 0.00 -3.70 16/May/11 16:47 – 17:54 Tube/DLR Chingford – Enfield Chase -6.50 8.00 Y 0.00 2.80 16/May/11 17:05 Walthamstow Central 0.00 8.00 0.00 0.00

This journey was in three legs, NR-Tube-NR, from Chingford to Enfield Chase via Walthamstow Central and Highbury & Islington.

At Walthamstow C, I was busy looking for signs to the Victoria Line and so I didn’t see any card readers on exiting NR, but TBH I wouldn’t have known what to do even if I had seen them. Your OSI table shows an OSI at WmC, so I guess this was my mistake(?). I entered the Victoria Line gate line at WmC immediately. At H&I, I steered well clear of the card readers and my balance correctly returned to +£2.80 on exiting at Enfield Chase. Then there’s the curious stray entry at the end with a blank “activity”, which is actually my earlier interchange at WmC!

It’s interesting that a fairly clued-up-on-Oyster person still failed to notice the exit readers at WmC, apparently incurring an incomplete journey as a result. On this occasion it sorted itself out, but those standalone card readers are confusing when you do see them and easy to miss when you don’t!

Any thoughts? Feel free to truncate this posting (or to reply privately). Thanks!

It’s a fallback system to avoid un-necessary overcharges. The validators on the NR station at Whalthamstow are obviously optional, and some people may well miss them, as you found out. On the tube side the gates are compulsory so they have a special setting which says if you are already touched in within maximum journey time then just open the gate and continue the journey as if no touches had occured at that station. It would be good if the journey statement could merge all three entries, but as you say, the important thing is that the charge is correct. The odd standalone line at Walthamstow is also what appears if you touch on a pink route validator in the middle of a journey.

I agree that sometimes the standalone validators can be confusing, and in some places they need better signage.

A few points from my recent experience of journey history:

I recently had to get my child (14) a new 11-16 Oystercard. (Rant: I had to pay twice for these. I paid £5 for the first U14 card shortly before Ken made them free and U14 became 11-16; I was assured this would be replaced for free when she was 14; but then Boris started charging for child Oystercards and I had to pay the PO £10 for the second card. There was no record of the assurance given by the Helpline and TFL refused to refund the second charge. But that’s another story!)

With the old U14 card, issued in 2007, a full journey history was available, including all the free bus journeys. But with the new 11-16 card, the free bus travel is set up as a season ticket (valid for 3 years!) and the free bus journeys DO NOT appear in the history. I queried this with the Helpline but they were unaware of this change of treatment for child cards. So they sent me an email statement, which DID INCLUDE all the free journeys. Presumably this would apply to all Oyster season tickets, so this info may be of use to others who want a full to see a full history?

The Helpline-generated email statement appears to be identical to the version that we-in-the-know can request online via the very obscure links that you have publicised (above). But the Helpline statement arrived in just a few hours rather than several days when I request it online. Very strange as they appear to be from the same system. But if you want a statement quickly, ask the Helpline.

Interestingly, Helpline staff were adamant that I could NOT get these emailed statements online by myself: even they are unaware of those very obscure links, buried under complaints!

Thanks Dave,

I do think they should make full journey history on child cards more readily available for parents. It can be a useful pointer to all sorts of issues that might be going on in a childs life.

Yes, the emailed statement does include all journeys when a season ticket is on the card. I have received statements via the helpline before, though I don’t remember them arriving same day. Interestingly, it was a knowledgeable helpline assistant who explained how I could generate them myself, online.

Finally, have you tried writing to Boris about the charge for the 11-16 card. It does seem that you just managed to miss the boat on the free cards. It’s quite likely that those at the top are unaware of the inequality of the various decisions on charging.

I didn’t quite get the statement on the SAME day: I requested it by phone one evening and received it at 9:05 the following morning – about 15h later. That’s still several days quicker than online requests!

I’m afraid I didn’t complain to Boris – I’d had enough and felt like it wasn’t worth fighting any more. Perhaps I’ll reconsider following your prompt!

I see. Perhaps the helpdesk generated requests get priority, perhaps because no-one has to check the security answer first.

I don’t know if people have noticed that the journey history online is so much better in their new option.

It includes the DATE/TIME in one column, the JOURNEY/ACTION in the next the ACTUAL COST in the third and the BALANCE in the last column. It goes week by week and you can download a copy to save as a word file. Would be great to have an option to email this statement to me.

I’ll be re-writing this page shortly once I have made some journeys that can demonstrate features of the new journey history. As for email, just follow the instructions to get a statement by email. It looks fairly similar.

Journey History online still not displaying 2 bus journeys made last Friday September 9th yet the PAYG balance on the card overview appears correct. I cannot find any explanation on TFL website. Anybody else having similar issues?

Hi Christine,

Yes, I am also missing rail journeys, sometimes only half the journeys for one day appears.

We discovered an issue on Monday this week that was preventing some data for journeys made between 3rd and 7th Septmember from being displayed. This has been scheduled for correction this evening. However, this means that today’s data upload will be deferred until tomorrow.

I am looking into the data for 9th Septemeber now to see if there was a problem there.

In response to feedback received from the initial launch last month, we have also now introduced the option to view/print journey history for the past four or eight weeks.

Thanks for the update. My missing journeys were from the 6th and 7th. It would be good to know if you’d nailed the problem with missing data because that has been an ongoing intermittant problem for over a year now.

The 4-week and all-data views are big improvements for low to medium users so thanks for sorting that out.

I’m missing all my journeys from September 9th, coincidentally my first day using Oyster PAYG in a few years, and a day on which I think I was overcharged. 😐

It does look like there was a problem on the 9th as well. Unfortunately I didn’t travel that day so I can’t confirm or deny it. If you request a statement, either on the phone or from the website, it gets it’s data via a different method and the missing stuff will be on there. The helpdesk should also be able to explain what you’ve been charged on that day, so you can find out if you really were overcharged or not.

I have my IOW Gold card added to my PAYG oyster so I quite often have a look at the journey history and yeah sure enough my went funny on the 5th September and it hasn’t reloaded the information online yet. I can tell when there is an issue as the request a statement line can often take a good 10 mins to answer the phone. I tried filling in the form but I have never received a statement by filling in the form.

Hi Richard,

I think that the missing information for 5th September will probably never appear now. As to the email problem, try emailing the helpdesk about it. They may be able to work out what is going wrong.

For info, I requested a statement after my last visit to London (Sep 1st) and it only arrived a few days ago. So it may still be on its way…

Hi Mike I requested 3 statements (for my family’s Oystercards) using the online form: they still haven’t arrived 7-8 days later. From other comments, it appears there may have been problems with this system since September. Do you know anything further?

No, I don’t know anything further. There definitely seems to be a problem sometimes. I’d phone the helpdesk and when you get through to the agent make sure that you explain that you’ve asked for an email statement online and it hasn’t arrived.

Can you advise if I can view journey history if I put a monthly ticket on my oyster? The reason for this is certain legs of my journey are reclaimable through expenses but I need to have some sort of proof to submit and the journey history would satisfy them.

Yes, journeys covered by your travelcard do appear on journey history since the new version was released earlier this year. I hope to get round to updating this page soon.

Could you please help me fathom the following journey history? I will phone the Helpline to sort this and get the £3.40 overcharge refunded, but I’d like to understand the charges first; usually I’m fine with this, but this time I’m baffled!

The card is my son’s 16+ Oyster with 16-25 Railcard discount loaded. My son travelled from Vauxhall (Tube) to Oakwood. But being unfamiliar with the set up at Vauxhall (separate LUL & NR stations), and following a large crowd (from the Oval cricket), he accidentally entered the NR station. So he then exited the NR and entered the Tube and travelled exclusively by Tube to Oakwood. The fare should have been £2.20 (as for the earlier journey outward journey – both peak). It says it’s charged from Vauxhall NR, but that would be £5.90 – so why £5.60? And why that £4.00 exit charge at Oakwood – there was no incomplete journey?

Here’s the complete,detailed history for the day:

Monday, 23 July 2012 £7.80 daily total 16:13 – 17:00 Vauxhall [National Rail] to Oakwood £5.60 -£1.95 17:00 Touch out, Oakwood £4.00 -£1.95 16:16 Touch in, Vauxhall [London Underground] £0.00 £2.05 16:14 Touch out, Vauxhall [National Rail] £0.00 £2.05 16:13 Touch in, Vauxhall [National Rail] £1.60 £2.05 09:12 – 09:52 Oakwood to Vauxhall [London Underground] £2.20 £3.65 09:52 Touch out, Vauxhall [London Underground] £1.45 £3.65 09:12 Touch in, Oakwood £0.75 £5.10 09:11 Topped up, Oakwood +£0.90 £5.85

That’s quite a good one. I think I can just about explain everything, so here goes. Firstly, remember that the 16+ Oyster card gives discounts on TfL only journeys so the railcard has no effect on them. 75p is the entry charge for 16+ at a tube station and £2.20 is the correct zone 1-5 fare in the peak on TfL rail only. I guess you already knew that much.

The touch in at Vauxhall NR changed everything. £1.60 is the entry charge at a NR station. I admit to being slightly puzzled as to what that relates to, but it’s not really relevant. The immediate touch out left the entry charge on the card. The touch in within a further 45 minutes started a new journey. The problem is that as the two stations have an OSI between them the usual same station exit rules get over-ridden by the OSI so the journey is now a mixed NR+TfL one. The £4.00 deduction brings the total charge up to the £5.60 railcard cap for zones 1-6, which is why you aren’t charged £5.90.

Hope that helps.

Thanks as ever Mike – glad to challenge you a bit! I forgot that the reduced cap might be relevant – and I missed the “capped” symbol. Capped on a single journey – that’s quite something!

More seriously, it shows just how easy it is for a simple mistake in an unfamiliar station to incur a massive overcharge – 154% in this case (ie charged 2.5x the correct fare). It wasn’t just my son – he was accompanied by my wife, who will have a similar error (but I haven’t seen her history). The system does seem unduly skewed against the honest traveller sometimes. The entrances at joint NR/LUL stations can be very confusing. There are many Tube stations which lurk behind NR entrances & ticket offices (eg District Line Upminster branch) and vice versa (eg Moorgate; Farringdon; Central Line West Ruislip branch) – so it’s understandable that you would enter the station named “Vauxhall” (no suffix) and expect to find the Tube within. I doubt that most people check their journey history and they would are ripped off as a result. Also, it seems that OSIs can catch you out yet don’t exist in places where I believe they should – but that’s a topic for a separate post…

And just to clarify: it would all have been OK and self-correcting had there not been an OSI between the two Vauxhall stations – is that correct?

I believe it would. Normal same station exit starts a new journey with the second touch in, the OSI causes the aborted first touch in to still count. The cost difference isn’t usually this great, if anything at all, but the combination of late adopter NR TOC and zone 1 with the additional discount for TfL only journeys made this one huge. Your wife’s may be a similar monetary value but will be a lot lower percentage wise.

I’ll be adding this to my wishlist for automatic adjustment once I’ve caught up with my workload. Bear in mind though that there are a few cases where this works the other way round, although I’m sorry that I’m not going to point out where they are.

In the meantime, have you found our new forum yet? I’ll be trying to move questions over there in the coming weeks. There’s a link at the top of the site homepage.

Just noticed something on my journey history, I made a journey between Heathrow T5 and T123. All three Heathrow stations are now in the Heathrow free fare zone and although the journey was correctly charged as zero there was no ammount deducted on touch in at Heathrow T5. No daily cap had been reached as I had only made one bus journey prior to this.

Hi Malcolm,

That’s interesting. Can you send me a screen print of the journey history?

Thanks for the history, Malcolm. I don’t know why it does that unless it is to allow people with no credit on their card to make the free journeys.

Apparently it’s down to a special setting being used during the Olympics.

How long does TfL actually retain journey history? Published info usually refers to max. 8 weeks, but yesterday I chose to get a ticket office statement (to confirm that my touch out had registered correctly when the gate said ‘seek assistance’ and I was let out by the barrier man). The statement shows trips going back to December 2010! It covers such a long period because I use my Oyster infrequently as for extensive travel a one day travel card from my local FCC station outside London is cheaper and for odd bus journeys, which I prefer if not in a hurry, I now have an English National OAP concession.

The 8 weeks refers to the limit that records are retained on the central database. When you get a statement at a tube station using your card you are seeing the last 8 journeys however long ago they were made.

Can anyone help? when i log onto the oyster card website and try to look at my journey history, nothing comes up, even though i travel nearly everyday

That’s odd. Once the card is associated with an online account you should be able to see history from that point onwards. If you’ve only just associated the card with your account then it will take a day or so for the history to start appearing.

An interesting new option has appeared in Oyster Online, to automatically email a regular Oyster history statement (or did I miss it?). This can be weekly or monthly for any/all of the cards on my online account, as either PDF, CSV or both. Do you know if the statements only cover one month or the full 8 weeks of data prior to each statement date?

This looks to be a very promising development. However, I’d suggest a few improvements, in case anyone from TFL is reading:

– This automatic / regular statements option is buried under “My Preferences” on the “My Account” tab, whereas the on-screen Journey History is on the “My Card” tab. You couldn’t have hidden it better if you tried. It needs a clearer label such as “regular statement” and should be closer to the existing online Journey History.

– How about including an option to order a one-off statement here, rather than following the present very obscure and unreliable method via the support menus?

– The setup screen could be improved to make it easier to view your current settings for statements already set up; at present it always opens on the setup screen, which makes you think you haven’t set them up properly (or maybe I haven’t?).

As an occasional user, monthly statements should suffice; I’ve set this up and I’m now waiting with interest to see whether it lives up to its promise. For daily commuters, a weekly statement in your inbox would provide a timely prompt to check your Oyster charges without the need to logon.

I need a timely slap on the wrist as I really ought to have updated the journey history page by now. I’ve been using this for a month or two now and have fed back some things to TfL already. Anyway, to answer your points for now:

– It’s also a link just above the journey history screen where the survey link has been since the project started. – When you set up monthly statements you will get the previous month emailed the next day. It is literally the calendar month. Thereafter it seems to be generated just after 1400 on the 1st of the next month. Weekly statements run from Monday to Sunday and seem to be being generated just after 1400 on a Thursday. Again you should get the first one the next day. – I agree that a summary setup screen would be good, especially when multiple cards are on one account.

Anyway, I need to update that page, along with many changes to take effect from next January, including the Oyster cap becoming cheaper than the paper travelcard again.

A new facility has just been added to the oyster on line site.

You now have the oppurtunity to complete details of any incomplete journeys on line in order to obtain a refund.

Here’s an interesting one. I now have my journey history emailed to me once a week,last week I topped up my card using a National Rail ticket machine,got my statement today and it appears as “Unknown transaction”.

Malcolm, Phil,

Thanks for your comments. There is a lot to catch up on with developments in the system and price changes. Keep an eye on the site over the coming weeks.

I’ve just found four “Unknown transaction” entries over the last eight weeks that exactly match the times I boarded busses. Three were for the same as the bus fare, and one for double. I’ve now turned on the weekly journey history emails to make sure I catch any more, and have also raised each case as a separate complaint with TFL. I am wondering when this started though. It could have been going on for months. Has anyone else seen these double (or triple) charges?

I certainly don’t think I have. Can you cut and paste your journey history on here so I can see what you are talking about?

Hi Mike, Oyster got back to me today, and were very helpful in explaining what has been happening: When a transaction does not complete properly, the next time the card is touched to a reader this is detected, and the transaction is completed automatically. These transactions are listed with the “Unknown transaction” description as not all the details are available, and it will have the exact same time as the new transaction. So it looks like one of the 11 or 23 busses that I regularly use has a bit of a dodgy reader – or at least it does as far as my card is concerned. Having more than one of these is quite unusual. This mayalso explain Phil’s “Unknown transaction”. Phil – Was your credit listed at the time you made it? Or at the time of your next journey?

Thanks for updating us, Brian. I’m pleased there is a sensible explanation. I think you may be right when you suggest that it could be your card at fault, so I would certainly consider getting it swapped.

One thing I’ve noticed on my journey history is that the card balances shown on it are always wrong. On my journey history the charges for individual journeys are correct, the total daily charges are correct, the difference between the balance at the start of a day and end of a day are correct but the actual opening and closing value itself is wrong.

For example my last journey was yesterday, my card balance at the moment is £17.90. This is correctly shown on the overview page but on the journey history for yesterday the closing balance is shown as £7.80.

This has been happening since the new journey history was introduced. Is this just happeniong to me or is this a wider problem?

I’ve never noticed a problem myself. The overview page has the balance last reported to the Oyster system. This happens quite quickly with rail journeys (usually within half an hour of every touch). The journey history will always show the balance at the end of the previous day. If this isn’t what you are seeing then you probably ought to report it to the helpdesk or an Underground station.

Arrived here after searching ‘Unknown transaction’.

I have two entries recently showing this – never seen before.

Is it due to dodgy reader or card?

I take 2 buses a day, one to and one from work (lucky me!).

I notice on the statement it shows the unknown on the next journey, so I’m guessing and hoping from messages above that this is due to some kind of mis-read.

Money-wise seems fine – just at wrong times which could contribute to people running out of money unexpectedly!

So, new card or leave it?

Thanks for advice. I’m not too worried though as it seems to make sense on the balance, just not good if you think you have more than you do!

I’ve not encountered this myself yet, but I believe it is due to an issue with the reader on the bus, or at the garage where the reader is connected to the Oyster network to transfer it’s data. Your Oyster card knows what has happened, but for some reason one of the bus journeys hasn’t got through to the central system. It knows you made a bus journey because your balance was updated, but it doesn’t know when or on what bus. I don’t think it is a problem with your card, but an Underground station should be able to check it out. Alternatively if you can wait a few days and check journey history again, it’s possible that the missing journey will turn up.

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

I wrote two messages here (first one I forgot to tell you I wasn’t a bot) – I initially included journey info. It’s here below now just for your info and how it displays in statement – I’ve removed my route but it is an Uxbridge based First bus route. They have quite a lot of buses that do not have a visible screen display when touching (which is very annoying – especially when it beeps the wrong way and you have no idea why).

These were from trips made 22 – 24 April…

Statement shows:

Wednesday, 24 April 2013 £2.80 daily total 19:12 Bus journey, route £1.40 £11.30 19:12 Unknown transaction £1.40 £12.70

Tuesday, 23 April 2013 £4.20 daily total 18:33 Bus journey, route £1.40 £14.10 09:09 Bus journey, route £1.40 £15.50 09:09 Unknown transaction £1.40 £16.90

Monday, 22 April 2013 £1.40 daily total 09:12 Bus journey, route £1.40 £18.30

Thank you – great site by the way! Incredibly informative and most useful.

Thanks for your dedication and time. S

Ha! Sorry about the spam filter question, I had to do something as I was being inundated.

Thanks for the history grab. If that’s been displayed since the end of April then I don’t think the journeys will appear later. I’ll make some enquiries to find out exactly what is going on.

No problem! I know it’s there now!

Thanks for your help.

Haven’t had my journey history email this week. Is anyone else missing theirs?

Yes, I’m missing my weekly reporting card as well. Only had one free bus journey on it, but that’s not the point.

I am trying to get a print out of my journey history to claim expenses but one of the days that I need comes up with the message that demand is too high for journey history to show and to try again later. I have been trying for about 2 weeks.

I can get week views for every week except that week and evry other day of that week. The day is 23rd April.

How can I get a printout if I have done more than 8 journeys since then?

I think something has gone wrong with your history for that day. I would get onto the helpdesk and ask them if there is anything they can do. It may be that the old email statement will still work.

I have had the same issue with “unknown transactions” on my oyster card 4 times over the past month but only picked it up yesterday when my card balance seemed to drop too much.

I rang the Oyster customer service helpline and told them about the unknown transaction entries and the rep I spoke to checked the entries and instantly set up a refund for me for all for 4 unknown transaction entries.

He also said that it would be worth getting my card changed as it could be a faulty card.

Might be worth querying the unknown transactions with customer services just in case you are entitled to a refund.

Yesterday (Sunday) I topped up at a newsagent/ticket stop and then made two bus journeys, both of which registered as successful touch-ins when I boarded the bus. Just looked at my journey history email, the top-up is listed as an unknown transaction and the second bus journey isn’t showing on my statement at all, so my balance is listed as £1.40 more than what I believe should be on my card.

That’s a failure in the upload of some of the transactions. I’d be interested to know if it all appears ok online in a day or so. My expectation is that it will. If the second bus journey doesn’t appear it will show as an unknown transaction at the time of your next touch.

Well that’s the thing, the first bus journey is listed as being at the same time as the top-up even though there were at least five minutes between when I topped up and when I boarded the first bus.

It will be. Each transaction record contains what was debited/credited and what the balance is. The topup was delayed so when the main system came to report on the first bus journey it could see that there was a missing transaction. All it can do is time it at the same time as the transaction it’s currently processing.

As usual you were spot on. My next use of my card was to top up last night (Wednesday). Looked at my journey history in my account this morning and the missing bus journey has appeared as an unknown transaction made at the same time as this top-up.

Thanks Mike.

Is there a minimum time between touching out and touching back in again at a station with multi-function yellow Oyster validators instead of gates, such as Finsbury Park? Recently my 16+ son travelled from Oakwood to Finsbury Park, where they have such validators, and then returned within 5 mins (not sure if more/less than 2 mins, if that’s relevant). He’s absolutely certain he touched out and in again (and he is very reliable with this – he never misses a touch, even on the way back from football matches). But the second touch didn’t register and he was charged a £2.45 max fare on exiting from Oakwood; the fare should have been 75p.

Here’s the full day extract from the monthly statement:

Friday, 16 August 2013 £3.20 daily total 23:43 Bus journey, route 298 £0.00 £0.85 14:36 Bus journey, route 307 £0.00 £0.85 ???? – 13:18 [No touch-in] to Oakwood £2.45 £0.85 12:29 – 12:54 Oakwood to Finsbury Park [London Underground / National Rail] £0.75 £3.30 12:12 Bus journey, route 307 £0.00 £4.05 10:50 Bus journey, route 121 £0.00 £4.05

There’s no further detail online and no automatic refund offered. I will of course contact the Helpline for a refund, but I would like your view on why this happened.

As an aside, this proves the value of automatic Oyster statements by email: its arrival prompted me to check the history and all it took was a quick scan down the daily totals to highlight this discrepancy.

Normally there isn’t, but Finsbury Park is one of those stations with continuation exit set. It’s also one of the ones where I don’t think it should be set, because there are no gates at the Underground station. The unwanted side effect of continuation exit is that you can’t start a journey at a validator until the maximum journey time from the original touch in has elapsed. In this case that is 100 minutes. Had he got off at a different stop then he’d actually only have been charged one journey, as long as the maximum journey time from the origin to the new destination hadn’t passed. But because he’d effectively done a here to here journey and taken longer than 30 minutes, the system charged him another maximum fare. Again, normally that would be two maximums as the original entry charge wouldn’t be cancelled, but in his case it was when he first exited at Finsbury Park. If you look on journey history online and expand the detail of touches for those journeys, you’ll see the double touch out at Finsbury Park and how the money gets deducted.

I often wonder how many people get caught like this, so if you wanted to highlight it in a complaint letter it certainly warrants one.

Thanks Mike, you’re right – there’s extra detail online that I missed; here’s the FULL history for those journeys, which proves that he DID touch in/out correctly at FPK, 3 mins apart:

Friday, 16 August 2013 £3.20 daily total ???? – 13:18 [No touch-in] to Oakwood £2.45 £0.85 12:29 – 12:54 Oakwood to Finsbury Park [London Underground / National Rail] £0.75 £3.30 12:54 Touch out, Finsbury Park [London Underground / National Rail] £0.00 £3.30 12:51 Touch out, Finsbury Park [London Underground / National Rail] +£1.70 £3.30 12:29 Touch in, Oakwood £2.45 £1.60

So it ignored the first touch at FPK because of the continuation exit and counted the second touch as the completion of the first journey, right? Wouldn’t it be more logical if the OSI was only between the Oyster validators and the gates on the National Rail platforms and not between the validators and themselves? I can see no reason to touch the validators twice in any logical interchange there (but I expect people do – because it’s so confusing…).

The OSI and continuation exit are two different things. The OSI is only between the LU station and the NR station or vice versa. Continuation exit was intended for people who might touch out on a validator on platforms designed for those continuing on NR with a paper ticket, then arrive at the exit gate and not be able to get out. Use of an exit gate clears the continuation exit as you have then actually exited. The problem is at stations like Finsbury Park where the validators are so spaced apart and it is considered possible that people might touch twice, but there aren’t any gates to cancel the exit. Fine if they are exiting for a long while or continuing on NR, but not fine at all when someone wants to make a short trip and come back straight away.

Just to follow up the Finsbury Park issue: presumably this is one of those situations where touching in on a bus (even if you jump off again!) would close the open Tube journey? There would be no charge for 11-15 & 16+ FTE Oyster Photocards and anyone else who is or expects to be capped. I’ve done this on occasion and you do get some very strange looks! And it’s not something you should need to do.

Touching a bus would close the tube journey. And no, you shouldn’t need to do it in this situation.

Not sure if this is the right section but anyway There were no trains on the Sutton – Wimbledon line yesterday afternoon due to an overhead line problem on the MML affecting Thameslink. Consequently I had to take the tube to Morden and then a bus. The PAYG fare for this was £1 more than the usual rail journey would have been. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort of trying to get this back through the help desk however this morning I received an email advising of a £1 refund due to “operational issues”.

This can’t be a coincidence surely? On the face of it, it seems that the system is able to work out that the journey I invariably make at 1600 on a Friday was not possible due to the disruption and apply a refund automatically. Clever stuff if true.

I’d say it is true. Where the TOC liaises with TfL they will try and sort out clear cut overcharges. Your case seems quite a straightforward one.

I’ve got another missing bus journey on my email statement. From last Saturday, it shows the bus journey I made in the morning and my return trip between Croydon and London Bridge but it’s missing the bus journey home in the evening. Probably similar circumstances to those in my earlier posts.

I do think that the statements are run too quickly for any late bus journeys. You’re possibly lucky that the morning one got on there.

Your site is a mine of info and is really welcome. Problem I have is on TFL site, trying to log in as above with an PAYG Oyster card. It keeps saying 500 Internal Server Error.

Any ideas? Thank you.

AHa! Have discovered this is a common problem if using Google Chrome = we’re recommended to use Firefox or Int Exp.

That works!

Saturday, 08:42, topped up. 09:30 bus journey. 09:40-09:56 Croydon-London Bridge. 20:31-20:56 London Bridge-Croydon. A quick run down George Street to catch the 21:00 bus (which arrived approx 21:02). Statement created Monday24th. Dates covered 17th-23rd. No reason for the bus home to be missing that I can see which is why I’m assuming it’s as per my earlier posts. I haven’t used my card since then as nowadays if I’m only making a single bus journey or two in a day and not using other modes of transport then I tend to use my contactless card instead.

Buses can sometimes take a day or two to upload details back to the central database. Your online journey history should no show it properly, unless the journey is lost completely.

Nope, not there. Will just wait and see if it shows as ‘unknown transaction’ next time I use my card, as per the previous example.

Just a quick question Mike. On Saturday I used the buses all day so I capped at £4.40. Got my statement today and the journeys are shown correctly (time, bus journey, route#), the third journey of the day says “Bus journey, route 281R”. Any idea why it’s listed like this?

No idea, Phil. Sorry.

Hi Mike, Can you please advise if I’m likely to be successful if I apply for a refund for an incomplete journey (no touch out). I travelled from Bexleyheath to London Bridge off peak but my exit wasn’t recognised. I exited London Bridge at the Tooley Street exit. There was no indication that there was an issue with my card as it let me out of the gate (the gates were closed here, not left open) and showed the correct amount deducted for the completed journey (£2.60). Any idea as to why this would be showing as an incomplete journey?

That’s a strange one. Did you go on to the Underground? Did you touch out at the end again? If you continued on the Underground it would join the two journeys together and could appear incomplete if the second part was incomplete. Otherwise it sounds like there might be an issue with the gate. Did anyone go through it just after you? Could it have been their card that let you out?

Anyway, call the helpdesk and ask them. They are usually quite good with occasional mistakes as long as there’s a plausible explanation.

Hi Mike. No, I didn’t go through to the Tube. I exited the station to the street. I called the help desk and they happily refunded me. I must say I was ready to have to argue my case, but they acknowledged this is an occasional problem “when gate lines are busy”. Although from memory I’m pretty sure the gates were not busy when I went through – definitely no-one in front of me but there could have been someone behind that went through quickly after me. Lesson here is to regularly check your journey history to spot issues like this early so you have a chance at a refund!

Thanks for getting back, Simon. Agree with checking history regularly, always a good idea.

I had the same problem, as one of the previous posters on here – my oystercard has been charged twice for the same journey on two separate occasions. Such duplicate transactions appear as “Unknown transaction” for the exact same date/time and amount as the original I’ve just raised this with TFL but they have refused to refund it because it is more than 28 days in the past.

Is the journey in question a bus fare? Is there possibly a missing bus journey in your history? If yes then you probably haven’t been double charged, but the Oyster system doesn’t know when the missing journey occured. All it means is that something prevented the missing journey being transferred from the bus via the depot to the central system.

Hi Mike Yes, it is a bus fare – I do remember on two separate occasions that the machine beeped indicating a failed touch-in and I had to retouch my oystercard. I will check to see if there is a missing journey. I’m not sure I see why it would appear as the same date/time as another journey though.

Each record of a touch also confirms the card balance after that touch so the system can spot if tampering is going on. When the record for the second bus journey arrives centrally the system can see that it is missing something but doesn’t know what. The best it can do is say that at the time of the second bus journey there was an unknown transaction since the previous known transaction.

Do you know if there is an “entry charge” at Heathrow Underground? A friend claims to have touched in at T5 but walked through an open barrier at T123. Wondering if they would have got charged? (I’ve suggested they register online)

Yes, they will have been charged for that. If it’s not registered already then they won’t be able to see history, but the helpdesk should be able to sort out a refund.

Hi I’ve been trying to get this information for my girlfriend. She has been waiting nearly two weeks for a reply. Does this method work if you have only just registered the card but need information before that?

Online journey history only works from when the card was registered. For information before then you need to contact the helpdesk who can arrange for an email statement.

I have decided that I no longer need my PAYG Oyster as I can use contactless. I have been trying to find out how to return the card and get my deposit back, in doing so I discovered an incomplete journey from July which I have been charged £7.50 for – I called the helpline to be told that they only keep records for 8 weeks and I can’t get my money back, I do however have a print out from the station showing the charge…what can I do?

Unfortunately nothing. The printout from the station is a record of details stored on the card. Unfortunately the resolution of incomplete journeys is not recorded on the card itself, so they have no record of whether the charge was resolved or not. It may even have been resolved automatically if the journey being undertaken was a regular one. The good news is that registered contactless journey history is kept for a year because it is the justification for a debit from your bank/card.

Thanks Mike – I’m amazed they think 8 weeks is an appropriate length of time to keep transactional data…but I’ll chalk it up to experience…

Can I return the Oyster for free at a tube station or do I need to post it at my own cost?

Hi Alastair,

Take it to a tube station, but they will need proof of your address. I understand that 8 weeks was agreed with various bodies as a reasonable amount of time to keep data without falling foul of data protection regulations. Contactless data can be kept longer because it is directly related to debits from your bank/card.

I want to check my daughter travel history online. Is that possible?

Yes it is. You can add child zip cards to your own online account (I’ve done it). You may need assistance from the helpdesk because the security answer isn’t always obvious. You can then check journey history from that date forward.

Hi Mike, I’ve noticed that there is no longer the option to request journey statements by email. The option for “statements” doesn’t come up when I follow the instructions above. I have had my journey statement emailed to me multiple times last year and it always worked.

Yes, it looks like they’ve updated the options in the help process. I imagine they can still provide a statement, but most requests probably get done online since they removed the need to have ordered topup online to get access.

I would like to track my daughter’s journey, to see where she is going, can i do this, and if so how?

You can attach your child’s zip Oyster card to your online account and then view journey history, yes. You can only view it from the day after of course.

I’ve a strange anomaly with my journey history. Here’s what happened. on Saturday 21st March I bought a zones 5-6 Travelcard with a start date of Monday 23rd March which was added to my Oyster card.

I didn’t go anywhere at all on the Sunday 22nd March but on 23rd March I made my regular journey to work catching an N89 which shows on my journey history at 04:28 on Monday 23rd March.

However, despite not using the Oyster on the Sunday I also have an N89 journey on Sunday 22nd March at 04:29 – for zero charge. I am assuming its the same journey and somewhere its got confused. I wasn’t charged for it and I didn’t have a pass on the Oyster on the Sunday.

Yes, that is strange. I think the close proximity to the 0430 change of day might be introducing confusion. As you weren’t charged I wouldn’t worry about it.

For Contactless, do you know how to obtain a fully detailed journey history, including all intermediate steps (pink readers, OSI, etc)? This is bugging me, because 7 months ago I managed to do precisely this, but now I cannot find it anywhere!

A downloaded “Journey History” (not the less detailed “Payment History”) (from “My Account > My Cards > Journey & Payment History”) shows shows only the start/end points. The full details can be viewed on screen, but can then only be saved one journey at a time, which is totally impractical. Here is an extract from my csv data for two days in Nov 14:

Date,Start Time,End Time,Journey,Charged (GBP),Capped,Notes [28/11/14 – already capped] 28-Nov-14,17:36,18:30,Queensway to Enfield Chase,0.00,Y, 25-Nov-14,16:01,16:56,Oakwood to Queensway,-3.00,N,

And here’s the detailed csv for the same journeys, which I now cannot find anywhere! It shows EVERY touch (but omits the bus numbers). Note the pink and yellow readers at Finsbury Park and a same station OSI at Oxford Circus, all of which are missing above.

Day,Time,Action,Location,Mode,Charged (GBP),Capped,Autocompleted,Refund Application,Notes [28/11/14 – already capped] 28/11/2014,17:36,Entry,Queensway,Rail,0.00,Y,,, 28/11/2014,18:07,PVal,Finsbury Park LU,Rail,,,,, 28/11/2014,18:08,IVal,Finsbury Park NR,Rail,,,,, 28/11/2014,18:30,PVal,Enfield Chase,Rail,,,,, 25/11/2014,16:01,Entry,Oakwood,Rail,-3.00,N,,, 25/11/2014,16:36,Exit,Oxford Circus,Rail,,,,, 25/11/2014,16:42,Entry,Oxford Circus,Rail,,,,, 25/11/2014,16:56,Exit,Queensway,Rail,,,,,

Do you know/can you remind me where I can download these details?

Also, I haven’t seen a way to get automatic Contactless monthly statements by email, in contrast with Oyster. Do you know otherwise?

That’s news to me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an itemised csv for contactless. The fact that the journeys remain accessible for a year online means I don’t think I’d worry about not being able to see the detail after that. Although I can see why some people might want to keep such detail. I’ll see if I can find anything out.

i need to check my history 4 months ago

If the journeys were made using Oyster then the history is no longer available.

I have a volunteer teaching job which they pay for my transport according to my oyster receipt, but I do not know how to make it online, could you help please.

Sign in to Oyster online, select the desired Oyster card, select journey history. At the bottom of the page if any history is present you will find a button to download a pdf format version.

how do i view oyster history? thanks

Go to your online account, select the desired Oyster card, then click on the “Show journey history” link. If you haven’t linked your card to an online account then you’ll need to do that first. You can’t see history from before you link the card to an online account, so you’d need to request a statement from the helpdesk in that situation.

I recently traveled from Clapham Junction to Whitechapel, touching in and out using my contactless credit card. The next day I checked my journey history and this journey was showing as an incomplete journey, saying there was no record of where I touched in. (I applied for a refund which was accepted and paid).

On that day when I got to the gate line at Clapham Junction the gate was closed. I touched my contactless credit card on the reader and (as expected) the gates opened.

So I have two questions:

1: As the gates opened when I touched my contactless card on the reader, my card must have been registered and accepted by the system for the gates to open, so why would my journey history not recognise this touch in?

2: If during my journey my contactless credit card had been checked by an RPI, would there have been any indication on the card that I did touch in at Clapham Junction?

Many Thanks

For 1, it is possible that there was a problem with the gate communicating with the central system. The touch may yet end up on the database, where it will replace your manual correction. I have had it happen twice and both times the touch updated a day later than normal.

For 2, all an RPI sees when checking a contactless card is whether the card has working contactless capabilities and whether it appears on the blacklist or not. This takes all the contention out of revenue checks, which is great. Any processing of penalties is done after the event. If you reported an issue with gates then that would be taken into consideration before raising a penalty. They can check out whether a gate or reader is communicating properly and whether other touches are coming through.

I need to get my journey history for 5th August. However, I can only get it from 6th August today. I missed it by one day. How annoying!! Do you think it’s worth going to a train station? Would they be able to print off further than 8 weeks (only by a few days) or would it be erased from their system too?

No it’s not worth it, sadly. The 8 week history is held centrally and everyone has access to the same data. The station machines read the data from your card, but that is only the last 8 journeys.

Hello Mike I’m a NR holder. Can you help me understand why Z4-Z1 in evening peak cost me £2.40 vs normal off-peak charge of £1.85? I thought going into town during evening peak was charged as off peak? And if that is not the case, I would expect to be charged £3.90, which is what I pay if I do Z4-Z1 in morning peak. Cheers, Tom

I really need the stations involved to be able to advise. Also details of any other journeys made that day.

Sure – Boston Manor to Baker Street, via Hammersmith (touched in 1700, out at H’smith Piccadilly line 1723, in again H&C line 1726, out at Baker St 1748). Cost £2.40. Only other journey that day was Baker St-Osterley after 10pm, cost £1.85.

In contrast, another weekday I did Osterley to Holborn 1724-1812, cost £1.85.

You’ve hit an unfortunate complication in the Oyster system. When you touched out at Hammersmith you were charged the zone 2-4 peak fare of £2.40. When you touched out at Baker Street the system noticed that you already been charged more than the £1.85 fare, so didn’t charge you any more. Sadly it can’t reduce what has already been deducted. Had you travelled via Green Park you’d have been fine.

I have a Failed Revenue Inspection check showing on my journey history for 3rd March 2017, even though I touched-in 7 minutes earlier using ApplePay Contactless. This touch-in is confirmed on my journey history on the TFL website:

14:44 Bus Journey, Route 87 (£1.50) 17:06 Bus Journey, Route 59 (£1.50) 17:13 Failed Revenue Inspection, Bus Journey, Route 59 19:06 Bus Journey, Route 156 (£1.50)

I wondered if you knew how this Failed Revenue Inspection has occurred, when the system journey history does show I touched-in? Also there is no payment history for the 3rd March. I was expecting one for £4.50.

Did you board the 59 bus at the start of it’s journey, or very soon afterwards? There does appear to be a problem with contactless touches at the beginning of a bus journey. If things haven’t cleared up by Monday I would contact the helpdesk and ask for clarification that the failed revenue check will be completely removed. I assume as you haven’t mentioned it that the inspector didn’t issue a penalty fare?

I boarded the 59 bus at Aldwych (I think it starts at Kings Cross).

I wasn’t issued with a penalty fare on the bus but the inspector did hesitate when looking at her machine after she touched my contactless phone then ask me where did I boarded the bus.

I will contact them today. I’ve now sent TFL a message via the “Contact us about this journey” option.

That’s the worst one I’ve heard yet – about 8-9 stops. There definitely seems to be something going on. Please let us know what TfL say when they contact you.

Hi Mike. The journey history page states that ‘any journeys made between 01.30 and 04.30 will not be displayed in your journey history until tomorrow’, but I’ve noticed that the cutoff is often before that time. I boarded a bus at 1.03am this morning (Monday) which is not showing in either my journey or payment history. My journeys were: bus (£1.50), East Croydon to Highbury&Islington (NR/LU, £4.80). After my evening out I touched in at Highbury at 23.40, discovered I’d missed the last Vic line train and touched out again at 23.44. This is showing as an auto-completed journey with zero charge. I then took a bus to London Bridge (£1.50) and a train to East Croydon (£3.30). My payment is showing as £11.10 although I expect the final bus journey to be charged at 10p to hit the Z1-5 cap. If they can’t get all the data in by 1.30 then they should update the page with a cut-off time of 1.00am, or else make it ‘any journey started after 1.00am MAY not be displayed until tomorrow’.

Bus journeys are notorious for being delayed whereas rail touches are usually quite accurate. If you’re very lucky the bus may end up not being charged, or they’ll just take the extra 10p at a later date. You won’t end up being out of pocket. The journey history will be correctly adjusted once the bus has arrived if you need a simple printout of the whole day. The payment history will reflect the amounts actually claimed from your bank.

Yep, the 10p is now showing as an ‘adjustment to previous fares’. They took the £11.10 and then took £1.60 for my bus home from work last night (Monday).

Hi Can’t pay for my travell card from the net it keep sayong error 500 do you have any idea ? Thanks

You’ll need to contact the website owner (TfL?) about that.

Hello There was one time when i was travelling on SE trains using an oyster card with a zone 1-3 travel card on it and the train was late so i wanted to claim compensation. The guidance i got was to send in my journey history with evidence that i had a travel card on my oyster. My issue is that when i download the journey history pdf it doesnt actually say that i have a zone 1-3 travel card on my oyster card. Am i missing something ? where on the journey history does it say i had a travel card ? if it doesnt say this then what exactly do people normally send in to SE trains ?

The presence or otherwise of a travelcard is sadly missing from the journey history. If you touch in and out at each end then you’ll get a zero charged journey which would suggest that you must have a travelcard. If you bought the travelcard online then your account should have a reference to the purchase. If that doesn’t help then you’ll need to contact the helpdesk and ask them what to do.

Unfortunately I’ve rarely bought travelcards and none in the last 3 years or so, so I don’t know what the procedure is these days.

Any way to register travel history with a freedom pass I did in 2010 and recvd regular journey emails.when I received by 2015 card they said this type of card can not be registered as the council not me own it. This does not make sense to me as I am clearly identifiable on the card.

The fact that your name is on the card does not necessarily mean that you own it. The council certainly pay for it. Having said that, I can’t see why you shouldn’t be able to get journey history. They’ll all be free of course because you can’t add credit for peak journeys. Who did you ask?

Thank you for your reply. The computer knows (I think) the card is a freedom pass as it starts 02 rather than 05. When I enter my current card number in the add card box the message says

You can’t add this type of Oyster card to an online account. Please call TfL Customer Services for assistance on 0343 222 1234 (8am – 8pm).

I have not contacted them recently beyond this. When I rang back in mar/apr 2016 when I received my new card I was told it was not TFL’s info and contact the council. (I have not tried contacting London councils) When I pointed out my previous card was registered I was just told it should not have been possible. I have not rung again recently.

All fares do show zero value though I quite like looking at my journey history and seeing where I’d got out and about just for its own sake.

I think the “ownership” question is a red herring though the issue is whether TFL have information that is identifiable to me and imo by them having information identifiable to a numbered card with my id on it means they do and I should be entitled to access to it even if they (TFL) do not know whose photo and name has been printed on each card.

Admittedly the inability to add credit to pay for extensions when outside the freedom pass area but within the oyster payasugo area is a bigger issue particularly during peak time

It wouldn’t be the first time that something was allowed before which shouldn’t be. Given that you pay nothing whatsoever for the card, if those who do pay for it decide not to allow you access to the history, that’s probably their right. Your name and photo are simply provided as a fraud prevention measure.

In the first instance I’d call TfL customer services and ask why you can’t have access to the history. If they can’t help then you’ll have to go to the London Councils body.

This is the current route for finding the statements by e-mail feature: I think your explanation has gone out of date again.

My Account –

View My Oyster Cards –

View Journey History –

Change Card Preferences –

“Journey history statement by email”

It is useful but I don’t think it has been 100% reliable: I believe for at least one month my statement never arrived and I had to run it manually.

I will get round to re-writing that page completely at some stage.

Comments are closed.

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How do I find travel records for the N-400 application?

Home » How do I find travel records for the N-400 application?

April 20, 2021

Applicants preparing Form N-400, Application for Naturalization , must list each trip outside the United States (in excess of 24 hours). Part 9 of the N-400 application includes a table to list these individual trips.

Generally, you can find your travel history information inside your official passport. Simply review the passport page for date stamps from the various trips. But, in some cases, you may not have your passport or are missing known records.

Personal Travel Records

You may be able to use your personal records to reconstruct travel history. In the absence of “official records” it’s still your duty to estimate the dates of your travel to the best of your ability. Check with relatives you may have visited, review credit card statements, or try to recover old travel records from airline or transportation company frequently flyer statements.

Mistakes on your N-400 application can cause costly delays or a denial.

Foia request for travel records.

If you are unable to locate your travel history records through the methods listed above, you can submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Generally, personal FOIA requests are free (if less than 100 pages of photocopies). Be sure to limit your request to the previous five years. You only need five years of history for the purposes of the N-400 application. A more extensive search will take longer and may even result in a photocopy fee (up to $25). A FOIA request will generally take several weeks.

In some instances, you may have traveled across a U.S. border without any records. This can happen at some land border crossings where you were “waved” across by CBP officer. The CBP office did not provide any stamps or documentation. It’s still your responsibility to record these trips on Form N-400 to the best of your ability.

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