Advance tickets

• Weekday bookings for Advance tickets are available until Friday 16 January 2026
• Weekend bookings for Advance tickets are available until Sunday 11 January 2026
• Services departing between 23:00 and 02:00 will only open 12 weeks in advance when timetables have been confirmed

Details last updated 8 October 2025

Advance tickets can be purchased online, through our app, and at our station ticket offices, but not through our Ticket Vending Machines.

They're available as paper and eTickets, but not on our contactless smartcard, The Key.

Advance tickets are only valid for travel on the specific date and time of the train selected when booked. The ticket will not be valid on other trains and you may be required to buy a new ticket if you travel on a different train than the one booked.

Advance tickets are available on selected routes, including some highspeed services. Unfortunately, Advance Tickets are not available for journeys entirely within the London Travelcard area (zones 1-6) or from selected stations close to London. 

Advance tickets are non-refundable.

However, fee-free refunds may be available if the service an Advance ticket was booked on has been cancelled due to industrial action, or if you abandon your journey due to service disruption. You can apply for this refund for Advance tickets bought through Southeastern at Customer Services. For Advance tickets not bought through Southeastern, please contact your original retalier.

Advance Singles are amendable, however there will be a £10 admin fee applied for each ticket changed. They can have their date, journey time, and route changed, as long as it’s with the same train operator as the original journey. The origin and destination stations cannot be changed, nor can the direction of travel.

Advance Singles can be amended at a station right up to the time your journey is due to begin, or online up to the day before travel.

If there is a difference between the price of your original Advance Single and the cost of your new ticket, you will need to pay the difference. If you change to a train on which a cheaper fare is available, the difference will not be refunded.

You can amend your Advance Singles in a few easy ways:

• If you purchased your Advance Singles through your Southeastern account, you can log in and amend the date and time.
• If you purchased your Advance Singles online and you don’t have a Southeastern account, or it's the day of travel, you’ll need to visit a ticket office and ask for the changes to be made. We're unable to amend Advance eTickets at a ticket office.
• If you purchased your Advance Singles at a Southeastern station, you can take your ticket back to a station and request your changes.

Orders purchased as a guest can be registered to a Southeastern account using the link in the confirmation email. This will allow Advance eTickets to be amended.

We're unable to amend Advance Singles that have been purchased via PayPal. Please contact Customer Services if you wish to amend an Advance Single purchased via PayPal. Please be aware that due to response times, it may take a few days for a reply, so if there's an urgent requirement, please do call our Contact Centre on 0345 322 7021.

Advance Singles can only be amended up until the day before travel when using the website or app. This is so there's enough time to issue the new ticket through electronic means. If amending an Advance Single at a station ticket office, it can technically be done up until a minute before the originally booked service is due to depart.

An Advance Single cannot be amended to a train that has already departed.

Outside of this, there is a technical restriction for Advance Singles bought through PayPal and so amendments aren't possible.

Of course, we still want customers to be able to amend these tickets, so please contact Customer Services. Please be aware that due to response times, it may take a few days for a reply, so if there's an urgent requirement, please do call our Contact Centre on 0345 322 7021.

Child discounts are available for all Advance fares. You can also combine adult Advance tickets with Kids for a Quid.

Whilst GroupSave discounts aren't available, you can still get 1/3 off Advance tickets with a Railcard, subject to its terms and conditions.