TrainPal Reviews 

Horrendous service.
Booked a train in advance, they cancelled it at the last minute.
No refund has reached me after 10 days of waiting.
I had to buy tickets at an inflated rate, last minute, to get to where I needed to be.
They still haven't returned my £90+
Instead I'm left to wait without anybody to call .
Go straight with greater Anglia or Trainline if you want reliable service.
This is a scam as far as I'm concerned.
Hopefully I get my money back and compensation for the inconvenience caused.
We aren't made of money. My trip cost me three times the amount because of their incompetence.
And I still don't have my money back.

Smooth sailing app is very easy to use ..used 1 of rhe great offers for my journey which was great 👍

Do not use this company they are quick enough to take your money but not to give refunds. You can't call them and there chat is so unhelpful its hard work.

The booking process is pretty good. My only gripe is the spin for a reward feature which is a con. It gets you to refer a friend in exchange for a spin but when you get within a £1 of the target and earn £1 it only adds 40 pence.

Cheap travel. Easy to book and was a lot cheaper than my usual provider.

Few months ago I'd have rated the app 5 stars, for the ease of booking, price competitiveness, and easily getting refunds. Since the refund policy change, getting a refund is frustratingly long, complex, and most times the result is not getting what should be a straightforward and legitimate refund. TrainPal directs you to the train operator, the train operator tells you that if you didn't purchase the ticket on their website they can't process the claim. Last week my train was cancelled and nothing ran for more than an hour. The first viable train was after an hour. Still didn't get a refund.

No booking fees so often cheaper than other sites. Easy to book & reliable, promo codes can sometimes be available.

I find the app difficult to use. Buying tickets is fine but retrieving the tickets is not as easy as other train booking apps.

Kept me well informed about my train times and cancellationd

TrainPal ruined our family trip
TrainPal ruined our family trip, refused a straightforward refund for a cancelled train, then offered us a discount voucher instead:

We booked tickets for a family of 6 (2 adults, 4 children) on TrainPal for the 11 July 2026, 18:59 Manchester Victoria to Middlesbrough service (Booking Ref: 1134746359752477, £82.79).
TransPennine Express cancelled the train — TrainPal's own cancellation email confirms this. We were stranded at the station with four young children and had to book an UberXL, which cost us £91.98 just to get part of the way home.

Across multiple chats and emails with agents Jennifer, Ethan, Michael, Eddie, and Cecilia, the same cycle repeated itself: I'd raise a clear, specific point with evidence attached, they'd come back with a generic templated response that ignored it entirely, and we'd start the loop again. Nobody actually read what I'd sent — they kept insisting the ticket was "scanned on the train" for a service that never ran, then telling me TrainPal was "just a third-party platform" that couldn't help, while never directly answering a single one of my questions about how a cancelled train could show a valid scan.

After a formal written complaint, TrainPal's final response simply repeated the same disproven "scanned" claim and offered a £10-off-£60 goodwill voucher, valid one month, instead of the refund they owe.

TrainPal profits from selling the ticket and pockets the refund when the operator — not the passenger — cancels the service. Their support process is built to deflect and evade rather than resolve.

We are now escalating to every relevant organisation if this isn't resolved immediately. If you've been affected and want to join us, please get in touch — others are already planning to come forward too.

Avoid TrainPal if you want a company that honours refunds when trains are cancelled through no fault of yours.

Overall, I enjoyed the journey and appreciate the service provided.

One suggestion would be to make the toilets easier to find. Clearer signage and, where possible, having them closer to passengers would be especially helpful for families with young children.

Also, the process of carriages being attached or detached can be a little confusing, particularly for passengers changing trains. Making announcements and guidance clearer could help prevent people from accidentally ending up on the wrong part of the train or missing their connection.

I have been using trainpal for some time now and it's excellent, fares are much cheaper than with train companies plus you can even get a cheap deal with first class at times.

TrainPal ruined our family trip, refused a straightforward refund for a cancelled train, then offered us a discount voucher instead:

We booked tickets for a family of 6 (2 adults, 4 children) on TrainPal for the 11 July 2026, 18:59 Manchester Victoria to Middlesbrough service (Booking Ref: 1134746359752477, £82.79). TransPennine Express cancelled the train — TrainPal's own cancellation email confirms this. We were stranded at the station with four young children and had to book an UberXL, which cost us £91.98 just to get part of the way home.
Across multiple chats and emails with agents Jennifer, Ethan, Michael, Eddie, and Cecilia, the same cycle repeated itself: I'd raise a clear, specific point with evidence attached, they'd come back with a generic templated response that ignored it entirely, and we'd start the loop again. Nobody actually read what I'd sent — they kept insisting the ticket was "scanned on the train" for a service that never ran, then telling me TrainPal was "just a third-party platform" that couldn't help, while never directly answering a single one of my questions about how a cancelled train could show a valid scan.

After a formal written complaint, TrainPal's final response simply repeated the same disproven "scanned" claim and offered a £10-off-£60 goodwill voucher, valid one month, instead of the refund they owe.
TrainPal profits from selling the ticket and pockets the refund when the operator — not the passenger — cancels the service. Their support process is built to deflect and evade rather than resolve.

We are now escalating to every relevant organisation if this isn't resolved immediately. If you've been affected and want to join us, please get in touch — others are already planning to come forward too.

Avoid TrainPal if you want a company that honours refunds when trains are cancelled through no fault of yours.

I booked a return ticket with them. Then found I couldn't use it, partly due to my ill health. I have fibromyalgia and spinal issues. Asked for a refund the second kew I couldn't use ticket. Have spent ages talking to their useless AI bot and even got to cahat to one or two humans through thier stricktly text bassed 'system'. They wanted a doctor's note to prove I am ill. I sent screenshot of one. Still no refund. I only wanted a £15 refund wich is nothing for them, but a Lot of money for me. They are saying they will review my request for a refund and will email me with their decission in '3-5' days. As I can't use the ticket and do not doubt some other person has already been sold it, I could do with the refund Now. I am insencenced with thier callousness, tightness (as in wanting to keep as much money as possible) and inhumanity.

Well it's just a train ticket app.. Its convenient but I've never had a discount. It's not cheaper or even actually the cheapest, I'm a platinum level user with 2000 miles...I downloaded it ages ago and I just use it for the sake of it, if you want offers and cheaper tickets literally use anyone else 😅😂... If your like me and it don't matter...again it's nothing special it does nothing better than any of the others so I mean just use what your already using 😂😂😂

Easy App to use. Fares are very good as they suggest split tickets which make it cheaper to travel. Tickets sent to email address as well as loaded as E:tickets onto my smart phone.

Cheap tickets but not to tfl only stations

Seems ok. Tickets a bit cheaper. There is a bonkers money saving thing that comes up that i don't understand and if there is a way of getting more discounts I haven't understood it yet.

At the moment I don't have anything negative to say about this company. The process of buying tickets & my railcard has been easy & i've been lucky enough not to be delayed by any service so far, so I haven't needed to speak to customer service. However reading some of the reviews it looks like i've been quite lucky. For that reason I have screenshot my railcard so that I dont have to find it in the app. If I encounter any issues in the future I will update my review. But at the moment it's so far so good!

I travel once a month and it’s ok so far