Print tickets to attraction on A4 paper

[dickinson]

I purchased tickets online for the Tower of London. It says I can print my ticket on A4 paper.  I am in US and never heard of A4 paper so I googled.  Our paper is less than an inch different in both length and width.  Anyone have any trouble with printing their tickets on American 8x11" paper?

[FreestyleNovice]

You are overthinking this.  I am sure the paper ticket does not has to be fitted into something but the reference is just a measure to assure decent sized QR-/barcodes for properly scanning the paper tickets.

 

From the Tower of London website:

 

RECEIVE TICKETS BY EMAIL OR PRINT AT HOME
Download your PDF ticket to your mobile for scanning at the entrance or
Click the link in the email that we’ll send you and print out all your tickets
If you are not able to download your e-tickets using the link in your confirmation email, please show your reference number which begins 42xxxxxxxxx to the ticket desk when you arrive and staff on site will be able to print your tickets for you.

 

You can show them the PDF files (stored in your cell's email) or the reference number in case my assumption is wrong. 

[dickinson]

Thanks.  I printed them out already. 😉

[Harters]

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

I am in US and never heard of A4 paper so I googled

I'm genuinely gob-smacked that the US does not use A4 paper. I assumed it was the generally accepted international standard. That said, it explains why, when I've bought paperback books in the States, they're a different size to those here. 

 

The link in #2 is obviously one way forward but one which wouldnt be a help to me as I don't carry a mobile phone. If you do feel the need to have a print copy (as I obviously would), then download the tickets to your computer and then print (playing around with margins. or a "fit to page" button if needed to fit whatever your paper size is). 

[FreestyleNovice]

1 minute ago, dickinson said:

Thanks.  I printed them out already. 😉

 

Nobody will probably notice! Safe travels!

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

I'm genuinely gob-smacked that the US does not use A4 paper.

North America uses letter size (and legal size). Letter is 8½ inches by 11 inches. A4 is a metric measure. Even we Canadians who have otherwise gone metric stick to these sizes.

Edited May 12 by gnome12

[Harters]

4 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

North America uses letter size

I've never even heard of "letter size" - and years back, I used to be responsible for stationery purchases (amongst many other things) for the government agency I worked for. I remember that, when I was at school back in the 1960s and before we had metric sized paper, the  standard paper size was "foolscap" (8 x 13 inches, so Google tells me). 

 

I'll file this one away in my mental "learn something every day". 

[dickinson]

1 hour ago, gnome12 said:

North America uses letter size (and legal size). Letter is 8½ inches by 11 inches. A4 is a metric measure. Even we Canadians who have otherwise gone metric stick to these sizes.

In my OP I said 8x11 but of course meant 8 1/2 by 11.   When I printed it out everything looks fine.  I didn't realize other countries used a different size and was surprised by the statement that it had to be on A4 because I didn't know why they would say that.  The other locations in London that we bought tickets for didn't say A4.

 

 

[gnome12]

16 minutes ago, dickinson said:

In my OP I said 8x11 but of course meant 8 1/2 by 11.   When I printed it out everything looks fine.  I didn't realize other countries used a different size and was surprised by the statement that it had to be on A4 because I didn't know why they would say that.  The other locations in London that we bought tickets for didn't say A4.

 

 

The reason they say A4 is that they want the bar code to be full size on a printout. You will also frequently find it when you print out things like train tickets. The difference between A4 and letter size as you noted is miniscule. They don't want you to print on smaller paper because the bar codes get blurry. Note that A4 is an ISO standard size, so we North Americans are the outliers.

Edited May 12 by gnome12

[MeHeartCruising]

I am from the US.  Over the years, I have printed many, many European tickets that said to use A4-size paper.  I always have used our standard 8 1/2” X 11” paper to print them.  I have never had a single issue using my tickets. 

[markeb]

I’ve always just shown the barcode or QR code in the PDF on my phone. I usually buy tickets once I’m in country and know what the weather looks like and have a better idea what I’m doing (I know you have a short trip). No printer. On one trip to Windsor Castle the staff actually suggested we buy the tickets on our phone while in line and all we needed was the reference number. Skipped right past probably 30 people in line. 
 

But yes, globally A4 is much more common than US letter size. 
 

Cruise Critic users must be the largest single group who still prints things in the world…. 😀

[dickinson]

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

The reason they say A4 is that they want the bar code to be full size on a printout. You will also frequently find it when you print out things like train tickets. The difference between A4 and letter size as you noted is miniscule. They don't want you to print on smaller paper because the bar codes get blurry. Note that A4 is an ISO standard size, so we North Americans are the outliers.

Funny you should mention train tickets.  I just bought tickets from London Waterloo to Southampton Central.  The ticket printed out really skinny on the paper... as if it might be a real ticket.  I assume that will work!  It is quite readable.  It is about an inch and a half wide.

[Harters]

4 hours ago, dickinson said:

The other locations in London that we bought tickets for didn't say A4.

They will have just made the assumption, as I did, that everyone uses A4.

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, dickinson said:

Funny you should mention train tickets.  I just bought tickets from London Waterloo to Southampton Central.  The ticket printed out really skinny on the paper... as if it might be a real ticket.  I assume that will work!  It is quite readable.  It is about an inch and a half wide.

 

Yes, that's how they are sized. I have no idea why.

 

As for a ticket that's designed for printing on A4: the bar codes will usually work even if you print them onto A5, so the tiny difference between A4 and letter is completely immaterial.

 

2 hours ago, markeb said:

Cruise Critic users must be the largest single group who still prints things in the world…. 😀

 

Just last week, an exasperated member of staff at a theatre thanked us for printing our tickets onto paper. They scan so much more quickly and accurately than barcodes presented on a phone.

[markeb]

2 hours ago, Globaliser said:

Just last week, an exasperated member of staff at a theatre thanked us for printing our tickets onto paper. They scan so much more quickly and accurately than barcodes presented on a phone.

 

It's a bit funny. In the US, paper tickets, unless bought at the box office, are pretty much a thing of the past. Concert, theater, and sporting event tickets are mostly purchased through Ticketmaster, and they're all in the Ticketmaster app. The ticket is actually a dynamic, usually NFC enabled, "token". They tell you that a screen shot is not accepted; a static copy in your Apple (or Google) wallet is. That presumably dramatically reduces scalping. I don't believe you even receive a PDF ticket anymore.

 

The last time we bought tickets for the London theater from the US (admittedly that was 2019), we were required to pick up a paper ticket from will call, also presumably as an anti scalping/fraud prevention system. Last summer we went to the BST Festival in Hyde Park and all the tickets were again electronic on the phone. I've been to a few concerts where I had to pick up a paper ticket, but that's been very unusual.

 

I still have some souvenir tickets of memorable events, but more often than not the ticket just disappears as soon as I attend the event...

 

As to UK train tickets, unless I've picked up a day return ticket from a kiosk, those have all been on the app for the operator as well. Same for DB in Germany. 

[Globaliser]

7 hours ago, markeb said:

As to UK train tickets, unless I've picked up a day return ticket from a kiosk, those have all been on the app for the operator as well.

 

I don't think that UK train tickets have to be on an app. I've always been able to choose to pick up a paper ticket or to get a PDF instead. I suspect that there would be trouble for any train operator that made it compulsory to use a smartphone simply to travel on public transport.

[Harters]

4 hours ago, Globaliser said:

I suspect that there would be trouble for any train operator that made it compulsory to use a smartphone

Not least because of folk like me who don't carry a mobile phone of any sort, let alone a smartphone. 

[markeb]

5 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

I don't think that UK train tickets have to be on an app. I've always been able to choose to pick up a paper ticket or to get a PDF instead. I suspect that there would be trouble for any train operator that made it compulsory to use a smartphone simply to travel on public transport.

 

1 hour ago, Harters said:

Not least because of folk like me who don't carry a mobile phone of any sort, let alone a smartphone. 

 

Didn't want to imply that you had to use the app for the train. Just that you could. And it's worked well for us.

 

On Amtrak, I'd guess 65-75% of riders depending on the train use a ticket on their phone app. I was a bit surprised last fall at how many people in Germany were using tickets on their phones. But the UK may have been the fewest last summer. A lot of people with the little paper tickets, probably from the kiosk at the station.

 

And we certainly have our little quirks with electronic tickets. For baseball, I can add my tickets to my Apple Wallet and they're read by an NFC reader. The parking ticket also goes into the wallet for NFC, but the parking lot attendants have an optical reader (unless it has a hidden NFC reader), so I end up pulling that up separately in the app. Just keeps it interesting...