Reading Spanish Timetables and Simple Booking Details
Reading Spanish Timetables and Simple Booking Details
In this lesson, you will learn how to read a simple Spanish timetable and booking confirmation. You will identify departure, arrival, destination, service number, date, seat, and platform, and you will compare two options by time and destination.
Common timetable headings
- — departure
- — arrival
- — destination
- — service
- — train
- — flight
- — platform
- — date
- — seat
- — time
Reading a simple train timetable
| — Service | — Destination | — Departure | — Arrival | — Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — Train 214 | — | 08:00 — 08:00 | 10:35 — 10:35 | 3 — 3 |
| — Train 318 | — | 09:30 — 09:30 | 11:10 — 11:10 | 5 — 5 |
| — Train 422 | — | 11:00 — 11:00 | 13:40 — 13:40 | 2 — 2 |
Finding departure and arrival
For train 214:
- — Departure: 08:00.
- — Arrival: 10:35.
tells you when the service leaves. tells you when it arrives.
Finding the service number and platform
- — Service: Train 318.
- — Platform: 5.
Reading a booking confirmation
| Detail | Booking |
|---|---|
| — Destination | — |
| — Date | — June 12 |
| — Train | 214 — 214 |
| — Departure | 08:00 — 08:00 |
| — Arrival | 10:35 — 10:35 |
| — Seat | 18A — 18A |
| — Platform | 3 — 3 |
Reading a flight booking
— Flight 526. Destination: Seville. Date: September 20. Departure: 14:00. Arrival: 15:20. Seat: 12C.
Reading 24-hour times
- 08:00 — 8:00 in the morning
- 14:00 — 2:00 in the afternoon
- 18:30 — 6:30 in the evening
Compare two options
You need to travel to and leave before 09:00.
- — Option A: Train 214, , departure 08:00, arrival 10:35.
- — Option B: Train 422, , departure 11:00, arrival 13:40.
The correct option is train 214 because the destination is and it leaves before 09:00.
Compare destination as well as time
You need after 09:00.
- — Train 214 goes to .
- — Train 318 goes to and leaves at 09:30.
Choose train 318 because both the destination and time match.
Scanning instead of reading everything
If you only need the seat, scan for . If you need the departure time, scan for . If you need the service number, look for , , or .
Checking that details match
- — the destination
- — the date
- — the service number
- — the departure
- — the arrival
- — the seat
- — the platform
A practical reading method
- Find the destination.
- Find the date and service number.
- Find the departure and arrival times.
- Find the seat and platform when they appear.
- Compare options by both destination and time.
- Check the timetable against your booking.
From Reading Booking Details to Buying a Ticket
You can now extract practical journey details from a Spanish timetable or booking confirmation and compare two travel options. The next lesson teaches you how to buy a transport ticket and confirm the destination.