Anytime Return Ticket

[Altfish]

I have booked a journey to Oxford from the Manchester area and have an Anytime Return ticket.
The meeting I was travelling to has been put back 3-weeks, I know the return portion is still valid but is the outward leg still valid?

 

[dzug2]

The outward portion is valid for 5 days - so it's no longer valid

 

[island]

But you can get the ticket refunded by whomever you bought it from. A £10 administrative fee may apply.

 

[gazthomas]

Given the ticket why not buy on the day?

 

[Puffing Devil]

Given the ticket why not buy on the day?

Reservations?

 

[bb21]

Are you actually travelling before 0930 both ways? £163 seems very expensive for a journey like this otherwise.

 

[Merseysider]

Are you actually travelling before 0930 both ways? £163 seems very expensive for a journey like this otherwise.

Assuming s/he isn't going via London... otherwise that would be £400 odd!

 

[yorkie]

I have booked a journey to Oxford from the Manchester area and have an Anytime Return ticket.
The meeting I was travelling to has been put back 3-weeks, I know the return portion is still valid but is the outward leg still valid?

Where did you buy the ticket exactly?

You will probably need to pay a £10 admin fee to get the ticket changed or refunded, however some Companies waive the fee, for example if you bought it at http://tickets.southernrailway.com/sn/en/JourneyPlanning/MixingDeck and have not yet collected the ticket, there would be no fee to get it refunded. Southeastern would also refund it if you bought it from them.

 

[Altfish]

Where did the £163 come from??

I bought it from trainline; I have a Senior Rail Card.
It is actually from Altrincham to Oxford; I split the journey at Stafford and paid £85 or there about. Splitting at Oxford seemed to be the best option

 

[bb21]

Where did the £163 come from??

The price of

Manchester Stations to Oxford
Route Not Via London
Anytime Return

as you said (without Railcard as you made no mention of it), although I note now with interest that you have different tickets to what you said originally. The price sounds about right for splitting at Stafford with Railcard I see.

Seeing that you have more than one ticket, you may have to pay £10 admin fee per ticket to change them.

It really is important to say exactly what tickets you have in order to get accurate answers.

 

[island]

You should never use thetrainline as it's always more expensive than booking directly with the train company you're travelling on, or any other one for that matter.

 

[Merseysider]

You should never use thetrainline as it's always more expensive than booking directly with the train company you're travelling on, or any other one for that matter.

Indeed.

Altfish, for future journeys, consider using Trainsplit.com. If you have split tickets and need to change them, you'll only pay one admin fee. It can also see if there are cheaper options with multiple split points.

 

[Altfish]

It really is important to say exactly what tickets you have in order to get accurate answers.

On my receipt from Trainline it says it is an 'ANYTIME RETURN'.
What should I have described it as?

 

[bb21]

On my receipt from Trainline it says it is an 'ANYTIME RETURN'.
What should I have described it as?

If you split at Stafford, then say so as quite clearly it is not just one ticket that you have. If any Railcard was used, it is also wise to mention that. Does your confirmation email from thetrainline not describe exactly what tickets were sold? I find it most strange if not.

I think this also adds to the bank of reasons not to use that shower of crap for anything rail-travel related.

 

[James H]

You said "an Anytime Return ticket" - it would have been helpful to make clear from the outset that you had split the purchase and had tickets (plural).

 

[Altfish]

Excuse my ignorance here but...

What difference does it make if I have one or two tickets? They are both the same sort of ticket and surely the same rules apply to both tickets??
What difference to the validity of a ticket does a railcard make?

 

[yorkie]

Where did the £163 come from??

I bought it from trainline; I have a Senior Rail Card.
It is actually from Altrincham to Oxford; I split the journey at Stafford and paid £85 or there about. Splitting at Oxford seemed to be the best option

As you used thetrainline, you will be charged the £10 admin fee for each "Anytime Return ticket" you purchased, with no possibility of having these fees waved. So two tickets would incur a total of £20 in fees.

You also will not be refunded thetrainline's fees which you were charged at the time of booking, which are applied exclusively by thetrainline.

The money for their expensive adverts, which appear to show their users as sheep, have to come from somewhere, hence the hefty fees!

If you had booked using trainsplit.com, you would only have been charged one £10 admin fee for the entire booking.

Oh well, you know for future reference!

 

[bb21]

Excuse my ignorance here but...

What difference does it make if I have one or two tickets? They are both the same sort of ticket and surely the same rules apply to both tickets??
What difference to the validity of a ticket does a railcard make?

It makes a difference how much admin fee you will be charged depending on how many tickets you have.

The Railcard part may not make a difference in your case, but as general advice it can and do make a difference in other cases.

I don't point this out because I want to make you look stupid if that is what you think.

 

[yorkie]

Excuse my ignorance here but...

What difference does it make if I have one or two tickets? They are both the same sort of ticket and surely the same rules apply to both tickets??

I agree, they both incur the £10 admin fee (unless you book with one of the aforementioned sites), so the same rules do indeed apply.

That said the admin fee is discretionary and can be waived by certain retailers in circumstances of their choosing. As you booked with thetrainline the two admin fees, one for each ticket, will not be waived in any way.

What difference to the validity of a ticket does a railcard make?

For the validity it depends on the type of Railcard, but I think in this case people were trying to work out the exact ticket referred to in the opening post to ensure the advice was accurate.

 

[bb21]

Also the only reason I questioned you further initially was because not many people actually buy the through Anytime Return so alarm bells started ringing in my head. Had I not questioned you you may well end up with incorrect advice, and then be told by thetrainline that you needed to pay £20 instead of £10 to refund your tickets. I don't want that happening and neither do you I trust.

 

[Altfish]

I still do not understand how I should have described the ticket, what's wrong with 'ANYTIME RETURN'?

 

[bb21]

You just need to mention all relevant facts to your booking, such as the fact that you split your tickets at an intermediate station. Not a problem if not, but as you can see in this thread it gets a bit long and winded then to understand exactly what your situation is.

I am not blaming you for providing incorrect information as clearly the receipt from thetrainline left a lot to be desired. From experience the email confirmation from them should state exactly what tickets were sold but without knowing whether things had changed since I last used them (for a loophole for the record) I can only guess.

It is unfortunate that there was some misunderstanding because the retailer did not make things clear for you, but hopefully we have all relevant facts to hand now and you should know exactly where you stand with regard to changing your tickets. With two tickets (Altrincham - Stafford and Stafford - Oxford) involved, you will likely be charged two lots of admin fees to change them.

 

[Wolfie]

I have booked a journey to Oxford from the Manchester area and have an Anytime Return ticket.
The meeting I was travelling to has been put back 3-weeks, I know the return portion is still valid but is the outward leg still valid?

What date was the original outbound ticket booked for?

 

[Altfish]

You just need to mention all relevant facts to your booking, such as the fact that you split your tickets at an intermediate station. Not a problem if not, but as you can see in this thread it gets a bit long and winded then to understand exactly what your situation is.

I am not blaming you for providing incorrect information as clearly the receipt from thetrainline left a lot to be desired. From experience the email confirmation from them should state exactly what tickets were sold but without knowing whether things had changed since I last used them (for a loophole for the record) I can only guess.

It is unfortunate that there was some misunderstanding because the retailer did not make things clear for you, but hopefully we have all relevant facts to hand now and you should know exactly where you stand with regard to changing your tickets. With two tickets (Altrincham - Stafford and Stafford - Oxford) involved, you will likely be charged two lots of admin fees to change them.

But surely my journey was irrelevant. I was asking a question about the flexibility of a type of ticket. Whether the journey is Wick to Penzance or Stafford to Oxford should not matter; whether the journey is split or not matters not.

In the original question I was trying to keep it simple.

 

[yorkie]

But surely my journey was irrelevant. I was asking a question about the flexibility of a type of ticket. Whether the journey is Wick to Penzance or Stafford to Oxford should not matter; whether the journey is split or not matters not.

In the original question I was trying to keep it simple.

I think people were trying to be helpful by working out what admin fee (if any) you'd be required to change your ticket(s) to allow you to complete your journey. In your first post, you said you had an Anytime Return ticket for your journey from Oxford to Manchester, which would mean the admin fee was £10 (or £0 if you bought it from certain outlets).

In subsequent posts, it became apparent that the admin fee for your journey would be more than £10, because there was more than one ticket involved.

Furthermore, people were trying to give you advice to ensure you paid a reasonable price for the journey and get the best possible fares in future.

Please accept our apologies that members attempted to help you in a way that was more than what you required. We will bear this in mind next time.

 

[gray1404]

I think given the situation you have described, your business commitments an change and thus your date of travel, it would best if in future you booked your tickets through Southern website, and even then left it until as late as possible (or indeed once you could be positive the meeting date would not be moved.) Then provided you have not collected the Walk up (Off Peak/Any Time) ticket from the TVM, you can apply for a full refund without an admin fee. If the station you traveling from does not have a TVM then I'd recommend you to not collect it from another station until such time you can be certain your meeting date won't change. Also, Southern does not charge any booking or card fees.

 

[island]

Southeastern is one step better. They do not charge any fees even if you have collected the ticket.