ATW Mobile Multiflex validity

[AllWork]

Hi. Any help on this confusing issue would be appreciated!

I am trying to find out if I can use the Arriva Trains wales mobile Multiflex 'carnet' tickets between Chester and Crewe on non-ATW (i.e. virgin) trains.

They say 'any permitted' and BRFares indicates no restrictions but when I've asked Arriva on twitter they say it's Arriva-only. The ticket doesn't say this anywhere and it wasn't clear before buying. Moreover I can't find any T&Cs for them beyond some stuff about the valley's line which says they ARE valid on some FGW services.

Can anyone advise? Or point me to the T&Cs which clarify?


Thanks!

 

[island]

In practice, you are likely to have difficulty if your ticket is inspected by a Virgin Trains guard, as they may not have the equipment to read it.

This practical advice is without prejudice to the validity of tickets routed Any Permitted but on non-standard media.

 

[yorkie]

Hi. Any help on this confusing issue would be appreciated!

I am trying to find out if I can use the Arriva Trains wales mobile Multiflex 'carnet' tickets between Chester and Crewe on non-ATW (i.e. virgin) trains.

They say 'any permitted'

Then the answer is yes.

ATW set the fares on this flow, so they're not permitted to make an ATW Only fare without special permission from the DfT, as I understand it.

and BRFares indicates no restrictions but when I've asked Arriva on twitter they say it's Arriva-only. The ticket doesn't say this anywhere and it wasn't clear before buying. Moreover I can't find any T&Cs for them beyond some stuff about the valley's line which says they ARE valid on some FGW services.

Train companies don't tend to employ knowledgeable people in first line Customer Service roles; those who are good tend to move on pretty sharpish! Asking a train company a question on twitter about ticketing is a lottery, with unpredictable results, and no guarantees they will give the correct outcome. I am not at all surprised they made this up.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Hi. Any help on this confusing issue would be appreciated!

I am trying to find out if I can use the Arriva Trains wales mobile Multiflex 'carnet' tickets between Chester and Crewe on non-ATW (i.e. virgin) trains.

They say 'any permitted' and BRFares indicates no restrictions but when I've asked Arriva on twitter they say it's Arriva-only. The ticket doesn't say this anywhere and it wasn't clear before buying. Moreover I can't find any T&Cs for them beyond some stuff about the valley's line which says they ARE valid on some FGW services.

Can anyone advise? Or point me to the T&Cs which clarify?


Thanks!

I can't seem to find any T&Cs on the Arriva Trains Wales website so I presume (possibly wrongly) that they are on the app somewhere. Now, it may be that, as you are getting discounted tickets, part of those conditions is that you can only use ATW services, this would certainly not be a unique situation, conditions apply to other forms of discount and have, in the past, been limited by TOC.

I'd like to see the terms and conditions for these 'Multiflex' tickets before I could make a judgement on their validty one way or the other.

What I would say, however, is that BR Fares is not an official source of railway information, regardless of it being right or wrong.

 

[Starmill]

Virgin Trains' own app will sell you a London Terminals - Wrexham General Anytime Single if you want, so I would be very shocked if the guard genuinely doesn't have the equipment to read the ticket.

 

[AllWork]

I'd like to see the terms and conditions for these 'Multiflex' tickets before I could make a judgement on their validty one way or the other.

What I would say, however, is that BR Fares is not an official source of railway information, regardless of it being right or wrong.

Thanks for your thoughts. I too would like to see the terms & conditions but they're nowhere to be found. You can complete the entire transaction without any information about the ticket being restricted or other T&Cs than those on the arriva website.

I'm keen not to fall foul of the rules but it is very tempting to just 'buy and try'. Although the short jaunt from Chester to Crewe is hardly ever ticket checked so it may be some time before i would see a guard.
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Train companies don't tend to employ knowledgeable people in first line Customer Service roles; those who are good tend to move on pretty sharpish! Asking a train company a question on twitter about ticketing is a lottery, with unpredictable results, and no guarantees they will give the correct outcome. I am not at all surprised they made this up.

Is there a source of truth than I can ask then? I'd be much happier knowing for sure.

Thanks!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Thanks for your thoughts. I too would like to see the terms & conditions but they're nowhere to be found. You can complete the entire transaction without any information about the ticket being restricted or other T&Cs than those on the arriva website.

I'm keen not to fall foul of the rules but it is very tempting to just 'buy and try'. Although the short jaunt from Chester to Crewe is hardly ever ticket checked so it may be some time before i would see a guard....

You could seek out some frontline staff to ask, ticket office staff and Guards ideally, and get an idea (or outright answer) from them? They are the ones who are supposed to know things like this.

Another option would be to contact the customer relations team again and ask for a copy of the conditions, not a list of them written out by the team, but a .pdf file or something like that, there must be one somewhere.

 

[AllWork]

I took the kind advice of members of this forum and asked at the ticket desk only to be told that mobile tickets are 'an absolute nightmare' and that I would have to call the Arriva as they 'don't know anything about them'.

So today I travelled on the usual Virgin with my mTicket which said 'any permitted' but there were no ticket checks