TPE airport advance ticket

[martinB]

Good news: bad news

Mrs B had cause to use the "catch a later train" this morning.

The good news:

1) ticket office said "yes - hurry up, the train is just going"
2) platform supervisor and on-board inspections all allowed travel

The bad news:

1) ticket office didn't annotate the ticket
2) platform supervisor didn't know about the ticket's enhancements, even to the extent of questioning if the reservation would be valid on this later train (TPE's T&Cs clearly state that it wouldn't be - and it obviously won't be)
3) on-board inspector didn't know about the ticket

Question: this is a very specific ticket enhancement. Why don't TPE brief the staff who are most likely to be involved.

Observation: Great to see railway staff saying "yes" when they aren't sure.

 

[johnnychips]

Good news: bad news

Mrs B had cause to use the "catch a later train" this morning.

The good news:

1) ticket office said "yes - hurry up, the train is just going"
2) platform supervisor and on-board inspections all allowed travel

The bad news:

1) ticket office didn't annotate the ticket
2) platform supervisor didn't know about the ticket's enhancements, even to the extent of questioning if the reservation would be valid on this later train (TPE's T&Cs clearly state that it wouldn't be - and it obviously won't be)
3) on-board inspector didn't know about the ticket

Question: this is a very specific ticket enhancement. Why don't TPE brief the staff who are most likely to be involved.

Observation: Great to see railway staff saying "yes" when they aren't sure.

I've had to use this three times, and in each case the ticket office gave me a stamped printed paper and they just filled in my ticket number and the time of the next train it was valid on, and all the staff seemed to recognise it. Maybe your lass wasn't given this if there wasn't enough time as the train was about to leave.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Good news: bad news

Mrs B had cause to use the "catch a later train" this morning.

The good news:

1) ticket office said "yes - hurry up, the train is just going"
2) platform supervisor and on-board inspections all allowed travel

The bad news:

1) ticket office didn't annotate the ticket
2) platform supervisor didn't know about the ticket's enhancements, even to the extent of questioning if the reservation would be valid on this later train (TPE's T&Cs clearly state that it wouldn't be - and it obviously won't be)
3) on-board inspector didn't know about the ticket

Question: this is a very specific ticket enhancement. Why don't TPE brief the staff who are most likely to be involved.

Observation: Great to see railway staff saying "yes" when they aren't sure.

Platform staff very rarely get training about tickets because it's not part of their day-to-day job (yes, really...). The onboard inspector should know about it because these tickets have now been around for years, though the extra time allowance only applies for Airport Advance tickets and not regular Advance fares. Staff *should* note on the ticket that the flight was late (or whatever) however I can understand why they wouldn't if you are at risk of missing an infrequent service.