Wrong price and Declassification

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I wanted to go to Windsor, via Reading so I could do an adelante first class trip, so I looked on National Rail and typed in one under 15s 1st return to Windsor &ER and added "via Reading," and was given a sum of £12 Off Peak First Class Day Return. The website said I could get the SWT service to Basingstoke, XC to Reading, GW to Slough and Windsor and walk to Riverside..

When I tried to buy it at the ticket Office I was told it was not a real fare and National Rail were wrong so they charged me £20!

My train to Slough was delayed by twenty minutes to make things worse, but that's not much I know.

Then on my return journey I was looking forward to getting the adelante from Slough to Reading, what I'd booked the trip for. Guess what. I could barely board, the first class carriage was so full. Full of standard class passengers, because the train was rammed the Charlbury Festival! So basically First Class was declassified! And I paid all that extra too, when I could have sat there for free.

May sound petty, but am I entitled to compensation, having to pay more than National Rail said, and then standard class tickets being valid there anyway?!!

 

[najaB]

May sound petty, but am I entitled to compensation, having to pay more than National Rail said, and then standard class tickets being valid there anyway?!!

I may have missed it, but what was your starting station?

If you sat in First Class then no. If you were unable to sit in First then you'd be entitled to the difference between the First and Standard Class fares.

Actually, having actually thought about it rather than just typing from the hip: yes, you should be entitled to the difference between Standard and First Class fare since no First Class accommodation was provided.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I may have missed it, but what was your starting station?

If you sat in First Class then no. If you were unable to sit in First then you'd be entitled to the difference between the First and Standard Class fares.

I could sit in first class, but standard class passengers were allowed to be there too, so I paid extra for nothing!

 

[najaB]

I could sit in first class, but standard class passengers were allowed to be there too, so I paid extra for nothing!

As per my edit: if First Class was declassified then you are entitled to the difference between First and Standard Class fares.

 

[gray1404]

Could you please provide a copy of your tickets and also a screenshot of the NRE site offering you tickets for £12 if you can reproduce it.

 

[yorkie]

I wanted to go to Windsor, via Reading so I could do an adelante first class trip, so I looked on National Rail and typed in one under 15s 1st return to Windsor &ER and added "via Reading," and was given a sum of £12 Off Peak First Class Day Return. The website said I could get the SWT service to Basingstoke, XC to Reading, GW to Slough and Windsor and walk to Riverside..

If there is no through fare available for the journey, NRE will quote the price of a combination of tickets. However it is not easy to establish what that combination of tickets actually is. Also, the combination may not be the cheapest. NRE will not actually sell the tickets either.

This is in contrast to Trainsplit, which will tell you what tickets it has found, and will sell you them, with an itinerary for your entire journey.

When I tried to buy it at the ticket Office I was told it was not a real fare and National Rail were wrong so they charged me £20!

NRE did not quote a fare; it quoted a combination of fares.

I do not know what fares you were offered or were sold, so it is difficult to comment further.

My train to Slough was delayed by twenty minutes to make things worse, but that's not much I know.

As we don't know what the delay was into your origin station, we are unable to advise on this.

Then on my return journey I was looking forward to getting the adelante from Slough to Reading, what I'd booked the trip for. Guess what. I could barely board, the first class carriage was so full. Full of standard class passengers, because the train was rammed the Charlbury Festival! So basically First Class was declassified! And I paid all that extra too, when I could have sat there for free.

You are entitled to a pro-rata refund for the declassified part of your journey.

May sound petty, but am I entitled to compensation, having to pay more than National Rail said, and then standard class tickets being valid there anyway?!!

Without knowing the full details of your intended itinerary, vs actual timings, and the tickets offered and sold, we are unable to give comprehensive advice.

If you can provide all this information, then we will be in a position to do so

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

It's alright GWR are going to compensate me, so I'll leave it there.