Virgins single fairs only available when booking a return

[tankmc]

Hi All,

Can anyone explain this to me.

When I look at booking a return from London to Preston (Lancs) it comes up as £63.00 "Cheapest Standard Single" for both out and return journeys (So £126.00 for the return)

However for the same train to book a one-way single journey northbound it is £124.60.

Can they really call it "Two Singles" when the prices are only available if you book a return? Why are these coming up as separate fares. Also, some of the prices have "upgr" next to them which I have never seen before.

Thank you

 

[Bletchleyite]

They are "Saver Half" fares which exist to be sold in conjunction with another single fare.

The "upgr" thing is a Standard class ticket sold with a Weekend First upgrade and a seat reservation, I believe.

 

[tankmc]

They are "Saver Half" fares which exist to be sold in conjunction with another single fare.

The "upgr" thing is a Standard class ticket sold with a Weekend First upgrade and a seat reservation, I believe.

Okay thanks for the explanation. Its does not really make sense as a Off-peak Return is £1 cheaper

 

[Bletchleyite]

Okay thanks for the explanation. Its does not really make sense as a Off-peak Return is £1 cheaper

It shouldn't be, two of them should cost the same as an Off Peak Return. I suspect some kind of rounding issue.

There is no point in buying two of them, though. On a Trainline site you would just be issued with an Off Peak Return if you chose two of them within a month. On a non-Trainline site you may well get two of them but that would be less flexible than an Off Peak Return.

The purpose is to allow you to buy an Advance one way (or an Anytime Single) and "half an Off Peak Return" for the way back, or vice versa, depending on your need for flexibility. Booked train out, not sure what time you're coming back is a very common use case.

 

[tankmc]

It shouldn't be, two of them should cost the same as an Off Peak Return. I suspect some kind of rounding issue.

There is no point in buying two of them, though. On a Trainline site you would just be issued with an Off Peak Return if you chose two of them within a month. On a non-Trainline site you may well get two of them but that would be less flexible than an Off Peak Return.

The purpose is to allow you to buy an Advance one way (or an Anytime Single) and "half an Off Peak Return" for the way back, or vice versa, depending on your need for flexibility. Booked train out, not sure what time you're coming back is a very common use case.

We will be returning the Sunday. We actually are actually going from Downham Market but there is a replacement bus between Ely and PBO on the Sunday making our journey 6 1/2 hours so i was investigating if its cheaper to go via London instead.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

This structure means that, depending on when you are travelling and when you are booking, the cheapest way of making a single journey can be to search for a return journey, and to specify the return date/time as some far-away date and time where there are very cheap Advances available. Then simply don't use the Advances! That shows how that particular part of the system is broken, really.

 

[VT 390]

This structure means that, depending on when you are travelling and when you are booking, the cheapest way of making a single journey can be to search for a return journey, and to specify the return date/time as some far-away date and time where there are very cheap Advances available. Then simply don't use the Advances! That shows how that particular part of the system is broken, really.

If you are going to buy advances and deliberately not use them then is this not unfair on the people who may actually want to book cheap advanced fares.

 

[dtaylor84]

If you are going to buy advances and deliberately not use them then is this not unfair on the people who may actually want to book cheap advanced fares.

No. You've paid for the ticket and are free to use it or not.

 

[yorkie]

If you are going to buy advances and deliberately not use them then is this not unfair on the people who may actually want to book cheap advanced fares.

you are free to make that choice for yourself, but there is no requirement to use a ticket.

People are welcome to get fare advice here , and people are welcome to post valid suggestions.

We will be returning the Sunday. We actually are actually going from Downham Market but there is a replacement bus between Ely and PBO on the Sunday making our journey 6 1/2 hours so i was investigating if its cheaper to go via London instead.

What are your journey time requirements?

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

If you are going to buy advances and deliberately not use them then is this not unfair on the people who may actually want to book cheap advanced fares.

If you are thus inclined, you could always return the Advances to the retailer (after you've made your outward leg), saying you did not travel...

Ultimately, this is a negligible 'moral' crime in the grand scale of things.

 

[gray1404]

On the 2 occasions I've booked advances and not used them one time the train must have been delayed over an hour and I got automatic delay repay into my bank account.

The other time I arrived at Euston a whole hour late for my train nearly only to discover my booked train had been cancelled earlier. So I was allowed on the next train with my advance ticket as it happened to be the next service. I also got a fair amount of fob off RTVs for the "delay" and a taxi to my final destination station as if the train that had been cancelled had run, I'd have made the last Merseyrail train home. I never claimed for the delay though. But I did give feedback about how on 2 train loads of people they never declassified a first class carriage when first was empty and how I had to sit on the floor by the door all the way back. The standard letter i got back was apologising for a delay with the RTVs so I was happy.

 

[gray1404]

On a serious note though if you book a saver half and an advance on XC will it let you change the advance free of charge? I.e. So if you didn't really need the second leg you could in effect save it as long as you do a date change for a date in the future.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

On a serious note though if you book a saver half and an advance on XC will it let you change the advance free of charge? I.e. So if you didn't really need the second leg you could in effect save it as long as you do a date change for a date in the future.

Yes, there's nothing stopping this as far as I'm aware.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The standard letter i got back was apologising for a delay with the RTVs so I was happy.

This makes me angry, not happy. If I raise a point, I want someone to (a) read it, and (b) address it, even if by giving a proper explanation of why addressing it is not feasible, e.g. in this case potential loss of First Class revenue if they declassified too much. I'd quite happily see Delay Repay totally abolished in order to fund the facility for complaints like this to be properly addressed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

On a serious note though if you book a saver half and an advance on XC will it let you change the advance free of charge? I.e. So if you didn't really need the second leg you could in effect save it as long as you do a date change for a date in the future.

Putting an Advance "in the bank" isn't a bad idea. I've done it with easyJet flights where I'd paid a lot for them but didn't know what to change them for (so two change fees still represented good value) - have a look online for a day as far in the future as possible where the price is the same as you paid in order to maintain the value (don't pick cheaper ones or you lose it - half term etc are a good time if you actually, as you do in this case, want to find expensive flights), then change them for that, then once you've decided when you actually want them change them again.