26-30 railcard discounted ticket on Caledonian Sleeper

[colinz]

Hello, I am planning a trip that involves a leg travelling from London to Glasgow. I have not decided whether to take a day-time Avanti train or an overnight Caledonian Sleeper (CS) lowland sleeper in the seating coach. In the meantime, I have decided to buy an offpeak single ticket for the whole journey with 26-30 railcard discount.

On the other hand, I just found that CS does not accepted 26-30 railcard (https://www.sleeper.scot/tickets/railcard-discounts/). Therefore here goes my questions:

1/ If I take the CS train, am I theoretically entitled to an excess fare between the full-price and the railcard-discounted price at Euston ticket office or onboard the CS train, or do I in the worst case must buy a new full price ticket and cannot claim the money back?

2/ Would the situation be different if there is an online booking engine that is happy to generate an itinerary involving the CS train, while also having the railcard discount?

 

[Wallsendmag]

Have you looked at going via the East Coast and splitting your ticket in Edinburgh?

 

[Haywain]

On the other hand, I just found that CS does not accepted 26-30 railcard

That applies to CS dedicated tickets, not to interavailable tickets. So a ticket routed Any Permitted will be fine to use on CS with the railcard discount.

 

[Starmill]

I think the reason Wallsendmag points this out is because with a 26-30 railcard a Super Off Peak Single from Edinburgh to London via York is £52.25, wheras an Off Peak Single from Glasgow to London is £71.60. Of course it may not be too convenient for your purposes.

 

[colinz]

Have you looked at going via the East Coast and splitting your ticket in Edinburgh?

I think the reason Wallsendmag points this out is because with a 26-30 railcard a Super Off Peak Single from Edinburgh to London via York is £52.25, wheras an Off Peak Single from Glasgow to London is £71.60. Of course it may not be too convenient for your purposes.

I did not mention this in the original post, because I thought it would be more confusing. I am travelling on a Rail-Sail ticket from the south to Belfast and the through fare would be the cheapest, plus it allows literally all reasonable routes.

That applies to CS dedicated tickets, not to interavailable tickets. So a ticket routed Any Permitted will be fine to use on CS with the railcard discount.

Thanks for the information. I was wondering if you would kindly provide a source to confirm this? I could not find any specific information from either CS or NRE websites allowing 26-30 railcard, and it takes forever for the CS CS team to reply to me.

 

[Haywain]

I was wondering if you would kindly provide a source to confirm this?

Details can be found here, where it says:

Your 26-30 Railcard WON'T apply to:​

Caledonian Sleeper tickets for travel in Sleeper or Seated accommodation with a route Caledonian Sleeper only

 

[colinz]

Details can be found here

Thanks!

 

[RJ]

May or may not be relevant but there is a notice up at Helensburgh Upper which says the following.

“RESERVATION ONLY SERVICE: Due to restrictions during Covid19, daytime tickets are not being accepted on Caledonian Sleeper.”

I assume this doesn’t apply if you have a supplement with a reservation.

 

[colinz]

May or may not be relevant but there is a notice up at Helensburgh Upper which says the following.

“RESERVATION ONLY SERVICE: Due to restrictions during Covid19, daytime tickets are not being accepted on Caledonian Sleeper.”

I assume this doesn’t apply if you have a supplement with a reservation.

Thanks for the information. I believe this has more to do with CS's decision to stop the day-time-alike service on the Fort William branch, e.g. travelling between FTW-EDI or any smaller range in between. However, I have sent an email to them to confirm this but am still waiting for their reply.
Compare this page today and in 2019:

Timetable Detail

View all timetables for Caledonian Sleeper services for routes between London and Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Fort William.

www.sleeper.scot

London - Fort William - Caledonian Sleeper

web.archive.org