Urgent inquiry! Heathrow Express ticket acceptance

[yorkie]

I suppose that's the issue with Contactless / Oyster / point to point live ticketing - during times of disruption you might legitimately pay for your journey (at the reduced, diverted rate) but should you be allowed to not pay at all?

I don't think anyone was suggesting not to pay at all? The Oyster helpdesk could resolve the journey to the intended one, if the customer was allowed to tap out (otherwise it would be a maximum fare)

It opens up a whole can of worms that I don't think the system can deal with well.

I don't see a can of worms with allowing people to pay the originally intended fare. Indeed TfL are opening themselves up to potential legal action by not allowing people to pay the intended fare.

Same goes for bus ticket acceptance within London - even though it is likely to be cheaper than any rail fare, should you just be allowed on? Especially if you haven't "bought" a "ticket" yet before being re-routed onto buses.

It is down to TfL to come up with a suitable mechanism; if anyone wants to suggest a system for buses then it may be best as a separate speculative thread.

But what they can't really do is announce acceptance and then renege on it.

 

[Horizon22]

I don't think anyone was suggesting not to pay at all? The Oyster helpdesk could resolve the journey to the intended one, if the customer was allowed to tap out (otherwise it would be a maximum fare)

Yes I suppose it's a maximum fare otherwise.

I don't see a can of worms with allowing people to pay the originally intended fare. Indeed TfL are opening themselves up to potential legal action by not allowing people to pay the intended fare.

It's a can of worms as to how this would be practically managed for issues where there is a fare differential and no way of checking between a legitimate traveller having to take a more expensive route and someone who was choosing to do so on the actual date. How would you set up the gatelines / readers for temporary changes, who does it, how does the technology work etc etc.

It is down to TfL to come up with a suitable mechanism; if anyone wants to suggest a system for buses then it may be best as a separate speculative thread.

But what they can't really do is announce acceptance and then renege on it.

It is, I'm just suggesting it will be near impossible to work out a suitable solution. Was anyone "reneging"?

 

[yorkie]

It's a can of worms as to how this would be practically managed for issues where there is a fare differential and no way of checking between a legitimate traveller having to take a more expensive route and someone who was choosing to do so on the actual date. How would you set up the gatelines / readers for temporary changes, who does it, how does the technology work etc etc.

It is TfL's responsibility to come up with an appropriate solution, but this isn't the thread for any suggestions.

It is, I'm just suggesting it will be near impossible to work out a suitable solution. Was anyone "reneging"?

I would see it that way, if I saw there was "acceptance" without any conditions that it excludes contactless, and if I was charged the higher fare.

In the end, I didn't take the contactless option, so I don't know if they would have let me exit and resolve to the correct fare, or if they would have insisted I paid £13.90 instead of the £3.60 intended fare, but this is what people are suggesting would have happened.

Next time, maybe I will try it and see if they do renege.

 

[Horizon22]

It's an interesting question though, one I don't think has been well tested, so if you want to be the guinea pig you could report back!

 

[redreni]

The hassle-free way is to buy the £7.00 paper ticket. I read somewhere (maybe an FoI) that when they say ticket acceptance is valid on x,y,z they really do mean ONLY paper tickets or concession passes that wouldn’t normally be valid on the alternative (staff pass etc).

You could try tapping in at King’s Cross and when you get to Heathrow Rail you could tell them that you’re told to tap out at the LU station. No guarantee

Ah, yes, I seem to remember back in 2006 when TfL was launching and encouraging people to switch to PAYG, didn't they go out of their way to make sure passengers understood that being charged extra during disruption was part of the deal?

 

[Railguy1]

The hassle-free way is to buy the £7.00 paper ticket. I read somewhere (maybe an FoI) that when they say ticket acceptance is valid on x,y,z they really do mean ONLY paper tickets or concession passes that wouldn’t normally be valid on the alternative (staff pass etc).

You could try tapping in at King’s Cross and when you get to Heathrow Rail you could tell them that you’re told to tap out at the LU station. No guarantee

So does that mean a freedom pass would be valid on Heathrow Express if said operator (HEX) had general ticket acceptance in place?

 

[Watershed]

So does that mean a freedom pass would be valid on Heathrow Express if said operator (HEX) had general ticket acceptance in place?

It would be valid on the Heathrow Express if TfL had ticket acceptance in place. Which would be exceptionally rare; even during yesterday's power outage, Piccadilly line trains and buses were still running to Heathrow, so that's what you'd probably be expected to use.

As it happens, yesterday afternoon Heathrow Express were taking passengers for free if they had a confirmed booking on one of the handful of flights that were running.

 

[Railguy1]

It would be valid on the Heathrow Express if TfL had ticket acceptance in place. Which would be exceptionally rare; even during yesterday's power outage, Piccadilly line trains and buses were still running to Heathrow, so that's what you'd probably be expected to use.

As it happens, yesterday afternoon Heathrow Express were taking passengers for free if they had a confirmed booking on one of the handful of flights that were running.

Ah I see, thanks.