St Pancras to Ashford International

[fulshaw]

Hi

I'm planning on taking my other half on a return trip from St Pancras to Ashford International this Sunday under the auspices of shopping but I really wanted to try out the HS1 line! Win win.

However, I've heard it's easy to fall foul of getting on the wrong train with an incorrect ticket, ie. not having a high speed ticket on the high speed service.

Does anyone have a few general pointers? Is it really that difficult? I looked on the trainline and they don't seem to tell me whether the ticket is for the HS1 line or not. Very confusing.

Can a PRIV card be used on the HS1 line (for an Anytime ticket) or just on the traditional service? What is the difference in journey times between the two? Can you upgrade to first class onboard and is it worth it, especially on a Sunday??

Ta

 

[ainsworth74]

Can you upgrade to first class onboard and is it worth it, especially on a Sunday?

There is no first class on HS1 services.

 

[paul1609]

Hi

I'm planning on taking my other half on a return trip from St Pancras to Ashford International this Sunday under the auspices of shopping but I really wanted to try out the HS1 line! Win win.

However, I've heard it's easy to fall foul of getting on the wrong train with an incorrect ticket, ie. not having a high speed ticket on the high speed service.

Does anyone have a few general pointers? Is it really that difficult? I looked on the trainline and they don't seem to tell me whether the ticket is for the HS1 line or not. Very confusing.

Can a PRIV card be used on the HS1 line (for an Anytime ticket) or just on the traditional service? What is the difference in journey times between the two? Can you upgrade to first class onboard and is it worth it, especially on a Sunday??

Ta

Its quite simple really if you are travelling to from the London area you will be offered either a Route Not HS1 or plus HS1 ticket.
From further afield it will be any permitted which is valid on HS1. Privs are not permitted on peak trains not a problem on a Sunday.
Staff are generally well acquainted and friendly. I think most of the ticket anomolies are to short distance destinations in North Kent.
Journey times are around 35 mins from St Pancras or around 1 hr 20 from London Bridge. Standard Class on HS1 is probably as good as first on many commuter routes.

Shopping wise on a sunday its probably only worth going to the outlet retail park. The traditional high street is quite small, Ashford is a smaller town than many people think. If you want an interesting day (pubs history nice riverside location) out Id recommend Rye down the Marshlink Line.

 

[telstarbox]

Canterbury is a nicer town and better day out IMHO (and has more/better shops). You can still get there on HS1 from STP

 

[fulshaw]

Cheers. It was that PRIV not on peaks I now remember hearing about - as you say, not a problem on a Sunday. Yes, I will leave her in the retail village/hades and head off for the day. That linkline sounds like it could be fun and she probbably won't even notice I'm misisng.

 

[paul1609]

Cheers. It was that PRIV not on peaks I now remember hearing about - as you say, not a problem on a Sunday. Yes, I will leave her in the retail village/hades and head off for the day. That linkline sounds like it could be fun and she probbably won't even notice I'm misisng.

I think the Marshlink line has a charm of its own, travelling on a 2 car dmu down a singleline through sheep filled fields with wide views is not something that many people associate with the south-east.

 

[yorkie]

Hi

I'm planning on taking my other half on a return trip from St Pancras to Ashford International this Sunday under the auspices of shopping but I really wanted to try out the HS1 line! Win win.

However, I've heard it's easy to fall foul of getting on the wrong train with an incorrect ticket, ie. not having a high speed ticket on the high speed service.

If you travel on a "Route NOT <wherever>" ticket on Route <wherever> then an excess fare is chargeable, when on a return ticket you are charged HALF the difference (for one direction) between the fare paid and the appropriate fare for the appropriate routed ticket. Note that is appropriate, not full (big difference). That is called a Change of Route excess and has been documented numerous times on this forum. However for HS1, there would be a lot of excesses to issue. Excesses are time consuming to issue. Therefore, they issue a "supplement" instead. Sometimes the supplement works out cheaper than the excess would otherwise have been, sometimes it is more costly.

The legality and sensibleness of this HS1 being different to everywhere else is questionable IMO.

Does anyone have a few general pointers?

General pointers when it comes to ticketing? They can be very dangerous indeed.

Is it really that difficult?

Buying a supplement? No.

Understanding the system? Yes.

I looked on the trainline and they don't seem to tell me whether the ticket is for the HS1 line or not. Very confusing.

Route restrictions on tickets are not readily apparent on Thetrainline. It's a bit easier on WebTIS systems, but even then you have to click on the ticket price and then it pops up the route in a little window.

I agree Thetrainline is confusing.

I also agree (if you are saying this) that ticketing in general is confusing.

Thetrainline and ATOC disagree with me. That's their choice, and I'd welcome a debate with representatives from either of them - if they dare (highly unlikely).

 

[MikeWh]

One thing you might want to be aware of is that there's a "small" golf tournament on in Sandwich. This means that some of the Ramsgate services are diverted round to Sandwich from Minster and the Dover ones are extended as far as I can tell. There may be a fair few extra people around.

 

[fulshaw]

Thanks. I will book what I hope is a simple Anytime return and specify on HS1 with PRIV so that should see me through.

ps. I didn't mean the fares were all complex but I knew certain things were different for the HS1 like not being able to use PRIV on peaks and that you had to ask for the HS1 service.

 

[island]

I looked on the trainline and they don't seem to tell me whether the ticket is for the HS1 line or not. Very confusing.

Don't use thetrainline; they are always more expensive than buying directly from the TOC.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Where are you actually starting from?

When I feel like a fast spin on a 395 I usually buy my HS1 tickets at St Pancras itself ( having used a Travelcard to bash around London for a bit first ).

 

[fulshaw]

London SP

 

[TicketMan]

I also agree (if you are saying this) that ticketing in general is confusing.

Thetrainline and ATOC disagree with me. That's their choice, and I'd welcome a debate with representatives from either of them - if they dare (highly unlikely).

Can't imagine they 'wouldn't dare'. More likely they wouldn't think a bloke in a forum important enough for a debate...

Regarding tickets, yes they can be confusing at times, which is why booking office closures must be fought - ticket office staff are always best placed to offer advice and help to passengers.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

London SP

Then just buy the ticket from the St P ticket office nearest the escalators to the Southeastern platforms; should be no problem then.

 

[TUC]

Its quite simple really if you are travelling to from the London area you will be offered either a Route Not HS1 or plus HS1 ticket.
From further afield it will be any permitted which is valid on HS1.

How far out from London do you have to be to get an any permitted ticket that i valid on HS1? i.e. are there any outer starting points for which it would be cheaper to buy an any permitted ticket than to buy a HS1 ticket from St Pancras?

 

[yorkie]

How far out from London do you have to be to get an any permitted ticket that i valid on HS1? i.e. are there any outer starting points for which it would be cheaper to buy an any permitted ticket than to buy a HS1 ticket from St Pancras?

HS1 is a permitted route (of course) between London and Ashford.

Anywhere that is beyond London, and is routed via 'LONDON' in the Routeing Guide is valid via all the permitted routes from origin to London and London to destination including LU transfer if/where appropriate.

Initially it was cheaper from places like Luton!

 

[island]

How far out from London do you have to be to get an any permitted ticket that i valid on HS1? i.e. are there any outer starting points for which it would be cheaper to buy an any permitted ticket than to buy a HS1 ticket from St Pancras?

I suspect it depends on your destination and ticket type. But I just randomly noted that all ticket types for Luton Airport PW to Sandwich except CDS/CDR are more expensive routed +NOT VALID ON HS1 than +ANY PERMITTED.

One example is a CDR from West Brompton to Gillingham Kent, which is just £1.30 more than from London Terminals but you have two Tube journeys included at £1.90 value each.

 

[Mintona]

Just FYI, PRIVs are now valid on peak time HS1 trains, barring a few very busy exceptions, these are printed on the ATOC website.

 

[paul1609]

HS1 is a permitted route (of course) between London and Ashford.

Anywhere that is beyond London, and is routed via 'LONDON' in the Routeing Guide is valid via all the permitted routes from origin to London and London to destination including LU transfer if/where appropriate.

Initially it was cheaper from places like Luton!

Lots of places beyond London became plus HS1/ Not HS1 rather than Any Permitted in the January Fares change.
Bizarrely some places in Essex were changed from Any Permitted to Not HS1 with no plus HS1 available. Not sure if this has been corrected yet as Im overseas.

 

[island]

Bizarrely some places in Essex were changed from Any Permitted to Not HS1 with no plus HS1 available. Not sure if this has been corrected yet as Im overseas.

Is that to keep them off the STP-SFA bit maybe?