Trainline Flex

[Oscar M]

I found myself on the Trainline app earlier and saw that they were offering a paid add on called 'Trainline Flex'.

In a nutshell, it appears to be an insurance policy which, if added at the time of ticket purchase, allows you to refund your advance ticket for any reason. If you choose to receive a refund, you do not get the booking fee or insurance cost back; you only get a refund of the ticket cost. It seems to be provided by XCover.

Trainline Flex | Trainline

Trainline Flex is a new ticket bundle combining an Advance ticket with added cancellation cover - cancel up to two hours before departure and get 100% of your ticket price back .

www.thetrainline.com

 

[Haywain]

I found myself on the Trainline app earlier and saw that they were offering a paid add on called 'Trainline Flex'.

I'm not sure I'd see £15 as worthwhile for that.

 

[speedy1]

~25% of the ticket price based on some of my searches. Blimey.

I'm sure the 2 hours prior has been algorithmically determined based on the large body of data they have to let the house win plenty often (like a lot of insurance)

And I think positioning it as a ticket type is really quite naughty. I suspect they know it may mislead/confuse because they do some CYA with an FAQ answer: "Trainline Flex doesn’t turn your ticket into a flexible ticket"

It's also another layer, more of "not our problem, go to talk to X" when chasing the "refund"

 

[AlterEgo]

It's also another layer, more of "not our problem, go to talk to X" when chasing the "refund"

A refund which wouldn't ordinarily be due. I don't think it is necessarily bad to sell what is basically a travel insurance product. I can think of a couple of times a year I would use it.

 

[WelshBluebird]

As usual with them, agreed with the criticism of how its being offered but I defo think theres room in the market.

Just taking a quick look and its pretty easy to find examples that are cheaper than an off peak or anytime flexible ticket, so if you need the ability to get a mostly full refund, it absolutely could be worth it.

Even on shorter / cheaper journeys. E.g. Cardiff to bristol, where an off peak single is £17.70 but you can get fairly cheap advances with enough notice, which make the cost with this flex insurance say a tenner.

 

[Haywain]

Even on shorter / cheaper journeys. E.g. Cardiff to bristol, where an off peak single is £17.70 but you can get fairly cheap advances with enough notice, which make the cost with this flex insurance say a tenner.

I might be missing something but if a walk up ticket is that price how can buying an Advance and the insurance ever be worthwhile?

 

[Mainline421]

I guess it makes sense that Trainline want to take more of the money for themselves... Can't help but wonder if they actually will be able to cancel these tickets though

 

[Bletchleyite]

As usual with them, agreed with the criticism of how its being offered but I defo think theres room in the market.

TBH I did think the 70 Minute tickets should offer this as well as the "plus or minus 70". It seems a good idea, though I'm not sure about the name as it may be confusing.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Jun 2026 ==

Can't help but wonder if they actually will be able to cancel these tickets though

Unless it's an experiment countenanced by GBR, most likely they won't be able to get the money back (though they would be able to mark them cancelled), but will price it so it is profitable if the expected proportion of people do claim refunds.

 

[Kite159]

I guess it makes sense that Trainline want to take more of the money for themselves... Can't help but wonder if they actually will be able to cancel these tickets though

I would imagine they have done the maths and expect that more people will pay the extra for the insurance and not claim, than those claiming the money back. Effectively writing off the money when someone makes a successful claim.

So no doubt if the maths is wrong and the scheme costs them money, it will either quietly disappear, terms to make a claim made harder or the extra for the insurance increasing

 

[Mainline421]

Unless it's an experiment countenanced by GBR, most likely they won't be able to get the money back (though they would be able to mark them cancelled), but will price it so it is profitable if the expected proportion of people do claim refunds.

I assume they/Xcover will be eating the loss, but I don't see why the retailer would have any basis to cancel the tickets from the rail industry's perspective. They could argue the tickets have been transferred back to Trainline, but that still doesn't make them cancellable

 

[skyhigh]

I'm not sure I'd see £15 as worthwhile for that.

The price is variable.

For example, on a £3.20 Advance Single from Leeds to York the Flex fee is 80p. A Northern only Anytime Day Single is £17.00 so the Flex offering saves a significant amount of money.

 

[AlterEgo]

The price is variable.

For example, on a £3.20 Advance Single from Leeds to York the Flex fee is 80p. A Northern only Anytime Day Single is £17.00 so the Flex offering saves a significant amount of money.

This would be pretty good value for people who were going to a football game which was at risk of being rescheduled for example (and they could not necessarily make the re-arranged fixture). It basically allows people to buy Advance tickets for those occasions with a moderate surcharge to give them a right to a refund, instead of paying over the odds for flexibility with a walk up ticket.

 

[Adam Williams]

Is this not just a re-brand of the "Cancel for Any Reason" insurance they were already offering previously? I think the only thing they've changed here is that it shows up as a faux ticket type (which is fine if the customer knows they're effectively taking out an insurance policy).

Anyway, if the product is successful I think it highlights that customers do actually care about being able to cancel their ticket and don't simply want a world where they're screwed over if their plans change.

Certainly it's much more reasonably priced on e.g. Kings Cross to Edinburgh than anything LNER want the passenger to purchase.

 

[Benjwri]

Even on shorter / cheaper journeys. E.g. Cardiff to bristol, where an off peak single is £17.70 but you can get fairly cheap advances with enough notice, which make the cost with this flex insurance say a tenner.

Of course this is just a classic advance exchange where you could just pay the admin fee, of which some sellers may only charge one £5 fee, or none at all, and you only have to pay that if you change the ticket, not whatever happens.

This would be pretty good value for people who were going to a football game which was at risk of being rescheduled for example (and they could not necessarily make the re-arranged fixture). It basically allows people to buy Advance tickets for those occasions with a moderate surcharge to give them a right to a refund, instead of paying over the odds for flexibility with a walk up ticket.

Similar point here. If the game is likely to be rescheduled and they’ll still be going a change of date is much better value, and can be done up to the departure time, rather than 2 hours.

I assume they/Xcover will be eating the loss, but I don't see why the retailer would have any basis to cancel the tickets from the rail industry's perspective. They could argue the tickets have been transferred back to Trainline, but that still doesn't make them cancellable

I suspect they might cancel them because of the risk of people claiming under this policy and travelling anyways. They will certainly at least be checking they didn’t get scanned.

 

[AlterEgo]

Similar point here. If the game is likely to be rescheduled and they’ll still be going a change of date is much better value, and can be done up to the departure time, rather than 2 hours.

But my point is they aren't going to go, which is very common in the case of rescheduled games (weekday vice weekend etc).

 

[Haywain]

The price is variable.

I don't see any mention of that on the linked page, which just says "+£15".

 

[skyhigh]

I don't see any mention of that on the linked page, which just says "+£15".

It's just an example. If you try booking, you can see what they actually charge.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jun 2026 ==

E.g.

 

[Adam Williams]

It's just an example. If you try booking, you can see what they actually charge.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jun 2026 ==

E.g.

View attachment 206916

In the examples I checked it was a flat 25% of the ticket cost. There seems to be an upper limit on tickets they'll insure too.

 

[Haywain]

It's just an example. If you try booking, you can see what they actually charge.

Thanks for clarifying. I haven't used Trainline for booking and don't plan on starting to any time soon. I reckon if I put aside an amount equivalent to 25% of the price of any Advances I buy I'll be better off, so I'll stick to self-insuring.

This would be pretty good value for people who were going to a football game which was at risk of being rescheduled for example (and they could not necessarily make the re-arranged fixture).

When a game gets rescheduled for (for example) TV coverage, this would only be beneficial for refunds as they could do fee-free or cheap changes through several other retailers. The real benefit, if it is considered worthwhile, is in protection against postponements when the rearranged date isn't known until some time after the original date.

 

[Farigiraf]

I found myself on the Trainline app earlier and saw that they were offering a paid add on called 'Trainline Flex'.

In a nutshell, it appears to be an insurance policy which, if added at the time of ticket purchase, allows you to refund your advance ticket for any reason. If you choose to receive a refund, you do not get the booking fee or insurance cost back; you only get a refund of the ticket cost. It seems to be provided by XCover.

Trainline Flex | Trainline

Trainline Flex is a new ticket bundle combining an Advance ticket with added cancellation cover - cancel up to two hours before departure and get 100% of your ticket price back .

www.thetrainline.com

Seems like a decent niche product for where the walk-up fare is much more expensive than an advance - basically like the fees that some airlines charge for free cancellation. Hope that Trainline won't mind when LNER inevitably steals the idea.

My concern is that for routes where the Advance+Flex is not much less than the walk-up fare, won't this incentivise giving up and taking a different travel option if your plans change, rather than catching the next train?

All that Flex is really good for is if the change of plans is your personal choice, and not the railway's, but even then you can't catch the next train with Flex, you just get your money back. If you do want to catch another train, I guess you could exchange the advance ticket, but this isn't always particularly good value compared to buying a walk-up fare.

Based on many threads in the Fares & Advice Policy section, my observation is that a significant proportion of rail travellers believe that if you miss a connection or your train is cancelled on an advance ticket, you're stranded and left out of pocket, and can't catch the next train. In reality of course, in such a situation, you can catch the next train and get delay repay, or you can abandon journey and get it refunded. I imagine that Trainline may be attempting to capitalise on this group of passengers which the GB ticketing system hasn't been clear enough towards, selling them flexibility that they don't actually need most of the time.

 

[styles]

I don't really have an issue with it to be honest. They're a private retailer chasing sales and just like EasyJet they offer an insurance policy at checkout.

Maybe it could be better communicated, I don't know, but I suspect a lot of people read the few lines of text which summarise what the policy offers and understand it reasonably well.

I think it offers poor value for money, but then so did the £8k car insurance quote I was given last year.

 

[WelshBluebird]

I might be missing something but if a walk up ticket is that price how can buying an Advance and the insurance ever be worthwhile?

Because an advance plus the insurance is signifantly cheaper in that scenario? About £10 vs £17.70.

 

[Mainline421]

I don't really have an issue with it to be honest. They're a private retailer chasing sales and just like EasyJet they offer an insurance policy at checkout.

The only real issue is it will be used by the likes of LNER to justify claiming that passengers want Advances, because for journeys where flexibility in cancellation matters more than timing it suddenly could be more appealing. And as much as I dislike Trainline that's not even really a criticism of them

 

[Starmill]

I assume they/Xcover will be eating the loss, but I don't see why the retailer would have any basis to cancel the tickets from the rail industry's perspective. They could argue the tickets have been transferred back to Trainline, but that still doesn't make them cancellable

If trainline were refunding the tickets in such circumstances, they would almost certainly be picked up on it. It's not permitted, which is, of course, the entire point.

The train operator(s) would still get their money, so this is arguably something they should probably have thoroughly tested out themselves a long time ago...

Is this not just a re-brand of the "Cancel for Any Reason" insurance they were already offering previously? I think the only thing they've changed here is that it shows up as a faux ticket type (which is fine if the customer knows they're effectively taking out an insurance policy).

Provided the terms haven't changed, and "cancel for any reason" is still the meaning, then yes absolutely.

Based on many threads in the Fares & Advice Policy section, my observation is that a significant proportion of rail travellers believe that if you miss a connection or your train is cancelled on an advance ticket, you're stranded and left out of pocket, and can't catch the next train.

Indeed, same as how many people think that if the last train of the day is cancelled, it's hard cheese and you can have a refund or nothing, when in fact, if you already had a ticket, you are entitled to be offered a bus or taxi instead.

 

[Farigiraf]

Because an advance plus the insurance is signifantly cheaper in that scenario? About £10 vs £17.70.

Trainline Flex and Walk-up tickets are for two separate purposes though, it's why I think Flex is very much a niche product.

THe purpose of walk-up tickets is for those that want the option to either cancel and refund their ticket or take a different train service in the event of a change of plans.
For routes with cheap advance fares, amending the ticket last-minute is quite often better value than purchasing a walk-up ticket in the first place.
Walk-up tickets can also be refunded up till the day before (until recently, it was up till your train departed).

Trainline Flex is for the specific, relatively small category of people who are plan to use an advance, but may need to cancel last-minute and not travel after all, not needing to be rebooked onto any other train. So it is basically like the insurance policy fee that airlines will charge you. And like the insurance policy fees that airlines charge, there are not many cases where it's worth paying for. If you do need to travel, just maybe a day later, then you buy a flexible flight ticket (as explained below). If you aren't sure whether you'll need to travel but still want to book tickets just in case, then you'll be out of pocket either way - just either by 25% (with free cancellation insurance) or 100% (without). If that 75% risk isn't worth taking for you, then you should get the insurance. Otherwise, make sure you will travel, or don't book tickets beforehand.

For comparison, some airlines also have a separate 'flex' fee (often up to 50% the original flight ticket's cost) for those that need to cancel and rebook - the (rather overpriced) equivalent of walk-up rail fares.

 

[Starmill]

The real benefit, if it is considered worthwhile, is in protection against postponements when the rearranged date isn't known until some time after the original date.

Absolutely. Especially for work commitments (self-booked), and those following sport, this is an important thing they've lost as a result of the recent changes made regarding refunds on Off Peak etc tickets.

 

[greatkingrat]

It seems possible to book a Flex ticket and choose to collect it as ToD. This seems to be a rather large loophole as I don't think there is any way for them to cancel an already collected paper ticket?

 

[Adam Williams]

Presumably they can simply ask for you to cut it up at claim-time if it's been printed (which you have to do far enough before the scheduled departure).

 

[tumbledown]

Can Trainline resell the refunded ticket if they can find another buyer?

 

[Haywain]

Can Trainline resell the refunded ticket if they can find another buyer?

The ticket is not being refunded.