Stansted Express fares

[SaltAndVinegar]

For TOM-SSD

The Stansted Express website sells £36 1-person “Advance Return” fares, that are supposedly non-refundable.

They also offer a £44 Anytime Return fare.

I can’t see these on brfares, is there a special station code I need to use for them to show up, or is there something weird going on?

 

[kkong]

https://www.stanstedexpress.com/tickets-fares/ticket-types/advance-tickets

Terms and conditions for Advance train tickets:
Advance train tickets are exclusively available on our website.
...

 

[yorkie]

When are you travelling and do you have a Railcard?

 

[Edvid]

For those unaware TOM-SSD means Tottenham Hale - Stansted Airport

The Stansted Express website sells £36 1-person “Advance Return” fares, that are supposedly non-refundable.

They also offer a £44 Anytime Return fare.

I can’t see these on brfares, is there a special station code I need to use for them to show up, or is there something weird going on?

Stansted Express sell their own flavour of Advance tickets on their website/app. Unlike the usual version their Advance Singles only restrict you to the booked day, and the Advance Return (with the same outbound restriction) even allows you to return at any time within the month - basically a cheaper, non-refundable Anytime Return.

Their Anytime Return is also a StEx exclusive, though you may as well just get two singles on the days of travel or use contactless in that case. (Assuming you're not going for the split ticket option...)

How do Advance train tickets work?​

Typically, Advance tickets in the UK require you to travel at a specific time, but our Advance tickets are much better! You'll get the same flexibility as our Standard, Duo and Group tickets. So you can travel on any train on the outbound date you booked, and return any time within a month.

Like all our tickets, you can book up to six months in advance. But, you can only get this offer online, and there’s limited availability, so book early to get the cheapest Advance train tickets to London Stansted Airport.

 

[bakerstreet]

Apologies for off-topic but I do think Advance tickets really should be renamed Fixed Train tickets now.

Given that every ticket must be bought in advance, and actual “Advance” tickets can now be bought minutes before departure.

These Stansted express “Advance” tickets are welcome, especially for airport passengers, but do add a further layout of confusion

 

[SaltAndVinegar]

My question was around brfares, will they show anywhere? Not looking at any discounted tickets.

Or are Stansted Express making up these fares that can’t be found on any other retail system? I thought retailers were all meant to be able to sell any available fares in most cases… is this an exception?

I can see _some_ of their special fares, but not the £36 and £44 return options.

Mainly surprised to see an Anytime Return for sale for that station pair, as it doesn’t seem to exist elsewhere. It is priced as 2x Anytime single.

 

[Watershed]

My question was around brfares, will they show anywhere? Not looking at any discounted tickets.

They might not be down as Tottenham Hale to Stansted Airport fares. It could just be between some other fare locations. Alternatively it may be that they've applied a non-standard discount to a fare that already exists.

Or are Stansted Express making up these fares that can’t be found on any other retail system? I thought retailers were all meant to be able to sell any available fares in most cases… is this an exception?

They're not made up per se, but clearly they are not available to other retailers to sell. There are, unfortunately, many exceptions to this "rule"; it's by no means a hard and fast time. GA Hare Fares are another example.

I can see _some_ of their special fares, but not the £36 and £44 return options.

Mainly surprised to see an Anytime Return for sale for that station pair, as it doesn’t seem to exist elsewhere. It is priced as 2x Anytime single.

Yes there seems to be some very strange stuff going on there in terms of what they will sell.

 

[Adam Williams]

GA Hare Fares are another example.

These were at least in the fares data, I thought?

I can't tell what it would issue here at all. Not without buying one and looking further, anyway! It's possible it gets written into LENNON as a "keyed" fare, I suppose.

 

[MalaiseForever]

Apologies for off-topic but I do think Advance tickets really should be renamed Fixed Train tickets now.

They will be soon

 

[Watershed]

They will be soon

It sounds remarkably as if there's an even less flexible version of Advances on the way...

 

[rhizomergence]

It sounds remarkably as if there's an even less flexible version of Advances on the way...

Is there a thread about this?