12 week booking window on advance tickets.

[mike57]

I want to book a journey from Kings Cross to Bempton on Saturday 10th October.

Last week the advance tickets were not available, much as I expected, but in theory they should be available this week. I signed up to Northern's email notification to alert me when advance tickets are on sale, and got the email this morning. Followed the link, but still no tickets available apart from 1 journey mid morning using Grand Central.

So is there a problem? Possible engineering works (I have checked with the National Rail website, and nothing is showing, but...) or is it just the quirks of the system. I have tried Hull trains and LNER booking systems and got the same answers

I could split tickets but dont really want to as in the event of disruption a through ticket pretty much means you have to be 'got home', and we will be arriving in Kings Cross around lunchtime from France.

As an aside can anybody tell me in simple terms what the 'super off peak' restrictions are on a Saturday.

TIA

 

[A S Leib]

As an aside can anybody tell me in simple terms what the 'super off peak' restrictions are on a Saturday.

As far as I can tell, none (LNER's website shows super off-peak singles available for any time from Kings Cross to Bempton on a Saturday).

 

[thejuggler]

Probably a day too early, try again tomorrow. I've had this before when using different TOCs to complete a journey.

 

[yorkie]

I want to book a journey from Kings Cross to Bempton on Saturday 10th October.

Last week the advance tickets were not available, much as I expected, but in theory they should be available this week. I signed up to Northern's email notification to alert me when advance tickets are on sale, and got the email this morning. Followed the link, but still no tickets available apart from 1 journey mid morning using Grand Central.

So is there a problem? Possible engineering works (I have checked with the National Rail website, and nothing is showing, but...) or is it just the quirks of the system. I have tried Hull trains and LNER booking systems and got the same answers

I could split tickets but dont really want to as in the event of disruption a through ticket pretty much means you have to be 'got home', and we will be arriving in Kings Cross around lunchtime from France.

As an aside can anybody tell me in simple terms what the 'super off peak' restrictions are on a Saturday.

TIA

It's too early.

Looking at the previous week, there are some through Advances on the LNER site, but plenty of itineraries only offer Super Off Peak Singles.

The forum site is able to mitigate this for some itineraries, e.g. most notably the 1117



As you say, there are some cheap itineraries involving GC/HT on the 10th.

But for the full range of fares, you'll need to buy nearer the time.

Note that the LNER site will often charge a premium over the forum site (hence why LNER spends so much taxpayer money to deter people using third party sites!), while the forum site should not cost more than LNER if there is no split opportunity available.

 

[Watershed]

I could split tickets but dont really want to as in the event of disruption a through ticket pretty much means you have to be 'got home', and we will be arriving in Kings Cross around lunchtime from France.

Your have the same right even with split tickets, provided any connections respect the minimum connection time (any accredited site will only offer valid itineraries).

What you don't necessarily have is a right to automatically get the very next train in every scenario. That isn't necessarily dependent on whether you have split tickets but more so whether you have a TOC-restricted ticket such as an Advance.

For example if you have a "GC & Northern" Advance you can't automatically jump on the next LNER train if your GC train is cancelled. Because of the likely delay by waiting for the next GC service you'd be entitled to be re-routed at the earliest opportunity which means they'd have to arrange ticket acceptance or provide you with an endorsement or new ticket.

But in practice, GC (and to a lesser extent HT) are notorious for willfully ignoring and breaching that right, leaving you to have to buy a new ticket and try to claim it back afterwards.

That's not to say that buying an LNER Advance is perfect either. With an "LNER & Connections" ticket it is arguably necessary for the journey to include at least one LNER service so you couldn't just jump on a GC or HT service immediately behind.

The only option that provides full flexibility is a walk-up ticket.