Advance Ticket changing

[a22book]

Hi,

I have a 1st advance ticket from london to warrington on friday 31st Aug. I now want to travel on saturday 1st Sep. The ticket was bought through a travel agency my work use's. They have told me it cannot be changed. Does anyone know if I can change this at a booking office?

Many Thanks

 

[LexyBoy]

Yes, a booking office should be able to change the ticket, subject to a £10 Admin fee and any difference in the fares.

 

[snail]

They may not if it was issued through an agent, you may have to get the agent to do the reissue.

 

[Deerfold]

Sounds like the agent just wants the easy bit of the job.

 

[Brucey]

The agent may actually be correct. Travel agents are not permitted to issue excess fares. A change of train/date on an advance ticket is issued as an excess fare with new reservation.

If the ticket is on normal orange ticket stock there shouldn't be an issue getting the change done at a station ticket office.

 

[ainsworth74]

Must be changed at point of purchase.

Really? What's your source for that? I can find no mention of such a restriction on NRE and the Advance Fares FAQs state that changes can be made at most staffed stations.

 

[ItchyRsole]

Really? What's your source for that? I can find no mention of such a restriction on NRE and the Advance Fares FAQs state that changes can be made at most staffed stations.

Same question was asked at Blackfriars a while back.

Ticket clerk said if a ticket was bought at for example Streatham any changes, refunds etc must be done at Streatham. Online booking must be dealt with back online. Apparently!

 

[yorkie]

A ticket clerk at Blackfriars said this? I am not sure that's an authoritative source...

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I have never come across this suggestion that an Advance must be changed at the point of original Purchase; for a Refund, maybe.

The procedure for a Refund has such a provision, and is illustrated in the Manual by way of a flowchart. If "the ticket was sold by a travel agent, or other third party, a TfL station, a Telesales Office or an internet site", then "Advise the customer to return the ticket to the issuing office . . . ."

But for a change to an Advance, the Manual simply states "Changes to tickets can be made by logging in to "Your Account", or at most staffed stations."

It goes on to explain "Changes can be brought forward by any number of weeks, or put back as far ahead as the reservation system is open (normally around 12 weeks).

The origin, destination and Train Company or route shown on the ticket(s) must remain the same.

The difference between the price paid and cost of the next suitable fare for your journey is payable, plus a £10 administration fee per person, per single ticket for each change to a journey. If you change to a train on which a cheaper fare is available, the difference will not be refunded."

 

[Flamingo]

I"ve always been told Advance tickets can be changed at any booking office (or on-board if there were no facilities to do so at the first station). I have never heard of any restrictions depending on where it was sold.

 

[barrykas]

I"ve always been told Advance tickets can be changed at any booking office (or on-board if there were no facilities to do so at the first station). I have never heard of any restrictions depending on where it was sold.

The only potential issue I can think of wrt changing an Advance is where the original is a Print@Home or Mobile ticket, so there is no physical ticket to excess.

Then there are clerks who (mistakenly) believe that amendments can only be done by the original issuer. The same clerks tend to have a habit of referring customers to the issuer for refunds during service disruption as well, contrary to Condition 26(a) of the NRCoC.

 

[Flamingo]

I don't have to deal with either of those, yet!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Same question was asked at Blackfriars a while back.

Ticket clerk said if a ticket was bought at for example Streatham any changes, refunds etc must be done at Streatham. Online booking must be dealt with back online. Apparently!

A ticket clerk at Blackfriars said this? I am not sure that's an authoritative source...

I happen to be good friends with the ticket office manager at Blackfriars, I'll have a word.

They can change a ticket (not m-ticket or print at home), regardless of who issued it, but they can only accept a refund application if a station issued it.