Advance ticket - SWR & Greater Anglia

[matt88rn]

I'm looking to travel from Andover (ADV) to Sawbridgeworth (SAW) on an advance single.

The routing that I'm shown is ADV-WAT (SWR) -TCR-LST (TFL) -SAW (GA).

Providing I board the booked SWR service and everything is running on time, can I then take an alternative route across London (eg not via TCR)? And am I restricted to a specific GA service or can I take the next available LST-SAW option if I arrive in time for an earlier one?

Essentially, it's not clear if the "advance" element is my booked SWR service, or the entire itinerary.

Thank you!

 

[Watershed]

In theory you are supposed to travel exactly in accordance with the trains you selected when booking, but that is not fully enforceable since 'non-reservable' trains will generally not be shown on your ticket.

The Tube and Elizabeth line obviously aren't reservable so they won't be shown on your ticket. You can therefore use any reasonable route to get between Waterloo and Liverpool Street. Changing at Tottenham Court road is probably the quickest route in practice but alternatives like changing at Bond Street or Oxford Circus would be fine. So would taking a train from Waterloo East to London Bridge followed by Thameslink across to Farringdon then the Elizabeth line - though it's far from the quickest option.

Your LST-SAW train is likely to be heading to Cambridge, in which case it would be 'reservable' and therefore shown on your ticket. You are therefore required to travel on it. The 'reservation' you'll be issued will be nominal (e.g. there are 500 seats on the train and they sell up to 100 Advance tickets) rather than for an individual coach and seat.

 

[matt88rn]

Thank you!

I would be correct in saying then:

• Adv single sold on a 'reservable' GA train - I must travel on this one
• Adv single sold on a 'non-reservable' GA train - I could travel on another GA service as nothing would be shown on my ticket?

I'm travelling with my partner who is starting from a different station and we'll be meeting mid-journey at Waterloo, but I'd like to make sure we can travel on the same GA train together. Despite fiddling with various options, I can only get varients of us leaving LST separately on an 18:40 (non-res, Stansted) and 18:43 (res, Cambridge) service.

 

[Watershed]

If it's sold for a 'non-reservable' train then in theory you are supposed to only take other 'non-reservable' trains - although in practice, I can't see how that can easily be enforced. Frontline members of staff are unlikely to know which trains count as reservable or not - merely that if you're not on the train your ticket shows, you're clearly on the wrong one.

You could use a journey planner like TrainSplit/the forum's ticketing site, which allow for specific stations to be specified in the Advanced options as places the train should or shouldn't stop at.

 

[321362]

Changing at Tottenham Court road is probably the quickest route in practice

Waterloo & City Line says hello

 

[Watershed]

Waterloo & City Line says hello

Ah yes, fair suggestion.

 

[Kite159]

Waterloo & City Line says hello

Although in practise I would imagine the quickest route would be Bakerloo to Oxford Circus for the Victoria to Tottenham Hale, owing to how slow GA trains are between Liverpool Street & Tottenham Hale. Although if the advance is saying to go via Liverpool Street then I guess the OP will have to go via Liverpool Street in case it doesn't work the barriers at Tottenham Hale station.

 

[yorkie]

I suggest that next time @matt88rn uses the advanced options in the forum's ticketing site, to obtain the desired itinerary, at the time of booking. If in any doubt about the range of itineraries on offer, I suggest asking on the forum before booking the ticket.

Note that sometimes it is advisable not to push boundaries too much, and also not to publicise any such pushing of boundaries, as such occurrences have in the past resulted in the tightening of restrictions. Anyone wanting to push the boundaries is probably best attending a fares workshop (or other forum event).