Anytime not [appearing] meaning Anytime??

[Lee_Again]

I'm looking at Welwyn North to Gatwick in Jan for my mum (hence the Senior Railcard).
I am offered an Anytime Return for £32.70 but suggests it can't be used on early morning return services. 09.19 is the first offered train.

There is a second Anytime Return for £49.60 where earlier timed trains can be used.

The £32.70 fare has this as its conditions... Flexible ticket with no time restrictions on when you can travel.

What am I missing?

 

[JonathanH]

The anytime return can't be discounted using a senior railcard until off-peak tickets are available for journeys wholly within the South East.

It is an anytime ticket, but the railcard isn't 'any time' for that journey, and hasn't been since the early 1990s.

£49.60 is the undiscounted fare, £32.70 is the same fare discounted with the Senior Railcard.

 

[Haywain]

For the reasons explained by @JonathanH above, if your mother is travelling before 09:30 in one direction and later (or at the weekend) in the other it will be better to buy singles in each direction as the return direction ticket for the post-09:30 direction can be discounted, and this will result in an overall saving against the undiscounted Anytime Return.

 

[wilbers]

curious that there are 2 rows at the bottom for Anytime singles at the same price.

 

[Haywain]

curious that there are 2 rows at the bottom for Anytime singles at the same price.

There are not - one is discounted, the other is not.

 

[wilbers]

There are not - one is discounted, the other is not.

I meant these two rows, not the one below them.

 

[Lee_Again]

OK. Thank you. I understand. Essentially the tickets are the same, it's the validity of the Senior Rail Card that's the issue.

 

[Haywain]

I meant these two rows, not the one below them.

Yes, that's one row for the outward journey and one for the return journey. They can't be the same as they are issued in opposite directions.

 

[TUC]

The anytime return can't be discounted using a senior railcard until off-peak tickets are available for journeys wholly within the South East.

It is an anytime ticket, but the railcard isn't 'any time' for that journey, and hasn't been since the early 1990s.

£49.60 is the undiscounted fare, £32.70 is the same fare discounted with the Senior Railcard.

What is the rationale for a different approach for the South East?

 

[JonathanH]

What is the rationale for a different approach for the South East?

People who qualified to do so were using Senior Railcards (and Family Railcards with an accompanying child) for commuting purposes, and Network South East took the view that that was revenue going missing.

Regional Railways and Intercity chose not to make the same decision.