Buying 2 Advances instead of a return

[Andyh82]

I'm planning a trip next week on a non strike day, and for my preferred journey I am being given the option to buy 2 advances which are cheaper than a Day Return

As disruption is apparently possible next week, and also bear in mind by journey involves the dreaded Transpennine Express and also Northern, if my outbound journey was delayed and/or cancelled resulting in a late arrival, would I have any grounds to:

Return on a later train than specified on my return advance to avoid a truncated day out
Buy a new single for a later than planned return journey and get a full refund on the return advance having not used it
Buy a new single for a later than planned return journey and get a full refund on the new single

 

[Watershed]

I'm planning a trip next week on a non strike day, and for my preferred journey I am being given the option to buy 2 advances which are cheaper than a Day Return

As disruption is apparently possible next week, and also bear in mind by journey involves the dreaded Transpennine Express and also Northern, if my outbound journey was delayed and/or cancelled resulting in a late arrival, would I have any grounds to:

Return on a later train than specified on my return advance to avoid a truncated day out
Buy a new single for a later than planned return journey and get a full refund on the return advance having not used it
Buy a new single for a later than planned return journey and get a full refund on the new single

Unfortunately the only option to which you have a clear-cut, defined entitlement is to the middle one - to get a full refund on your return Advance, having not used it. Otherwise you're going to have to change your return Advance to another train (if there's availability on the day), or excess it to a walk-up ticket.

Obviously, depending on the length of any delay on your outward journey, you may be entitled to some delay compensation, which might be sufficient to pay the above changes. You'd therefore be well advised to use a retailer that doesn't charge admin fees for changes.

 

[Birmingham]

Unfortunately the only option to which you have a clear-cut, defined entitlement is to the middle one

Can you confirm the entitlement even to that? Reading closely, the OP is asking if they could refund the advance for their B-A journey having been delayed on their A-B journey.

 

[Watershed]

Can you confirm the entitlement even to that? Reading closely, the OP is asking if they could refund the advance for their B-A journey having been delayed on their A-B journey.

Yes, that's correct. It's more difficult to establish this entitlement if you booked the two in separate transactions or with different retailers, but if booked as one return journey, it's not particularly controversial. Obviously, it's rarely going to be worthwhile if you are still returning (likely cheaper to excess as described above), but the entitlement exists.

 

[Benjwri]

Can you confirm the entitlement even to that? Reading closely, the OP is asking if they could refund the advance for their B-A journey having been delayed on their A-B journey.

The staff brief on these coming strikes says any DfT TOC (I.e. not open access) will refund advance tickets fee free on strike days, regardless of whether the specific train was delayed or cancelled. For Third Party retailers they have been told to use discretion. Same goes for advance tickets booked as a return in this way, if it’s a third party it is discretionary.

 

[JBuchananGB]

But this is to be on a non-strike day. I would have thought that refunding the Advance ticket for the return part of the outing would incur a £10 admin fee if the service in question ran without problems on the day, but the OP chose not to travel on it. Sounds like excessing it to the walk-up Single fare would be the right option, unless that costs more than £10.

 

[Haywain]

But this is to be on a non-strike day. I would have thought that refunding the Advance ticket for the return part of the outing would incur a £10 admin fee if the service in question ran without problems on the day, but the OP chose not to travel on it. Sounds like excessing it to the walk-up Single fare would be the right option, unless that costs more than £10.

Excessing would definitely be the correct option for a non-refundable ticket. I regret that I am unconvinced that there are grounds for a refund of only the return journey in this case.