Calculation of compensation following involuntary class downgrade

[MKB]

I travelled on an Advance Single 1st ticktet on Avanti from Nuneaton to Glasgow Central in July using a Senior Railcard. The fare was £74.55 (code V1M).

Because of the RMT catering strike (which I was unaware of until travelling), there was no First Class, and Avanti agreed to refund the difference between First and Standard. (I requested only the difference with Standard Premium as that is effectively what I received.)

I accepted their offer of £23.40, which I think is reasonable, but I noticed they had used the Advance Single fare of £51.15 (code V2M).

Surely, Avanti should not simply be applying the same fare category prefix, i.e. "M"? I would have expected them to use whatever Advance fare was on sale at the time of purchase? Looking at future trips, I can see that typically the Advance fare is usually in a much cheaper fare bucket than "M".

Since I am now at 4 out of 4 Avanti First-Class journeys this calendar year where no First-Class service was available, the lesson to myself when booking Avanti First Class in future is always to take a screenshot of the full range of fares available at the time of purchase.

 

[island]

It is usual for them to offer based on the like for like standard tier, as there is no easy way to look back and see what the corresponding standard fare was at the time of purchase.

If you did have evidence of what that fare actually was, I'd expect them to pay that difference, taking into account the £30 standard premium differential also.

 

[rocrat]

I travelled on an Advance Single 1st ticktet on Avanti from Nuneaton to Glasgow Central in July using a Senior Railcard. The fare was £74.55 (code V1M).

Because of the RMT catering strike (which I was unaware of until travelling), there was no First Class, and Avanti agreed to refund the difference between First and Standard. (I requested only the difference with Standard Premium as that is effectively what I received.)

I accepted their offer of £23.40, which I think is reasonable, but I noticed they had used the Advance Single fare of £51.15 (code V2M).

Surely, Avanti should not simply be applying the same fare category prefix, i.e. "M"? I would have expected them to use whatever Advance fare was on sale at the time of purchase? Looking at future trips, I can see that typically the Advance fare is usually in a much cheaper fare bucket than "M".

Since I am now at 4 out of 4 Avanti First-Class journeys this calendar year where no First-Class service was available, the lesson to myself when booking Avanti First Class in future is always to take a screenshot of the full range of fares available at the time of purchase.

I'd go much further than saying you'd be happy with a downgrade to standard premium.

This is fairly standard Consumer Rights Act stuff... "AWC failed to provide a 1st class service [with reasonable care or skill]; therefore, I would like either a *full* refund or a complimentary 1st class return, in addition to any statutory compensation due."

XC will tend to offer a £10 voucher if you make a similar complaint to them, but a trip to the Ombudsman highlighting the "repeat performance" aspect of the Consumer Rights Act usually generates a more useful complimentary 1st class return ticket...

 

[Adam Williams]

the lesson to myself when booking Avanti First Class in future is always to take a screenshot of the full range of fares available at the time of purchase

Depending on the retailer you decided to use and when you contact them, they may be able to dig up the equivalently available standard class ticket for you on request. If you use the forum ticketing site, this should be available for up to 6 months, I think.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I accepted their offer of £23.40, which I think is reasonable...

So, instead of First Class (with complimentary catering) you travelled in Standard Premium (almost the same but no catering), and were offered a refund for the difference between First Class and Standard. It's not particularly generous as compensation goes, but as others have said, the tricky thing will be determining what the other classes of advance tickets would have been priced at.

 

[PeachLillabo]

When I traveled with TFW from Hereford to Cardiff, I booked a 1st Class Advance (£12.60) as it was only 55p more! than the Standard Class Advance (£12.05). The MK4 was subbed for a standard-only 197, and when I asked for a refund they said they compared the cost of my 1st Class Advance to a Anytime Day single, but as my 1st class ticket was cheaper they refunded the price of an onboard 1st class upgrade, which was £10.20.
So in essence I ended up paying £2.40 for a journey, that I was making anyway, that would of cost £12.05 had I just booked standard class.

So really it depends on what the original ticket prices are as to what calculation works out best. Had they used the prices at the time of booking in my example, I would of got 20x less compensation.
I wouldn't be surprised if they used whatever method that resulted in the least compensation that could still be reasonably explained, but thats just speculation!

 

[zero]

I would have expected them to use whatever Advance fare was on sale at the time of purchase?

If my trips in 1st class on VTWC had had no catering, and they had used this methodology, they would have asked me to pay them money!

I haven't seen 1st be cheaper than Std on Avanti, even before Std Prem was introduced.