Can't book via Avanti

[brightonbususe]

Hi experts,

I'm trying to book a trip from Polegate to Chirk via Avanti. This has been a two day tribulation so far. Yesterday I was getting XML errors which meant I couldn't progress past the delivery/seat picker step. Today I'm trying again, and I'm able to get past this (and choose my seats), but now get an error when I click the button to go into the payment screen.

There was a message on the homepage saying collect from station is unavailable, but it doesn't give me an alternative like it did yesterday (trip is on 29 August) so I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem? Is this part of a known problem?

I went to book on Southern instead, but the tickets there seem to be inexplicably more expensive, and I don't think you can choose seats.

Honestly I can't believe how disjointed the railway ticketing seems to be in the UK. It's really frustrating.

 

[Hadders]

I don’t find Avanti’s website very user friendly.

I’d use this forum’s site if it were me.

 

[alistairlees]

Hi experts,

I'm trying to book a trip from Polegate to Chirk via Avanti. This has been a two day tribulation so far. Yesterday I was getting XML errors which meant I couldn't progress past the delivery/seat picker step. Today I'm trying again, and I'm able to get past this (and choose my seats), but now get an error when I click the button to go into the payment screen.

There was a message on the homepage saying collect from station is unavailable, but it doesn't give me an alternative like it did yesterday (trip is on 29 August) so I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem? Is this part of a known problem?

I went to book on Southern instead, but the tickets there seem to be inexplicably more expensive, and I don't think you can choose seats.

Honestly I can't believe how disjointed the railway ticketing seems to be in the UK. It's really frustrating.

What time of the day are you trying to book and what itineraries and fares are you expecting to see? I mean, what was the cheaper fare that you found on Avanti but not elsewhere?

 

[yorkie]

Hi experts,

I'm trying to book a trip from Polegate to Chirk via Avanti. This has been a two day tribulation so far. Yesterday I was getting XML errors which meant I couldn't progress past the delivery/seat picker step. Today I'm trying again, and I'm able to get past this (and choose my seats), but now get an error when I click the button to go into the payment screen.

There was a message on the homepage saying collect from station is unavailable, but it doesn't give me an alternative like it did yesterday (trip is on 29 August) so I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem? Is this part of a known problem?

I went to book on Southern instead, but the tickets there seem to be inexplicably more expensive, and I don't think you can choose seats.

Honestly I can't believe how disjointed the railway ticketing seems to be in the UK. It's really frustrating.

We don't know your journey requirements, but I tried the forum's ticketing site (for one passenger, going out in the morning and back in the evening) and experienced no problems choosing a seat from our seat selector, and got to the payment stage without issue.

I wouldn't recommend using the Avanti site, as it uses the notoriously bad Trenitalia PICO4UK system.

 

[brightonbususe]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far.

The journey is 2x adults (with 1 using senior railcard),29th August 10:42 (Polegate) to 15:56 (Chirk) on 29 August, and returning 1st September 16:48 (Chirk) to 21:41 (Polegate). It was costing £178.25 on Avanti, or £220+ on Southern.

Going into step 3 (delivery and review) I am getting a 'There is an error in XML document (2, 2)' message at the bottom of the screen then it clears the price and doesn't load the seat picker and won't let me continue. If it doesn't come up with the XML error, and allows me to select the seats, it then comes up with an error when I click 'continue' to move onto step 4.

Have tried on two different computers, ad block etc is off. Will try the forum booking engine instead.

Thanks again.

Edited to add dates

 

[yorkie]

Thanks everyone for the replies so far.

The journey is 2x adults (with 1 using senior railcard), 10:42 (Polegate) to 15:56 (Chirk) on 29 August, and returning 16:48 (Chirk) to 21:41 (Polegate). It was costing £178.25 on Avanti, or £220+ on Southern.

Going into step 3 (delivery and review) I am getting a 'There is an error in XML document (2, 2)' message at the bottom of the screen then it clears the price and doesn't load the seat picker and won't let me continue. If it doesn't come up with the XML error, and allows me to select the seats, it then comes up with an error when I click 'continue' to move onto step 4.

Have tried on two different computers, ad block etc is off. Will try the forum booking engine instead.

Thanks again.

The forum site should do this journey with no problems, however you would need to book the discounted and non-discounted tickets as separate searches. Add each to your basket and pay in one transaction.

You may also want to pay a bit more for the flexibility of an Off Peak Return; your itinerary has you spending very little time in Chirk, and even a small delay could result in you arriving after you are due to have departed.

 

[brightonbususe]

Thanks again, my mistake, forgot the return date in my post which is 1st September. I did have the correct date on the website. Thanks for the heads-up about booking via separate searches, much appreciated.