Changing Off Peak Ticket - return worthless !!

[mgood]

I was planning to return EUS - CRE today off peak using the return part of an Off Peak Return ticket. However things finished earlier than planned, so went to EUS ticket office to change my ticket to a Peak train.

To my surprise I was told it would be cheaper to buy a new Single (with Railcard) at £98 than 'change' the ticket I held as that would cost £109 !!!! So effectively the return element of my ticket was worthless (but if I had an Advance Single I could have got some value back less £10).

Seems wrong to me - were they correct ?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes, sadly that is correct, a ticket type excess applies to the whole ticket.

 

[Haywain]

Seems wrong to me - were they correct ?

Yes, it's long been the case that it can sometimes be cheaper to buy a new single than to excess a return from Off Peak to Anytime.

 

[Watershed]

They are correct, but it is only the case because of the huge difference between the cost of an Off-Peak and Anytime Return on Avanti flows to/from London. In the vast majority of cases it would be cheaper to pay the excess.

It's worth noting that you can get a partial refund for the unused return portion of your Off-Peak Return, if you don't foresee using it on a different trip within the month's period of validity.

The partial refund would be calculated based on the difference between the cost of your Off-Peak Return and the equivalent Off-Peak Single. That would likely be about 30% of the return fare you paid, as Avanti charge roughly 70% of the Off-Peak Return for an Off-Peak Single. An admin fee of up to £5 may also be deducted.