Complex Delay Repay Claim - Stansted Airport to Manchester

[fishball]

Hello, I was travelling on an Off Peak Return ticket from Manchester to Stansted, and having chosen to take the return trip through London, I was wondering what my options for delay repay are.

My Avanti train ended up being more than 1 hour late, but I understand that delay repay is calculated through the next fastest available route, which would have involved going from Stansted to Ely, and changing onto the EMR train to Manchester.

However, there was no way I could have known that this would end up being quicker, as I was only aware of the delay to the Avanti train after arriving in London. May I know how the claim would work in this case, as the possible routes are in completely opposite directions? The ticket itself did not have any route or operator restrictions.

Many thanks.

 

[yorkie]

What was the booked/planned itinerary?

What actually happened on the day, and what was the actual route and actual timings?

 

[fishball]

What was the booked/planned itinerary?

What actually happened on the day, and what was the actual route and actual timings?

Hi, thank you for the reply.

The planned itinerary was:

July 03

1228 Stansted - Liverpool Street
1353 Euston - Man Piccadilly

The Avanti train ended up being approximately 65 minutes late accrording to RTT.

 

[gray1404]

You claim based on what happened.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Jul 2026 ==

So in other words a 60 minute delay from Avanti.

 

[Watershed]

The fact that it would have been quicker to avoid London isn't something you are expected to anticipate. You claim for the journey you actually made and the delay you actually experienced. Only when you unreasonably delay yourself (e.g. by stopping off for a meal for an hour) would the delay be calculated based on anything else.

The issue you will face is that your connection was not an official one if you changed at Liverpool Street (LST), as the time between trains was 4 minute short of the official minimum connection time (MCT). The MCT for a cross-London transfer is calculated by adding the MCT at each station (15 mins at LST and Euston, EUS) to the notional Tube journey time (13 mins).

The 12:28 from Stansted (SSD) was due into LST at 13:14, so that plus 15 + 13 + 15 would have made 13:57 the earliest valid departure time from EUS. Your train was at 13:53.

However the connection would have been an official one if you had changed at TOM, as there the MCT is only 5 minutes and the Victoria line 'cuts the corner' to EUS, taking an assumed 24 mins. In reality the Victoria line from TOM to EUS is probably quicker than the Met/H&C/Circle line LST to Euston Square and then walking to EUS, let alone the extra time taken on the train from TOM to LST.

Therefore since the 12:28 was due into TOM at 13:00, you would have had a valid connection onto any EUS departure from 13:44 onwards if you changed at TOM.

Now obviously, I wouldn't encourage you to lie on your Delay Repay form as to having intended to change at TOM when you actually changed at LST. But as you will have held a paper ticket (cross-London tickets can't be issued as eTickets generally) there would be no way of Avanti knowing which route you took.

Moreover you would probably need to manually enter a journey via LST in the Delay Repay claim form, as the automated form would suggest the quickest journey (changing at TOM) by default when you enter SSD to Manchester. You would have to click to open the journey details pop-up to notice that the journey with two changes, which matches the train times you actually caught, involved changing at TOM rather than LST. It would certainly be a very easy mistake to accidentally miss that detail...

I have to say it seem very arbitrary that you might be denied compensation (or be paid less) on the basis that your journey wasn't a valid one, when by all accounts there was no issue getting to EUS in time for the 13:53.

 

[30907]

The Avanti train ended up being approximately 65 minutes late accrording to RTT.

Did you catch this train? Your wording is ambiguous

Apologies - yes you did per post #1.

 

[yorkie]

Hi, thank you for the reply.

The planned itinerary was:

July 03

1228 Stansted - Liverpool Street
1353 Euston - Man Piccadilly

The Avanti train ended up being approximately 65 minutes late accrording to RTT.

As you chose the longer journey via Liverpool Street, instead of Tottenham Hale, the official onward connection was a later train from Euston, and therefore the delay has to be measured against the booked arrival time, so it's actually a delay of 30-59 mins.

Avanti may show discretion on the basis that you got an earlier connection than officially would have been booked, and that a delay wasn't known at that point, or the system may assume that you took the quickest route, however if they do pay out on a 30-59 min basis I don't think you can definitively state that they are wrong to do that and you'd just have to accept that.

Put the claim in and see what happens.

 

[fishball]

Hi, thank you all for the help. I have put the claim in for an hours delay, and I shall see what happens.