Delay repay for mid-journey delay

[umiyui]

Due to the big mishap on the ECML today, my Avanti train has, as a knock-on effect, been delayed an hour. However, I was originally due to change onto another train to Aberdeen at Haymarket an hour and a half later. I was planning to get dinner at Edinburgh, but due to the delay I've decided to cancel the next part of my travel and stay the night in Edinburgh so I can get dinner. I'm travelling on Advance tickets with a split at Edinburgh— can I get Delay Repay for the whole journey, or only up to Edinburgh, or can I get an uncompleted trip refund for it?

(slight bit of extra context that might be useful too: some people were told to get off at Lancaster and take the next TPE train due to weight restrictions, and that train would definitely be a missed connection if I'd been on it)

 

[bcarmicle]

I think you can claim Delay Repay for the tickets through to Edinburgh, and a refund on your tickets between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. You definitely won't be able to claim Delay Repay on the journey to Aberdeen as you won't be travelling there in the end.

 

[umiyui]

Will I be able to refund the Advances I have from Edinburgh to Aberdeen? I wouldn't mind alternatively being able to use them on a train up north tomorrow (or maybe the Caledonian Sleeper, if that would be allowed...)

 

[bcarmicle]

That is the bit I am most unsure about; you can claim a refund on an Advance ticket if the train is delayed or cancelled, but I am not sure you can if a train earlier in your journey is delayed or cancelled and you change your plans as a result.

 

[Starmill]

How are you going to get to Aberdeen? Assuming you are not going to be doing so on that Edinburgh to Aberdeen ticket, you are entitled to the following:

- a refund of the Edinburgh to Aberdeen ticket
- compensation for the delay of your journey to Edinburgh

If you continue to Aberdeen tomorrow using the same ticket from today, you may or may not be entitled to anything. You don't mention if your arrival time at Haymarket precludes a train to Aberdeen tonight, but even if it does, Avanti would be looking to send you there in a taxi tonight in the first instance.

You should claim the refund from wherever you bought your tickets. You can claim the compensation from Avanti West Coast (though you don't mention where you started, or if you were delayed before joining the Avanti service so I am just assuming you weren't). If you didn't book both tickets in the same transaction, I would expect an uphill struggle to claim the refund on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen ticket (unless you bought it via Raileasy).

 

[Watershed]

The main question is whether or not you could still have made it to Aberdeen on your original train, and if not, how late you would have got there.

If you could still have made your original train then all you are entitled to is Delay Repay on the ticket up to Edinburgh. Strictly speaking you wouldn't be entitled to a refund on your ticket to Aberdeen, although you may be able to convince the retailer you used to give you one.

If you couldn't have made your connection but would likely have been 60 minutes late or less by taking the next available train, you would be entitled to a choose to get a refund on your Advance due the missed connection. If you choose to get such a refund then this would exclude Delay Repay on that leg so again you would claim Delay Repay to Edinburgh.

If you couldn't have made your connection and would likely have been more than 60 minutes late by taking the next available train, you are entitled to Delay Repay all the way to Aberdeen (as you would have been delayed by a qualifying amount regardless) as well as to continue your journey at a later date of your convenience. You likely wouldn't be entitled to claim back overnight accommodation or food expenses during the delay as you are choosing not to continue as soon as possible - I imagine there would be a later train at least as far as Dundee and you could be put in a taxi from there.

Unfortunately the industry doesn't really offer any protection against shorter than planned connections/breaks when there are only 'minor' delays (i.e. no more than than 60 minutes on arrival). Either you can classify it as two separate journeys in which case you would have no additional rights in relation to the Edinburgh to Aberdeen ticket, or it's one journey in which case you're entitled to take the next available train (or your original one if that was still feasible) but not to delay your journey unnecessarily.

 

[Starmill]

The main question is whether or not you could still have made it to Aberdeen on your original train, and if not, how late you would have got there.

If you could still have made your original train then all you are entitled to is Delay Repay on the ticket up to Edinburgh. Strictly speaking you wouldn't be entitled to a refund on your ticket to Aberdeen, although you may be able to convince the retailer you used to give you one.

If you couldn't have made your connection but would likely have been 60 minutes late or less by taking the next available train, you would be entitled to a choose to get a refund on your Advance due the missed connection. If you choose to get such a refund then this would exclude Delay Repay on that leg so again you would claim Delay Repay to Edinburgh.

If you couldn't have made your connection and would likely have been more than 60 minutes late by taking the next available train, you are entitled to Delay Repay all the way to Aberdeen (as you would have been delayed by a qualifying amount regardless) as well as to continue your journey at a later date of your convenience. You likely wouldn't be entitled to claim back overnight accommodation or food expenses during the delay as you are choosing not to continue as soon as possible - I imagine there would be a later train at least as far as Dundee and you could be put in a taxi from there.

Unfortunately the industry doesn't really offer any protection against shorter than planned connections/breaks when there are only 'minor' delays (i.e. no more than than 60 minutes on arrival). Either you can classify it as two separate journeys in which case you would have no additional rights in relation to the Edinburgh to Aberdeen ticket, or it's one journey in which case you're entitled to take the next available train (or your original one if that was still feasible) but not to delay your journey unnecessarily.

It sounded like the OP knew they'd be unable to make their original train at all to me. I agree perhaps I misread and they could have? Is the train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen on time?

 

[Watershed]

It sounded like the OP knew they'd be unable to make their original train at all to me. I agree perhaps I misread and they could have?

This bit sounded like they had a planned 1.5 hour connection but have decided to delay their journey because that was reduced to an hour?

Due to the big mishap on the ECML today, my Avanti train has, as a knock-on effect, been delayed an hour. However, I was originally due to change onto another train to Aberdeen at Haymarket an hour and a half later.

 

[Starmill]

This bit sounded like they had a planned 1.5 hour connection but have decided to delay their journey because that was reduced to an hour?

I thought that at first as well but I didn't think that interpretation made any sense. Why wouldn't you just keep to the original train and use the remaining half an hour to buy food to take onto the train?

 

[Amaranthe]

It sounded like the OP knew they'd be unable to make their original train at all to me. I agree perhaps I misread and they could have? Is the train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen on time?

This bit sounded like they had a planned 1.5 hour connection but have decided to delay their journey because that was reduced to an hour?

Seems most likely the delayed Avanti would have been 9S70 which arrived into Haymarket at 19:07 instead of the booked 18:11.

Original connection to Aberdeen would have been 19:41 to Dundee then changing onto the 21:11 Dundee to Aberdeen service which got to Aberdeen 6 minutes late at 22:29.

An alternative service ran direct from Haymarket to Aberdeen at 21:05.

 

[umiyui]

Seems most likely the delayed Avanti would have been 9S70 which arrived into Haymarket at 19:07 instead of the booked 18:11.

Original connection to Aberdeen would have been 19:41 to Dundee then changing onto the 21:11 Dundee to Aberdeen service which got to Aberdeen 6 minutes late at 22:29.

An alternative service ran direct from Haymarket to Aberdeen at 21:05.

This is correct, I was originally planning to use the 1.5 hour interchange to go buy dinner and then get back into the station with hopefully about half an hour to spare. Considering I have a lot of luggage and am travelling with a friend, since we weren't sure how delayed the train would be we decided to book a stay in Edinburgh because we weren't sure if we could make a tight connection in Haymarket if it came down to the wire, and we didn't want to come into Aberdeen any later because of a bus connection there. I bought a ticket today for an LNER Avanti to Aberdeen (which has also been delayed an hour! What joy)


(incidentally, one of the gateline guards for the Scotrail part of Waverley didn't let me in when it was clear that the Scotrail 11:30 to Aberdeen would have left before the 10:31 (delayed to 11:32) Avanti, and I'm curious whether that's correct under PRO obligations, or whether it would be LNER's call...

 

[Bletchleyite]

I bought a ticket today for an LNER Avanti to Aberdeen (which has also been delayed an hour! What joy)

As long as it's at least 60 minutes (and not 59) that at least means that ticket was free!

(incidentally, one of the gateline guards for the Scotrail part of Waverley didn't let me in when it was clear that the Scotrail 11:30 to Aberdeen would have left before the 10:31 (delayed to 11:32) Avanti, and I'm curious whether that's correct under PRO obligations, or whether it would be LNER's call...

PRO requires the original operator to arrange re-routeing, you cannot self-re-route under this provision.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Aug 2026 ==

I thought that at first as well but I didn't think that interpretation made any sense. Why wouldn't you just keep to the original train and use the remaining half an hour to buy food to take onto the train?

I'd have either done this or changed the second Advance to the following day rather than losing it (admittedly hard to do this if bought via a splitting site, but if I was going to treat it as two journeys I'd probably book it as two separate bookings to keep things simple).

 

[Amaranthe]

This is correct, I was originally planning to use the 1.5 hour interchange to go buy dinner and then get back into the station with hopefully about half an hour to spare. Considering I have a lot of luggage and am travelling with a friend, since we weren't sure how delayed the train would be we decided to book a stay in Edinburgh because we weren't sure if we could make a tight connection in Haymarket if it came down to the wire, and we didn't want to come into Aberdeen any later because of a bus connection there. I bought a ticket today for an LNER Avanti to Aberdeen (which has also been delayed an hour! What joy)


(incidentally, one of the gateline guards for the Scotrail part of Waverley didn't let me in when it was clear that the Scotrail 11:30 to Aberdeen would have left before the 10:31 (delayed to 11:32) Avanti, and I'm curious whether that's correct under PRO obligations, or whether it would be LNER's call...

In a way it's unfortunate that your advance for Haymarket to Aberdeen last night hadn't been for the 18:41 instead as LNER would have accepted that on the delayed 10:31 this morning. But given you are currently 72 minutes late you should at least get the full cost of today's ticket back.

 

[umiyui]

I have certainly learned a couple of things about the risks of splitting tickets and also stopping a journey halfway but honestly at the end of the day I think it was a fun experience, and since everything is so delayed I haven't really lost out on much money— in the end almost everything's hopefully going to be refunded

 

[Haywain]

LNER Avanti to Aberdeen

I think you mean Azuma, you obviously have Avanti on the mind after yesterday!

 

[umiyui]

I think you mean Azuma, you obviously have Avanti on the mind after yesterday!

silly me— it's still stuck on my mind...

 

[Starmill]

I have certainly learned a couple of things about the risks of splitting tickets and also stopping a journey halfway but honestly at the end of the day I think it was a fun experience, and since everything is so delayed I haven't really lost out on much money— in the end almost everything's hopefully going to be refunded

You were clearly inconvenienced into Edinburgh and clearly delayed by long enough that delay repay would come into effect, so that part at least is in your favour.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Aug 2026 ==

I'd have either done this or changed the second Advance to the following day rather than losing it (admittedly hard to do this if bought via a splitting site, but if I was going to treat it as two journeys I'd probably book it as two separate bookings to keep things simple).

Trainsplit would be able to facilitate this for you I believe. If time is short prior to the cut off for altering the Advance, one option you can use is to rebook a fresh ticket (for the same stations as the segment you wish to change, and for ease, logged in to the same account). You can then send them an email, before departure time, asking for this to be cancelled and your new ticket to replace it. If there's time you may be able to ask them in advance and receive a reply the same day.