Disparity in ticket prices between Virgin and other web sites

[EltonRoad]

I am about to book a journey in 1st Class from Euston to Preston so decided to compare Virgin and East Coast web sites to see if the fares match. Lo and behold, they don't. For example:

Tuesday 26 July:

0730 and 0830 departures, and all departures from 1630 to 1930, best advance prices:

Virgin: £81.50
East Coast: £114

For many, if not most trains on that date, it's cheaper on Virgin's site to book a 1st Class advance than it is to go standard.

And the fares are available, I got as far as seat allocation.

This could apply to other routes, definitely worth checking.

(Don't know if this is old news but I thought it worth highlighting. It doesn't seem to say that cheaper fares are only available on Virgin's web site, whereas it does for East Coast with the 10% discount on their own fares.)

 

[Dewedin]

If it's consistently different then that might indicate a problem. But it's possible for quotas to be exhausted/become available again as people add/remove tickets from online baskets.

 

[WestCoast]

I've actually found the opposite once - Virgin was slightly more expensive for one AP than London Midland's site.

 

[John @ home]

I got as far as seat allocation.

The difficulty with this approach is that the journey opportunity is removed from the quota and placed in your basket just before seat allocation. So, if it happens to be the last remaining ticket at that price, it is no longer shown because it is already yours (for the next 2 hours or until you buy it or delete it from your basket).

 

[voyagerdude220]

I've noticed before that the EC website doesn't offer the 'BHO' range of Virgin Advance First singles, with it instead jumping to the next more expensive type of Advance First ticket..

Why? Who knows..

 

[AlterEgo]

You do have to remember, through all of this, that internet sites are not an "impartial retailing" outlet, whereas most booking offices are. I am not sure about telesales centres.

 

[All Line Rover]

NRE didn't used to show the FCS (lowest tier) of First Advance singles, even though they put you straight through to Virgin's website which did show them. Recently they have started showing these cheap fares. Who knows what's going on! :roll:

I've just noticed that NRE also show the "cheap" £81.50 fares in this scenario.

 

[NightatLaira]

Had a strange incident the other day... York to London, on EC they were showing a GC anytme time service as sold out (in faint text), thought this was a bit odd as anytime tickets aren't normally quotared. Went to GC - and low and behold - they're available, and you can buy as many as you want because it's not a seat reservation ticket...

Very odd - I thought all operators were supposed to display all other operators fares nowadays? EC show XC without issue, what's the deal with GC?

 

[AlterEgo]

I thought all operators were supposed to display all other operators fares nowadays? EC show XC without issue, what's the deal with GC?

I refer you to my earlier post.

For example, VT do not sell London Midland Only tickets on their web platform. They also don't sell LM Only tickets to Milton Keynes on the TVMs at Euston...quite legitimately in both instances.

 

[NightatLaira]

I refer you to my earlier post.

For example, VT do not sell London Midland Only tickets on their web platform. They also don't sell LM Only tickets to Milton Keynes on the TVMs at Euston...quite legitimately in both instances.

ok, i think it get you now... but they DO still show 'advance set train only' fares for other operators? e.g. the XC fares that frequently appear on the EC website for XC trains north of Doncaster & York. it is confusing...