Exchange pair of Advance tickets to a Return

[alex94]

Hi all,

I could do with some input from the fare experts on the forum – thanks in advance!

I'm holding a pair of two Advance tickets, bought through the same transaction, to travel from Wivenhoe to Kenilworth and back. Outbound and inbound are on separate but consecutive days. Outbound is routed via an Avanti train from Euston, inbound via a Chiltern train from Leamington.

My plans have changed and I now need more flexibility, intending to travel with either a Super Off-Peak Return via Banbury (restriction PU) or an Off-Peak Return via London (restriction 9I). I went to my local ticket office to ask for an exchange, but was informed that they could only exchange each Advance ticket to a Single. This would have been more expensive than buying respective (Super) Off-Peak Return and binning the Advances, so I did not proceed.

Have I been advised correctly or should I have been able to exchange the pair of Advances to a more flexible Return?

 

[Bletchleyite]

This might be because you can't excess away a TOC restriction? Though some online retailers (e.g. any based on Trainline and Trainsplit) might still have done it because these sites process changes on Advances as a refund-and-reissue which results in any TOC restrictions being "lost".

I did think in principle you could excess two Advances to one return aside from this, though it would incur two £10 admin fees.

I seem to recall the Advance Fares FAQ on The Manual did address this but I can't find a copy, anyone got a copy of it?

Looking at the fares, the Avanti Advances are routed +AWC &CONNECTIONS which could pose an issue. The Chiltern ones are routed +AP HIGH WYCOMBE which would not as it's a geographical routing and can be excessed away.

 

[Haywain]

I did think in principle you could excess two Advances to one return aside from this, though it would incur two £10 admin fees.

That's definitely the case.

 

[Watershed]

Technically speaking I think the ticket office was correct as you are only supposed to be able to change the date or time of travel, not the ticket type.

In practice, a number of retailers will allow you to change ticket type, and some will also allow you to change a pair of Advance singles into a return fare. These include Trainline - including their white-label sites used by companies such as XC, who don't charge an admin fee for Advance changes. I believe TrainSplit/the forum's ticket site may also do this but I would suggest checking with them directly.

 

[alex94]

Thanks all! I haven't tried the retailer of the tickets yet (Avanti) but will give it a go.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thanks all! I haven't tried the retailer of the tickets yet (Avanti) but will give it a go.

Rather than contacting them first of all I'd try to see if you can just do that by using the online journey change function. You can on Trainline derived sites and on Trainsplit (I think). I don't know about that one but it may well work.

It will incur two £10 admin fees if it does though.

 

[alex94]

It's paper tickets that I've already collected. With those, Avanti does not give you any further online amendment options.

 

[Haywain]

It's paper tickets that I've already collected. With those, Avanti does not give you any further online amendment options.

In which case I think you are, to coin a phrase, stuffed. You could change one of them to a return, and if it's the AP High Wycombe one you might well be able to get a change of route excess for one way (entitlement to which is, at best, dubious). You could also change the other ticket to a different date for future use.

 

[Bletchleyite]

if it's the AP High Wycombe one you might well be able to get a change of route excess for one way (entitlement to which is, at best, dubious).

I don't agree there. It's a geographical route, and geographical route excesses are entitled by the NRCoT (unlike say over distance excesses).

 

[AlterEgo]

I don't agree there. It's a geographical route, and geographical route excesses are entitled by the NRCoT (unlike say over distance excesses).

This is a change of journey though, not simply an excess. It would be a lot simpler if the underlying ticket was a walk up, but it isn't.