First Capital Connect Open Returns

[stephy]

Why on earth have FCC removed open-returns (maybe just for YP?) between London and Bedford?
I'm fuming. Last year, it cost me c.£12 day return but about £19.80 open return - which was great.
Now, I don't even have the option of an open return ticket? What's going on?
So now it'll cost me £26 (new day prices) just to go home and back on different days... Isn't that ridiculous?
That's a shocking 30% increase.
How on earth is this justified?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
if anybody has any split-ticketing advice, let me know.
this just makes me even more inclined to try and jump the train (has worked before with flitwick & st. albans tickets).
i'm so upset.

 

[sonic2009]

I can see both Off Peak Returns and Off Peak Day Returns available for London - Bedford

Off Peak Day Return London - Bedford £13.25
Off Peak Return London - Bedford £20.60

both prices are with a 16-25 railcard.

 

[north]

Why on earth have FCC removed open-returns (maybe just for YP?) between London and Bedford?
I'm fuming. Last year, it cost me c.£12 day return but about £19.80 open return - which was great.
Now, I don't even have the option of an open return ticket? What's going on?
So now it'll cost me £26 (new day prices) just to go home and back on different days... Isn't that ridiculous?
That's a shocking 30% increase.
How on earth is this justified?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
if anybody has any split-ticketing advice, let me know.
this just makes me even more inclined to try and jump the train (has worked before with flitwick & st. albans tickets).
i'm so upset.

I think you mean an Off Peak Return (valid for one month). There wasn't an Anytime Time before and there isn't one now.

If so they still exist - new price is £20.60 with a rail card. From Bedford to London Thameslink.

 

[stephy]

i don't mean anytime.
i mean off-peak open return.
e.g. travelling friday 9pm, returning sunday midday or whatever.
does it not exist london > bedford?

 

[sonic2009]

Yes it does Exist London to Bedford. You are reffering to An Off Peak Return which costs £20.60 as both myself and north have said with a 16-25 railcard.

 

[north]

i don't mean anytime.
i mean off-peak open return.
e.g. travelling friday 9pm, returning sunday midday or whatever.
does it not exist london > bedford?

Available both London Thameslink - Bedford as well as the reverse.

Can be used after 0930 Mon-Fri except departing St Pancras between 1730 and 1830.

All day Sat, Sun, Public Holiday.

 

[stephy]

oh. i just went to richmond station and he told me the ticket didn't exist. he showed me on the screen, too. i was unable to buy one. i'm a little confused.
i just went onto the FCC website, too, and don't seem to be able to buy this ticket.

 

[sonic2009]

I've just looked up Fares for London - Bedford on FCC and i seem to be able to get fares for this journey for Tonight after 19:15 returning on Sunday.

If you having problems try London Midland

 

[north]

oh. i just went to richmond station and he told me the ticket didn't exist. he showed me on the screen, too. i was unable to buy one. i'm a little confused.
i just went onto the FCC website, too, and don't seem to be able to buy this ticket.

Just tried from FCC website and the ticket exists. Did you input times where the ticket is valid (see above)?

 

[stephy]

thanks for the help so far.
perhaps because i put departing from west hampstead thameslink?
would this affect it? really weird.

 

[north]

thanks for the help so far.
perhaps because i put departing from west hampstead thameslink?
would this affect it? really weird.

Yes because that is a different origin.

There is not a period return from West Hampstead and there wasn't last year.

 

[34D]

oh. i just went to richmond station and he told me the ticket didn't exist. he showed me on the screen, too. i was unable to buy one. i'm a little confused.
i just went onto the FCC website, too, and don't seem to be able to buy this ticket.

Just can't get the staff these days! Were you wanting Richmond-Bedford off-peak period return?

 

[stephy]

no, i just work here and wanted to sort my ticket so on my return to west hamps i could jump onto a train.
i'm confused, north - i ALWAYS used to rock up to west hamps thameslink station and buy an off peak return from there to bedford. i did notice when it started saying 'london' on it instead of west hampstead, but i never had any problems?
not sure what to do now about buying my ticket?
if i buy from starting from st pancras, can i not get on at west hamps? even though i've always done this.
doesn't seem to make sense to go 2 stops SOUTH only to go up again?

 

[north]

no, i just work here and wanted to sort my ticket so on my return to west hamps i could jump onto a train.
i'm confused, north - i ALWAYS used to rock up to west hamps thameslink station and buy an off peak return from there to bedford. i did notice when it started saying 'london' on it instead of west hampstead, but i never had any problems?
not sure what to do now about buying my ticket?

Just buy a ticket from London Thameslink to Bedford. The Off Peak Return is valid for break of journey so you are fine just using it from/to West Hampstead.

 

[stephy]

the guy in the station said there was no london > bedford period return. ffs!
on the FCC website, it will only let me select from st pancras, not london thameslink.
the only reason i am bothering with all this is because i'll get to west hamps after the station closes. and in my experience this ticket is not on the machines (helpfully).

so basically not sure what to do/where to buy my ticket if they can't seem to be able to at richmond station?
because i don't want to buy one starting from st pancras online.

 

[north]

the guy in the station said there was no london > bedford period return. ffs!
on the FCC website, it will only let me select from st pancras, not london thameslink.
the only reason i am bothering with all this is because i'll get to west hamps after the station closes. and in my experience this ticket is not on the machines (helpfully).

Yes - that's helpful isn't it?

I'm of the opinion that a ticket from the FCC website from London St Pancras to Bedford will be printed from/to London Thameslink. I think that will be fine.

You are right that London Thameslink doesn't appear as a destination on the FCC website but if you if you were to book from the eastcoast website there is a London Thameslink option.

Either way if you're going from/to West Hampstead it won't really be an issue.

 

[RJ]

the guy in the station said there was no london > bedford period return. ffs!
on the FCC website, it will only let me select from st pancras, not london thameslink.
the only reason i am bothering with all this is because i'll get to west hamps after the station closes. and in my experience this ticket is not on the machines (helpfully).

oh. i just went to richmond station and he told me the ticket didn't exist. he showed me on the screen, too. i was unable to buy one. i'm a little confused.

The guy in the station is making a mistake that is very easy to make. Unless you're speaking to a retail employee on the Thameslink line of route, or a member of staff who's really into their tickets, you may well encounter difficulties.

He is looking for a London Terminals to Bedord ticket. Off Peak Return not available.
He should seek a London Thameslink to Bedford ticket. Off Peak Return should then flag up for £20.60 with the discount applied.

In future, do not ask for a ticket from London, or St Pancras. Be very specific in emphasising London Thameslink as the origin.

Next time, ask the clerk to put the origin as 4452, which is the numerical code for London Thameslink - all ticket issuing computers used by retail staff will recognise this. I often ask for tickets in code. Not only does it eliminate the chance of mistakes, but it speeds up the process.

Problem identified and explained. Solution proposed. Hope this helps!

 

[Urban Gateline]

oh. i just went to richmond station and he told me the ticket didn't exist. he showed me on the screen, too. i was unable to buy one. i'm a little confused.
i just went onto the FCC website, too, and don't seem to be able to buy this ticket.

That's impartial retailing for you!

 

[north]

The guy in the station is making a mistake that is very easy to make. Unless you're speaking to a retail employee on the Thameslink line of route, or a member of staff who's really into their tickets, you may well encounter difficulties.

He is looking for a London Terminals to Bedord ticket. Off Peak Return not available.
He should seek a London Thameslink to Bedford ticket. Off Peak Return should then flag up for £20.60 with the discount applied.

In future, do not ask for a ticket from London, or St Pancras. Be very specific in emphasising London Thameslink as the origin.

Next time, ask the clerk to put the origin as 4452, which is the numerical code for London Thameslink - all ticket issuing computers used by retail staff will recognise this. I often ask for tickets in code. Not only does it eliminate the chance of mistakes, but it speeds up the process.

Problem identified and explained. Solution proposed. Hope this helps!

Well actually - there are tickets from London Terminals (1072) to Bedford Stations (0410), including the aforementioned Period Off Peak return but not in the other direction.

These do not appear from 1072 to Bedford (1512) which only gives a few Advance fares routed EMIDTRAINS ONLY. In this case the clerk should have realised that something was wrong as it would imply that there are no walkon fares from London to Bedford at all!

From London Thameslink (4452) the full range of tickets appears to both BEDFORD and BEDFORD STATIONS. (As well giving the additional Thameslink validity).

I do agree that Thameslink tickets do seem to confuse some out of area Clerks.....

 

[stephy]

this is all really helpful, thank you. i KNEW i was right - i thought, can there REALLY be no ticket? he did go on about london terminals but i did keep saying 'west hampstead is a thameslink station, which is different' and he argued with me. i've only lived on the thameslink my whole life!
i will go back to richmond station and talk to someone else, armed with the above information. glad i don't have to fork out an extra £6 now.

 

[RJ]

this is all really helpful, thank you. i KNEW i was right - i thought, can there REALLY be no ticket? he did go on about london terminals but i did keep saying 'west hampstead is a thameslink station, which is different' and he argued with me. i've only lived on the thameslink m mra £6 now.

The ticketing system is full of bizzare, seemingly illogical nuances, but there's a reason for everything. Sometimes someone will be unable to sell somethimg, because it requires some specialist knowledge which they've never needed before. If you go back, you'll be fine to speak to the same person, but be polite as they weren't trying to inconvenience you before!

The very simple answer to this, is that the ticket will need to be issued specifically from London Thameslink, or you can ask the clerk to issue it from location 4452 . Alternatively, if you have the outward portion of a previous trip of the same nature, he should be able to work from that.

I used to man a ticket office in London and whilst I was aware of numerous unpublicised "workarounds" for my own line of route, didn't necessarily mean that I knew the first thing about specialised procedures on other lines! For example, staff at West Hampstead know that you can be valid and save money by having the ticket issued from London Thameslink. I didn't know that, but then nobody ever bought a ticket for that route from me.

I do have some knowledge of ticketing along that line, but only for the purpose of saving on long distance (London to places beyond Bedford) fares.

Good luck!