From-date validity on return portion of Off-Peak Return ticket

[MKB]

This weekend, I bought an Off-Peak Return, i.e. not a day return, on the Virgin Ticketing app to travel from Nuneaton to Rugeley Trent Valley. I asked to travel out on Saturday 25 July and return on Sunday 26 July.

I was surprised that the return ticket, after adding it to my Google Wallet, stated that the ticket was valid from 26 July and not from 25 July. (The valid-to date was in a month's time as you'd expect.)

Does this mean that we now need to tell a booking engine that we are returning on the same date as the outbound journey in order to retain maximum flexibility of the return portion?

Or would the ticket have in fact been accepted if I had changed my mind and chosen to return on the same day as the outward, i.e. before the valid-from date on the ticket?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@MKB. Have to say that doesn't look quite right. Return portion should be valid for the one journey on a date between 25 July 2026 and 24 August 2026 (inclusive). How much was your ticket, by the way? (= £19.90 before any applicable railcard discount)?

 

[MKB]

Yes, so £13.25 with my Senior Railcard.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@MKB. What was the final date of validity on the return portion?

 

[MKB]

Valid until 24 August 2026.

I have just gone back to the confirmation email to inspect the pdf version of the return ticket. Unlike the Google Wallet version, it does not have any date labelled as "Valid-from", but it does have "26 Jul 2026", without a label, immediately underneath the QR code. So, even on the pdf version, there is nothing to indicate to a guard that it should be valid from 25 July.

I wonder if this is a bug in the way the Virgin Trains Ticketing app works. I only used them, because in the absence of decent cashback deals, their double points offer was the most attractive.

(As an aside, of late I have been noticing that Trainsplit has been offering me cheaper Advance fares than the Train-Operating-Company websites. This is where there is no split involved and it's a direct point-to-point Advance. The TOC fares are always slightly higher as if they've factored in a fare increase that Trainsplit hasn't yet. Needless to say, the latter has been getting my business on those.)

 

[Watershed]

It certainly sounds like bug with Virgin Trains Ticketing. They should be showing the date based on the fare's validity, not just defaulting to the date of travel you have selected.