Help please.

[cloudybutnice]

As a nervous, 70-year-old traveler, I was pleased to successfully book a return rail journey to Aberdeen for myself in September. The cost was £155.09 including the booking fee.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I needed to postpone my trip by 1 week. Same journey, same start and finish times, same days of the week, same changes, -- just a week further on.

I turned to Trainline who was very helpful and has agreed to refund the cost of the original journey, but has only charged me £98.54 for the re-arranged trip.

Whilst I'm not complaining about the reduction, as an inexperienced traveler, I'm worried I've missed something vital and don't want to find myself in difficulties come September.

Can anyone explain this and put my mind at rest? Thank you.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Whilst I'm not complaining about the reduction, as an inexperienced traveler, I'm worried I've missed something vital and don't want to find myself in difficulties come September.

You probably have what's termed an Advance ticket. A more descriptive title would be "restricted ticket". The restriction is that it's only valid on the train service or services booked. Trainline should have supplied an itinerary detailing these. Also if a railcard discount has been claimed, the railcard has to travel with you.

 

[Haywain]

Can anyone explain this and put my mind at rest? Thank you.

Further to the above, it seems that you whatever tickets you had for your original trip have been refunded and replaced with cheaper tickets. Without more information about the tickets it is difficult to say for certain. Advance tickets are sold are varying price levels so it is conceivable that travelling a week later could be somewhat cheaper, especially if the dates cross the cusp of school holidays or university starting dates.

 

[30907]

Could you either post images of the tickets (blotting out anything personal) or tell us the wording on them? Someone can then see if there is anything amiss, but I suspect Haywain has identified an answer.

 

[AlbertBeale]

As a nervous, 70-year-old traveler, I was pleased to successfully book a return rail journey to Aberdeen for myself in September. The cost was £155.09 including the booking fee.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I needed to postpone my trip by 1 week. Same journey, same start and finish times, same days of the week, same changes, -- just a week further on.

I turned to Trainline who was very helpful and has agreed to refund the cost of the original journey, but has only charged me £98.54 for the re-arranged trip.

Whilst I'm not complaining about the reduction, as an inexperienced traveler, I'm worried I've missed something vital and don't want to find myself in difficulties come September.

Can anyone explain this and put my mind at rest? Thank you.

Not an answer to your question - but please remember that you don't need to pay a booking fee to buy a train ticket! Trainline are an intermediary who charge commission on top of the "real" price that you would pay if buying directly from a rail company [it doesn't need to be the one you're travelling on - they all sell all tickets], or if buying at a station, or indeed if buying from the ticketing system on this website.

Re your question: as has been pointed out, if both lots of tickets were "Advance" ones, where you get a lower price in return for committing yourself to having to travel on the specified trains (rather than tickets valid on a given route that allow you to use any train going your way), then these Advance tickets have limited allocations, at various prices, on each train. So journeys on different dates might have more or fewer bookings already, and might have different Advance prices still available.

If you give people here more precise details of your tickets, they can probably put your mind at rest and assure you that there's an explanation like that (different Advance prices) which would mean you have nothing to worry about.

Lastly, do you have a railcard? At your age, you're eligible for a "Senior Railcard", which gives you 30% off of most tickets. On a journey that expensive, the discount on the one journey would more than cover the (£30) cost of the railcard, and you then you have the discount for the rest of the year too. You can buy the railcard at any station, and also online.

 

[Haywain]

Trainline are an intermediary who charge commission on top of the "real" price that you would pay if buying directly from a rail company

It is wrong to suggest that only rail companies do not charge a booking fee, as many third party retailers do not levy such a charge. And whether they charge fees or not those who retail rail tickets are doing so directly and not through a secondary market as the term "intermediary" might suggest.

 

[AlbertBeale]

It is wrong to suggest that only rail companies do not charge a booking fee, as many third party retailers do not levy such a charge. And whether they charge fees or not those who retail rail tickets are doing so directly and not through a secondary market as the term "intermediary" might suggest.

Indeed - I wasn't suggesting only - in fact I mentioned this site's ticketing system as an example where there wasn't a fee. But I thought - for someone unfamiliar with ticketing - always going to a TOC ruled out any uncertainty. or need to check each retailer re mark-ups.