Hovertravel- delay repay?

[adc82140]

Ticket purchased: open off peak return Salisbury to Ryde Hoverport.

Ticket Vendor: Great Western Railway

Did the above mentioned journey today. It seems a through ticket doesn't guarantee a crossing on the hovercraft, and despite the itinerary sent to me by GWR quoting a crossing departure time, I was put in a standby queue at Southsea and arrived in Ryde an hour later than planned.

Would I be able to claim delay repay for this? I've checked the small print on the booking, and I can see nothing telling me to contact Hovertravel in advance to secure a crossing.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Mainline421]

In short, no. Hovertravel don't participate in Delay Repay, and your ticket was valid and accepted for that departure. This is effectively just overcrowding.

It is not expected that passengers reserve in advance, although I believe they offer reservations as a free optional extra which very few take up if they are even aware of it.

 

[AlterEgo]

Hovertravel isn’t a signatory to the NRCoT, so you can’t claim delay repay from them I’m afraid.

 

[adc82140]

Thought as much. They (being the ticket vendor, not Hovertravel themselves) really do need to make this clear when booking. I'd have been happy to sort out a reservation separately (and I have for the return crossing)

 

[Watershed]

Unfortunately you can't claim Delay Repay because Hovertravel don't participate in the NRCoT and aren't a rail operator. Although your ticket includes travel on their services, that travel is under a linked, but separate contract which falls under Hovertravel's own conditions of carriage.

These conditions of carriage just reiterate the entitlement to the legal minimum level of compensation (under EU Regulation 1177/2010, as retained in UK law post-Brexit) for delays of an hour or more. The Regulations include an exemption for "passengers with open tickets as long as the time of departure is not specified" - whether or not your ticket would fall into this category is perhaps debatable.

I would contact Hovertravel and ask them to make a gesture of goodwill but they will probably view it as your responsibility to make a reservation if you want to guarantee travel on a particular crossing.

 

[ikcdab]

I'm genuinely interested why you took the hovercraft. I did the same journey recently and found it far easier to go to Portsmouth harbour, straight onto the boat and a pleasant walk along Ryde pier and we were there.
I seem to remember that going by hovercraft required an additional bus journey. The total travel time was identical.

 

[Nippy]

Maybe they wanted to ride the Hovercraft. I’ve done that before just for the novelty of it.

 

[ikcdab]

Maybe they wanted to ride the Hovercraft. I’ve done that before just for the novelty of it.

Thats a pretty good reason.

 

[adc82140]

And is the correct reason

 

[Skymonster]

Did you not bother to do what Hovertravel tells rail customers to do? Hovertravel will do nothing to compensate you because you didn’t make a reservation.

National Rail | Isle of Wight by Train | Rail Connections

Travel to the Isle of Wight by train with Hovertravel. Buy all-inclusive train and hovercraft tickets online or at Ryde Hoverport.

www.hovertravel.co.uk

How to Book​

Hovertravel fares and timetables are integrated into the UK National Rail network, offering through tickets from all UK destinations to and from the Isle Of Wight stations.

• Visit www.nationalrail.co.uk to book your rail through-ticket.
• Select via Ryde Hoverport to ensure one inclusive ticket.
• Reserve your seat on your chosen flight at least 48 hours before travel by completing our national rail bookings form.

And more importantly:

Reserve Your Flight - Rail & Coach Through Tickets​

If you hold a valid National Rail or National Express through ticket to, from or via Ryde HoverPort and you wish to reserve a seat, please complete the below form at least 48 hours before travel.

Alternatively, please arrive at our terminal 10-15 mins before your preferred flight time and you'll be boarded as soon as possible.

Once you have completed the form, you'll be emailed your Booking ID number - please bring this with you along with your National Rail or National Express ticket. When you arrive at our terminal, please confirm your Booking ID and present your National Rail or National Express ticket to our staff and we will then process your flight ticket.

 

[Haywain]

Did you not bother to do what Hovertravel tells rail customers to do?

Is this all on the Hovertravel website? And why would anyone, having bought a through ticket from a retailer such as GWR, feel the need to look there?

 

[357]

I'm genuinely interested why you took the hovercraft

Because it's a hovercraft?

 

[Skymonster]

Is this all on the Hovertravel website? And why would anyone, having bought a through ticket from a retailer such as GWR, feel the need to look there?

As per the link in my message. No one should need to feel the need to look there. Same with Rail & Sail - no one told me to make reservations (nor offered to make them) with Steam Packet - I have an itinerary from a TOC which includes a sailing and could have just turned up, the risk being if it was full I’d have to wait. The rail industry is potentially letting down its customers. Its not Hovertrave’s (or Steam Packet’s) fault - its the retailer failing to tell customers the process is not complete, even with an itinerary issued, whether online or in person.

 

[Haywain]

Its not Hovertrave’s (or Steam Packet’s) fault - its the retailer failing to tell customers the process is not complete, even with an itinerary issued, whether online or in person.

That being the case why did you feel itnecessary to address this question to the OP:

Did you not bother to do what Hovertravel tells rail customers to do?

 

[Skymonster]

That being the case why did you feel itnecessary to address this question to the OP:

Because the first time I used Hovertravel I checked out the website and discovered the railway wasn’t going to do the whole job and there were things I had to do myself (make the reservations). No one told me I had to do it, I just always check the website of the operator when I’m doing something for the first time to ensure I’m well informed even if it’s just things like terminal facilities. I presume most travelers would check Hovertravel’s website too for similar reasons. Obviously you think differently. Either way the railway is letting down it’s customers by failing to inform them that there is another step involved - it’s hardly Hovertravel’s fault given it won’t even be aware of the traveler until they show up, if the traveler hasn’t made a reservation.

 

[Mainline421]

Is this all on the Hovertravel website? And why would anyone, having bought a through ticket from a retailer such as GWR, feel the need to look there?

It's not expected that they do this, and from the amount of people with rail tickets in the "standby" queue I would guess 99%+ aren't aware of this option. Normally you'll get on the next departure without any problem

 

[Egg Centric]

Hypothetically, what would happen if you held a ticket through to Ryde St Johns (or whatever) and were delayed?

 

[AlterEgo]

I presume most travelers would check Hovertravel’s website too for similar reasons.

I would imagine most people think a 15 minute crossing works like a bus, and would not check the website.

 

[Skymonster]

Hypothetically, what would happen if you held a ticket through to Ryde St Johns (or whatever) and were delayed?

I would imagine the railway would check and find all the trains involved ran to time, and thus denied the claim on that basis. I have made a delay reclaim on a trip to the Isle of Wight and the payout included the appropriate percentage of the whole ticket including hovercraft, but that involved a significant delay on the rail part of the trip. Whether Hovertravel loses a corresponding percentage of its share revenue due to a failing of the railway, I don’t know.

It's not expected that they do this, and from the amount of people with rail tickets in the "standby" queue I would guess 99%+ aren't aware of this option. Normally you'll get on the next departure without any problem

Clearly it is expected although the railway doesn’t tell ticket buyer to do it. Normally maybe it works OK, but the hovercraft do sometimes run full during peak and holiday periods - I’ve been on a full flight on a weekday mid-afternoon for example when standbys were left behind.
.

 

[Mainline421]

I would imagine the railway would check and find all the trains involved ran to time, and thus denied the claim on that basis. I have made a delay reclaim on a trip to the Isle of Wight and the payout included the appropriate percentage of the whole ticket including hovercraft, but that involved a significant delay on the rail part of the trip. Whether Hovertravel loses a corresponding percentage of its share revenue due to a failing of the railway, I don’t know.

Clearly it is expected although the railway doesn’t tell ticket buyer to do it. Normally maybe it works OK, but the hovercraft do sometimes run full during peak and holiday periods - I’ve been on a full flight on a weekday mid-afternoon for example when standbys were left behind.
.

Delay Repay is compensation not a refund, their revenue is unaffected. Hovertravel will clearly be aware that hardly any rail passengers do this, which makes up a substantial portion of their customer base so you can't call it expected. It's frequent enough that being at the front of the queue for the next flight would hardly be an issue most of the time anyway.