(hypothetical) Two Together Advance ticket - one delayed on connecting journey

[saxsux]

Hullo,

My partner and I have recently bought a Two Together railcard.

They're working out of town at the moment, so one of our first journeys will be to travel into London (independent of each other) and then, on an advance tickets with the Two Together railcard discount, travel up to Norfolk together.

We were wondering: if one of us were to be delayed on our journey into London, would the advance tickets be valid on the next train?

I've had this situation before when travelling by myself. I'd split my tickets in London and had an off-peak ticket for the first half of the journey, and an advance ticket for the second half. When first the train I was travelling on was delayed, I was allowed onto a later train using my Advance ticket without any problems.

But things get more complicated when there's a second person... Any advice?

Thanks

 

[westv]

Isn't the whole point of two together that you have to travel together? If one person misses the train then, well, tough??

 

[FQTV]

Hullo,

My partner and I have recently bought a Two Together railcard.

They're working out of town at the moment, so one of our first journeys will be to travel into London (independent of each other) and then, on an advance tickets with the Two Together railcard discount, travel up to Norfolk together.

We were wondering: if one of us were to be delayed on our journey into London, would the advance tickets be valid on the next train?

I've had this situation before when travelling by myself. I'd split my tickets in London and had an off-peak ticket for the first half of the journey, and an advance ticket for the second half. When first the train I was travelling on was delayed, I was allowed onto a later train using my Advance ticket without any problems.

But things get more complicated when there's a second person... Any advice?

Thanks

The definitive answer is that you’d be completely on your own in this scenario.

Anecdotally and from purely personal experience when a specific situation allowed a guard to wholly control the situation which had arisen, it was no problem at all.

 

[saxsux]

Isn't the whole point of two together that you have to travel together? If one person misses the train then, well, tough??

But if they missed it through the delay/failure of a earlier train... in any other situation they'd be allowed to travel, surely?

It's a struggle to get around my head it. I could see these possible outcomes:

• We both have to buy new tickets, which seems unfair when a solo passenger in the same situation would be accommodated on the next train with no charge.
  
• One travels on the train train as planned and the other on the next train. We're breaking the terms of the railcard, as both should travel together - to a guard it could just look like we're trying to pull a fast one and travel solo with a Two Together discount.
  
• We both travel on the next train. We're violating the terms of our advance ticket.

The definitive answer is that you’d be completely on your own in this scenario.

Anecdotally and from purely personal experience when a specific situation allowed a guard to wholly control the situation which had arisen, it was no problem at all.

That's reassuring, thanks!
I'd hope barrier staff would see it the same way...

 

[moliones]

If the one who is on-time waits, surely the late-one's ticket is valid (missed connection due to delays on the railway), and they're traveling with the other person on the railcard. And the on-time one buys a walkup ticket (also with railcard discount), surely everything would be regular (if more expensive than maybe you would like).

Maybe there's a better solution though.

 

[Merseysider]

It would be worth seeking the advice and/or endorsement of staff aboard the delayed train, provided it isnt DOO.

If this yields an unsatisfactory outcome, then most station staff, in my experience, are reasonable and will help however they can.

I say most, because Virgin Trains at Euston have been consistently useless whenever I’ve approached them.

Twitter is also one possible avenue towards getting a decent outcome (ie permission to travel together later); Virgin customer service are, conversely, excellent on this platform.

 

[arb]

You could presumably cover yourself for all eventualities before you start travelling by buying two tickets for both of your journeys into London, rather than only one ticket each (not two-together discounted, because you won't be travelling together if your tickets are checked en-route in London). Then if one of you is delayed into London and the other isn't, you wait for each other and get a later train out of London, claiming that you both travelled into London together on the delayed route, and only presenting the necessary tickets to back up this claim.

This is, of course, somewhat convoluted, and more than likely a complete waste of money. I only suggest it because elsewhere in the thread, the possibility of having to buy new tickets for the journey out of London was mentioned. If the potential cost of that does concern you, then I think it's worth considering this idea as an alternative option, but obviously only if the tickets into London are significantly cheaper than the tickets out of London.

As others have said, in reality, I'd hope that some staff member somewhere would show some common sense, and let you both travel together on a later train out of London without any need for any extra tickets at all. There's always the small chance that they won't, though.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Try buying one ticket with a two together railcard, most TIS won't retail it.