LNER season ticket advice and Amex!

[Horstrom28]

Hi all, I was wondering if someone could help advise me. I have an annual season ticket Grantham to London (£11,052) which expires on 8th September 2025. I also have an Amex offer for 5% cashback but that expires currently on 8th August 2025. I was wondering if I cancelled my annual season ticket now with just over 8 weeks remaining will I get any money back (as I read in some places you need to have 12 weeks remaining). Then I could take advantage of the Amex offer....especially given the annual £500+ hike on the cost of the season ticket Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated as it is really is crazy money! thank you

 

[Hadders]

I haven't got time to do the maths at the moment but you're not likely to get much back if you surrender the ticket now. The refund isn't on a pro-rata basis, the refund will be based on the monthly ticket price. A changeover might yield a larger refund.

No guarantees but it's possible the AMEX offer will renew after it expires meaning you can renew in the normal way. Many people get 10%, sadly I'm on 5% at the moment.

 

[Horstrom28]

I haven't got time to do the maths at the moment but you're not likely to get much back if you surrender the ticket now. The refund isn't on a pro-rata basis, the refund will be based on the monthly ticket price. A changeover might yield a larger refund.

No guarantees but it's possible the AMEX offer will renew after it expires meaning you can renew in the normal way. Many people get 10%, sadly I'm on 5% at the moment.

Thank you very much for the response. If you did have an idea of refund that would be super helpful so I can try and work out the most cost effective way. If it was a few pounds it is one thing but when potentially hundreds it makes a massive difference. Also, not sure what a changeover is....but will take a look. Again, appreciate your advice.

 

[jfollows]

From https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/annual-season-ticket-refund.270793/

An annual is equivalent to a 10 months 14 days season, so the cost of a 10 month 14 day ticket (prices used at the time of when your ticket started) would be taken from the cost of your annual, and you would get the difference minus an admin fee,

It sounds like you’re close to 10m14d usage
Also https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tick...-tickets/season-tickets-terms-and-conditions/

4. Refunds​

4.1. If you no longer need your Season Ticket, you can apply for a refund from the retailer you bought it from. You will need to return the Season Ticket to the retailer, except where the retailer can remotely cancel the Season Ticket.

4.2. Any refund is calculated from the date the Season Ticket is returned to the retailer or the date the retailer has cancelled the Season Ticket for further use, and will be the difference between the price you paid and the cost of a ticket or tickets for the period for which you have actually used the ticket up to the date the Season Ticket has been returned or disabled (for Flexi Season ticket refund calculation – see 4.5).

4.3. There will be an administration charge of no more than £10.00.

Refund information | Chiltern Railways

Season ticket refundTo qualify for a refund, Season Tickets valid for one month or more must have at least seven days’ remaining validity. Please note that Annual season tickets generally have no refund value if there is less than seven weeks of validity remaining. Any refund to which you are...

www.chilternrailways.co.uk

To qualify for a refund, Season Tickets valid for one month or more must have at least seven days’ remaining validity. Please note that Annual season tickets generally have no refund value if there is less than seven weeks of validity remaining. Any refund to which you are entitled will be calculated from the date the Season Ticket refund request is received.

The amount of a season ticket refund will be based on the price paid for your Season Ticket less the cost of any Season Ticket(s) and additional Tickets required to cover one return journey for each weekday that your Season Ticket was actually held for (or the agreed backdated date), and an administration charge of £10. For more information and to see how much you could get back from your Season Ticket, visit the National Rail website and use the Season Ticket Refund Calculator.

I can’t find the Season Ticket Refund Calculator

 

[Wallsendmag]

Grantham would sell you a season on a Smartcard a month in advance of the startdate

 

[Horstrom28]

10 months and 2 days so I would get 1 week refund assumedly?

Grantham would sell you a season on a Smartcard a month in advance of the startdate

No - they can only sell a week in advance annoyingly.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jul 2025 ==

From https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/annual-season-ticket-refund.270793/

It sounds like you’re close to 10m14d usage
Also https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tick...-tickets/season-tickets-terms-and-conditions/

It would be 10 months and 2 days if cancelled today so assumedly I would get the cost of 1 week back ie £289 minus £10.....not sure it is worth it. Might just have to pray for Amex to extend their offer!

 

[Haywain]

I was wondering if I cancelled my annual season ticket now with just over 8 weeks remaining will I get any money back

No, after 40 weeks of use it has no value left for a refund.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jul 2025 ==

Grantham would sell you a season on a Smartcard a month in advance of the startdate

So, from August 9th. A day after the Amex offer expires!

 

[Horstrom28]

No, after 40 weeks of use it has no value left for a refund.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jul 2025 ==


So, from August 9th. A day after the Amex offer expires!

Thank you for this. Unfortunately my current one doesn't expire until 8th Sep so would be a month of crossover, which is not worth the cashback offer. It seems like the best option is just hoping for an extension of the LNER offer or keeping my eye out for any other LBNER cashback offers in the few months! Thanks again for everyone's guidance.

 

[Watershed]

As others have alluded to, whilst you can't get much back if you do a straight refund, you can still extract most of the value of a season ticket by doing a 'changeover' to a cheap season ticket. The cheapest annual season ticket is Hatton to Lapworth (two adjacent stations in Warwickshire) costing £212. A changeover means that you are changing your existing season ticket over to a different route for the remainder of its validity.

Changeovers are calculated broadly pro-rata (there are complicated calculations which mean it's not quite pro-rata) and there is no admin fee, so you would receive roughly (£11,052 - £212) / 365 back per day of remaining validity, i.e. around £29.70 per day or ~£1782 for the remaining 60 days as of today.

The changed-over Hatton to Lapworth season ticket could of course then be refunded too, but even the £10 refund admin fee might exceed its remaining value so it's not really worthwhile doing.

You could then buy a new season ticket at today's prices and pocket the cashback

 

[CyrusWuff]

The changed-over Hatton to Lapworth season ticket could of course then be refunded too, but even the £10 refund admin fee might exceed its remaining value so it's not really worthwhile doing.

Though the refund calculation should take the changeover into account, which would leave little to no value to be refunded.

In fact, having just worked that through, assuming the changeover and refund were both applied for tomorrow, the customer would technically have to repay around £1420 of the refund received from doing the changeover.

 

[Haywain]

Unfortunately my current one doesn't expire until 8th Sep so would be a month of crossover, which is not worth the cashback offer. It seems like the best option is just hoping for an extension of the LNER offer or keeping my eye out for any other LBNER cashback offers in the few months

So buy the new season on August 7th to start on September 6th. I doubt there's a problem with a one day overlap.

 

[Horstrom28]

So buy the new season on August 7th to start on September 6th. I doubt there's a problem with a one day overlap.

You can only buy season tickets a week before use so if I bought on 7th August the latest it can start is 14th August unfortunately.

 

[Wallsendmag]

You can only buy season tickets a week before use so if I bought on 7th August the latest it can start is 14th August unfortunately.

Not so with Smartcards

 

[Haywain]

You can only buy season tickets a week before use so if I bought on 7th August the latest it can start is 14th August unfortunately.

It's up to 30 days in advance for a season on a smartcard, so I'm a couple of days out on the start date.

 

[maniacmartin]

Just buy some LNER egift vouchers now and then use them when you want to buy the ticket.

However, the Amex offer has been renewed a few times and will likely appear for reactivation for another period.

 

[redreni]

My current Amex offers for LNER (I have two identical offers at 5%, which I understand stack) are worded differently than previous offers. They say:

Save to Card to get a 5% statement credit when you spend any amount on a GBP transaction in participating hotel(s) or online at LNER by 8/8/2025. Valid every time. Terms, locations, payment restrictions and future communications about this Offer will apply. [...] All LNER stores are participating in this Offer unless there are any exclusions stated below. [...] Available in participating hotel(s) or online at www.lner.co.uk

The new wording is most unclear as to whether the offer will work at LNER ticket offices (as all previous LNER cashback offers I've had did). It seems clear it's available online. I am intrigued to learn LNER has branched out into the hotel business! I assume an LNER ticket office would count as a "store" for this purpose, and as there are no exclusions, I would assume it's okay, but the T&Cs are so badly written that it is difficult to work out what they're trying to say.

I suppose if the OP does the changeover thing that would be fine, as the rebate would be done at the ticket office but he could then buy the new season ticket online.

If wanting to buy the season ticket at a ticket office, it would be helpful if somebody were able to confirm they've received cashback on a purchase at an LNER ticket office since the new, gobbledygook T&Cs for the Amex cashback offer were introduced? Otherwise, I would recommend making a low value test purchase first, just in case.

 

[lookapigeon]

From my anecdotal experience under the new 5% cashback (as referenced to above) I have found that the LNER cashback works at the ticket window in King's Cross and even in the onboard catering on the train. I have used both and received the cashback.
The clumsy wording is probably down to something lost in translation (I take "hotels" to mean locations) or someone just cutting and pasting some boilerplate text from a standard T&Cs for an offer and being sloppy with amending it to what the offer specifically requires.

 

[Hadders]

The e-gift voucher route might be the best way to proceed as suggested by @maniacmartin

 

[redreni]

The e-gift voucher route might be the best way to proceed as suggested by @maniacmartin

Yes, I use those for 7-day seasons for commuting.

When an offer is ending I buy enough for a few 7-day seasons, which bridges any gap between one offer ending and another starting. In the OP's case, they would buy enough in vouchers to cover the season ticket and it would just bridge the gap between the offer ending in early August and their season ticket expiring in early September.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jul 2025 ==

From my anecdotal experience under the new 5% cashback (as referenced to above) I have found that the LNER cashback works at the ticket window in King's Cross and even in the onboard catering on the train. I have used both and received the cashback.
The clumsy wording is probably down to something lost in translation (I take "hotels" to mean locations) or someone just cutting and pasting some boilerplate text from a standard T&Cs for an offer and being sloppy with amending it to what the offer specifically requires.

Good to know, thanks!

Yes, the wording is extremely sloppy, which might be easier to understand if they hadn't already done the work and come up with what seemed to be perfectly adequate wording for this offer, which they were using, and have now replaced with something that doesn't really make sense. But no matter, it appears nothing has changed as regards the offer itself.