NRE Weird Default ticket providers?

[Trainfan344]

I was looking up the journey times from BHM to LWT, and then when looking at the options for ticket providers, the default ticket provider was Northern Rail, which is weird as the journey doesn't involve any travel with them at all, is this unique or are there other examples of this.

 

[LexyBoy]

Happens all the time, sometimes it defaults to the fare setter but often as not it's random (and changes every time the page is refreshed).

NRE seems to be going a bit mental at the moment as well. Yesterday it was suggesting using 8 different TOCs to do a journey that could be done with 3 changes in less time, and saying that a ticket with "+" cross-London marker wasn't valid via London (Portsmouth-Paisley thread); just now I checked Reading-Oxford to see who it would give me to book through and it's offering a £7.50 Advance, XC Only, on the 13:11 today! (Sold by Southern)

 

[RJ]

Had it suggest London Overground as a retailer few times!

 

[maniacmartin]

This is pure speculation on my part, but could this be an obligation under the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement or some other ATOC policy to be impartial to all retailers by randomly a selecting one?

 

[Lrd]

just now I checked Reading-Oxford to see who it would give me to book through and it's offering a £7.50 Advance, XC Only, on the 13:11 today! (Sold by Southern)

The National Rail app on my phone did that, haven't checked it recently though.

 

[telstarbox]

Had it suggest London Overground as a retailer few times!

And if you try to purchase via LO it redirects to the Chiltern site.

 

[wintonian]

Apparently if I want to buy a Yarmouth IOW (YMH) - Lymington Pier (LYP) ticket I should buy it from the very logical choices of First TransPennine Express or East Midland Trains or even Northern Rail - no sign of SWT though :?

 

[trentside]

I recently checked the price of a Nottingham to Lincoln ticket, to see the prices following 02/01/13 and the suggested retailer was First Capital Connect. It seems to often randomly select a provider - I'm sure it used to choose the most appropriate?

 

[dvboy]

it's offering a £7.50 Advance, XC Only, on the 13:11 today! (Sold by Southern)

XC's Advances can be purchased up to 10 minutes before departure apparently.

 

[LexyBoy]

XC's Advances can be purchased up to 10 minutes before departure apparently.

Seats can be booked 10 minutes before departure, I wasn't aware that Advances could be. Not that worthwhile Advances are ever available for XC services later than 3 months ahead anyway.

 

[wintonian]

Seats can be booked 10 minutes before departure, I wasn't aware that Advances could be. Not that worthwhile Advances are ever available for XC services later than 3 months ahead anyway.

What's the point of this? Why not just ban BoJ like everyone else manages to, or are XC stopping short of admitting that their walk on fares are too high?

 

[dvboy]

Seats can be booked 10 minutes before departure, I wasn't aware that Advances could be. Not that worthwhile Advances are ever available for XC services later than 3 months ahead anyway.

I didn't know either until the other day:

We've made it possible for you to buy CrossCountry Advance tickets up to 10 minutes before departure on our website and Train Tickets app.

http://www.crosscountrytrainsemails.co.uk/achievements/Achievements_email_livetext_webversion.html

 

[yorkie]

I looked up York - Sheffield and it said York was not a valid station, so I looked up Leeds - Derby and some trains do have Advance Singles, however for a return trip this was only £1.10 cheaper than a walk-up Off Peak Return, which in turn is considerably more expensive than "splitting". It was also suggesting an Advance Single and Off Peak Single combination that was nearly 50% more than an Off Peak Return!

Therefore I strongly advise people to use caution when booking XC Advance Singles, as you may not be getting good value for money. The other bonus of "splitting" with walk-up tickets is that more of your money goes to other operators, thus giving less money to a TOC that acts in a way that can at best be described as not customer friendly.

 

[LexyBoy]

I didn't know either until the other day:


http://www.crosscountrytrainsemails.co.uk/achievements/Achievements_email_livetext_webversion.html

Well there you go, NRE not to blame!

XC's Advances are only really any good for single journeys, as they're usuall priced at about half the return fare. I can see being able to buy just in time could be useful as a more reasonably priced single.

 

[maniacmartin]

We've made it possible for you to buy CrossCountry Advance tickets up to 10 minutes before departure on our website and Train Tickets app.

But not from other TOCs websites or from ticket offices I notice