Quick excess question

[cuccir]

Hello,

Excesses have always been a little beyond my knowledge, so can anyone tell me what the cost would be for excessing a York-Oxford NOT London Super-Off Peak Return 16-25 Railcard (cost £55.10) to travel on the return leg to Durham? I suspect its cheaper if I buy an advance single York - Durham (between £3-£12 depending on time/TOC/etc), but thought that I'd check!

Cheers

 

[bb21]

See this one

It seems that it is now full excess (the full difference) for over-distance.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It seems that the £55.10 is an Off-Peak Return, not a Super Off-Peak. Durham - Oxford Not London Off-Peak Return is £75.25 so the excess would be £20.15. Some staff might still charge you the half-excess of £10.10 but it looks like officially it is no longer allowed. York - Durham Off-Peak Day Single is £15.60 so you'll be better off even without AP tickets.

 

[yorkie]

Over-distance excesses are a lottery. If you can find a cheap Advance, get that. Or go to the station in advance and if they offer an acceptable price, pay it, and if not book an AP.

 

[cuccir]

Cheers all, if it was definitely a tenner (ie the half price) I might pay it sit to on the same train, but as I can use the TPE 50% advance I think I'll grab that option...

 

[yorkie]

Also

York-Northallerton £6.35 CDS (standard class; any permitted route) or £3.95 (standard class; GC Only)
Northallerton - Durham SDS £5.60 (standard class; any permitted route) or £4.75 (first class; EC Only)

Total 11.95 max (or as little as £8.70 if times suit and you change at NTR)

So if they try to ask you for a ludicrous £20 excess, they can be politely told that you won't be ripped off!

If doing this at an EC station, EC charge excesses the way that I believe is correct so you should not be overcharged, but if not, split at Northallerton or get an Advance, for a reasonable price. No idea about FGW.

 

[cuccir]

Thanks; I ended up doing the simple thing and buying advance tickets directly to Oxford anyway; with the Cross Country discount it worked out at £29.70 each way.

Anyway, the person I was travelling with now has a job interview in London the day before (Friday 4th). So I'm trying to work out what I can excess the 29.70 already paid for her trip to Oxford to. She doesn't have to be in London till the afternoon, so would she be able to excess her ticket to an advance to London - current cost is £36.30, so I presume that would be £14.50 with an admin fee. Is it possible to excess to different destination advance tickets?

 

[island]

My understanding is yes, this can be done. If the tickets haven't been collected, you should be able to do it over the phone with the TOC you bought off. If they have, you'll either have to bring the tickets in to a booking office of that TOC, or perhaps phone them up and arrange the transaction then post the tickets in.

 

[cuccir]

Just to complicate things its Cross Country - who don't do booking offices - and e-tickets. I'll have to give them a ring and see what they can offer in that regards!

 

[yorkie]

She doesn't have to be in London till the afternoon, so would she be able to excess her ticket to an advance to London - current cost is £36.30, so I presume that would be £14.50 with an admin fee. Is it possible to excess to different destination advance tickets?

No, I believe Advance tickets can only be excessed due to a limited range of reasons such as changing railcard discounted to non-discounted, but should not be over-distance excessed. (of course almost any excess is physically possible, in theory)

Changing an Advance ticket for a different date and/or time is possible but an Admin fee of £10 applies. The origin and destination must be the same.

When you buy AP tickets from a station operated by many TOCs such as East Coast, NXEA etc they give you the tickets stapled to a little leaflet/booklet thing that states this, and other conditions.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Just to complicate things its Cross Country - who don't do booking offices - and e-tickets. I'll have to give them a ring and see what they can offer in that regards!

You can change an Advance ticket at any station with competent staff (that does reduce it slightly) however the origin and destination must remain the same. Of course XC Customer Services could be lenient and make special arrangements for you under certain circumstances at their discretion.

Changing the time or date of travel

• Changes to time or date of travel must be arranged before departure of the first reserved train printed on the ticket, after which the ticket has no value and a new one must be purchased. You will need to present the ticket(s) and reservation(s) when you request a change.​
• Changes to tickets cannot be made on-board the train. If you board a train without a ticket and reservation for that service, a new ticket must be purchased. Depending on the Train Company you are travelling with, you may be liable to a Penalty Fare if you board the train with an invalid ticket.
  ​
• The origin, destination and Train Company or route shown on the ticket(s) must remain the same.​
• The difference between the price paid and cost of the next suitable fare for your journey is payable, plus a £10 administration fee per person, per single ticket for each change to a journey. If you change to a train on which a cheaper fare is available, the difference will not be refunded.​

 

[cuccir]

Cheers Yorkie, I thought that would probably be the case. Is it possible to excess from an advance to another type of ticket eg to an off-peak single to Oxford RTE London? This post from last week suggests that you can - it also suggests advance tickets are potentially more excessable than is stated in those T&Cs. Or are these just instructions in case a guard chooses to use her/his discretion to excess? I suspect this won't be a better option anyway, mind.