Removing a Railcard discount from an Advance ticket

[roversfan2001]

Hi all,

I have booked 2 Advances from Euston to Preston (1 adult, 1 child with Family and Friends Railcard discount) on Saturday 7th January. However I'm looking at the possibility of travelling separately, 1 adult on the train booked onto currently with me (child) moved onto a train in the evening; I know with a straightforward change it costs £10 per ticket plus the difference in fares but this seems complex/impossible due to the railcard discount.

Any help is appreciated.

Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

 

[yorkie]

A helpful ticket office, equipped with one of the better ticket issuing systems (TIS) can help.

Some may say they cannot do it, and some may try to charge a £10 admin fee (per ticket or per transaction)

Good luck! you may have to shop around...

 

[roversfan2001]

A helpful ticket office, equipped with one of the better ticket issuing systems (TIS) can help.

Some may say they cannot do it, and some may try to charge a £10 admin fee (per ticket or per transaction)

Good luck! you may have to shop around...

Cheers, luckily it's still a few weeks away so I'll be able to go to different ticket offices to try and sort it while Advances are still quite cheap. I'm interested to know what the procedure is for this; I'm guessing a cancellation of the original two tickets and replacement ones being issued, although I'm not really clued up on Advance T&Cs other than them being valid on the booked train only .

 

[najaB]

I'm interested to know what the procedure is for this; I'm guessing a cancellation of the original two tickets and replacement ones being issued, although I'm not really clued up on Advance T&Cs other than them being valid on the booked train only .

Advance tickets aren't refundable so I don't think it could be done that way. I would guess that it would be done as a change of travel time, combined with an excess.

 

[RJ]

I'd boot up the iKb and grab an Advance T&Cs slip and do the change according to whatever the most favourable, reasonable interpretation of them is.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd boot up the iKb and grab an Advance T&Cs slip and do the change according to whatever the most favourable, reasonable interpretation of them is.

I'd be interested to know what that is, as I thought there was no official way to excess away a Railcard discount, even before travel (though some ticket offices will nonetheless do it).

 

[roversfan2001]

I hope it's as simple as excessing the adult ticket to the same price tier undiscounted Advance fare (£10 fee possibly?) and doing the same to the child but changing the departure time to the later train (almost certainly a £10 fee plus price difference). That's an ideal scenario (that's probably wrong).

Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

 

[RJ]

I'd be interested to know what that is, as I thought there was no official way to excess away a Railcard discount, even before travel (though some ticket offices will nonetheless do it).

I actually haven't a clue - I don't learn things like this because the powers that be continually change the rules and guidance, so knowledge is often out of date before long. That said, I'm certain I've read that you can never excess to an Advance ticket and they are non-refundable. In some places, cash regulations preclude the cancelling of tickets more than 20 minutes after purchase and the software won't allow it once the shift has closed. Unless the ticket is brought back under these circumstances, a refund won't happen so "excessing" to the same tier isn't possible.

Best I'd offer at this stage is an excess to the cheapest walk up ticket.

There are some tickets which can't be excessed, namely season tickets and Travelcards so they'd have to go through the refund process.

 

[yorkie]

VTEC ticket offices do this without hassle.

But many ticket offices will not do this, they may say it cannot be done, or they may say they do not know how, or they may say an admin fee applies.

A forum member was travelling from Aberystwyth on a Railcard discounted ticket a couple of years ago. He tried to get an excess from an ATW station who refused to do it, then the next station we happened to be near had closed the ticket office early, there was no open ticket office at Aberystwyth, and the Guard was unable to do this excess from his ticket machine (because it's an Advance ticket, so the railway never actually received the excess as they had no means to take payment.

Excess fares can be a lottery, sometimes you are undercharged, sometimes you are overcharged. And we'll never get universal agreement on what is 'correct' because some people like to rigidly apply their own interpretation of rules without any regard for common sense or overriding principles. Different train companies also have different policies!

 

[roversfan2001]

I'll try the Northern ticket office at Leyland, I don't have much hope they'll do anything though. I could try a Virgin ticket office at either Preston or Wigan too. Cheers for all the help; it's not a necessary change so if it's not possible I won't bother.

Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

 

[RJ]

VTEC ticket offices do this without hassle.

But many ticket offices will not do this, they may say it cannot be done, or they may say they do not know how, or they may say an admin fee applies.

They do what without hassle? Excess up to another Advance ticket?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I'd be interested to know what that is, as I thought there was no official way to excess away a Railcard discount, even before travel (though some ticket offices will nonetheless do it).

There is no industry-wide guidance on it, there is nothing in the TSA to force any company to do it and no instructions in iKB ('The Manual'). I am aware that East Coast had a policy to allow it, I do not know if VTEC have continued the practice.

I'll try the Northern ticket office at Leyland, I don't have much hope they'll do anything though. I could try a Virgin ticket office at either Preston or Wigan too. Cheers for all the help; it's not a necessary change so if it's not possible I won't bother.

Unlike East Coast, Northern does not have a policy to change an Advance ticket simply to remove a Railcard discount, though some staff might do it anyway. Some staff might do it as part of a change of journey plans, which would be a £10 fee, per ticket per change, plus any difference in fares.

 

[yorkie]

They do what without hassle? Excess up to another Advance ticket?

They will remove the railcard discount by issuing an excess fare. It was done very efficiently and without quibble.