Scilly long-stay ticket

[najaB]

Was just watching Steve Marsh's video about his day trip from Penzance to Scilly, and in it he mentioned that there are rail+sail /rail+fly tickets. Looked them up and they've an interesting restriction in that there's a minimum 4 day stay.

Purchase flexible walk-up fares for any British train journey

Purchase flexible single/return tickets & Travelcards – in 3 clicks, at face value with no fees. Every British rail fare shown, railcard discounts included.

www.brfares.com

There are up to eight flights a day each way so it would be possible to do a day trip, but this is the only defined fare (there's no single). Are there any other routes where it's not possible (from a ticketing perspective) to do a day trip, even though the timetable(s) would allow it, or even a two-day for that matter.

(Video linked below)

 

[DelW]

Was just watching Steve Marsh's video about his day trip from Penzance to Scilly, and in it he mentioned that there are rail+sail /rail+fly tickets. Looked them up and they've an interesting restriction in that there's a minimum 4 day stay.

Purchase flexible walk-up fares for any British train journey

Purchase flexible single/return tickets & Travelcards – in 3 clicks, at face value with no fees. Every British rail fare shown, railcard discounts included.

www.brfares.com

There are up to eight flights a day each way so it would be possible to do a day trip, but this is the only defined fare (there's no single). Are there any other routes where it's not possible (from a ticketing perspective) to do a day trip, even though the timetable(s) would allow it, or even a two-day for that matter.

(Video linked below)

Many years ago, I used to make frequent work trips to Jersey, usually day trips or one night stays. At that time, returns for seven day (or more) stays were much cheaper, I think subsidised by Jersey tourist board in the expectation that week visitors would be spending money on the island throughout that week.

It occurred to my employer's travel booker that I could get two separate short trips a week or more apart by booking two interlocking week+ returns, one originating in London and one in Jersey. This meant using the outbound half of both tickets for the first trip, and the return half of both for the second trip.

The saving on the Jersey bound ticket meant the combination was cheaper than two short-period returns. At some point either the pricing changed, or the airline noticed and objected, because we reverted to normal returns.

Note that I'm not recommending such methods

 

[najaB]

It occurred to my employer's travel booker that I could get two separate short trips a week or more apart by booking two interlocking week+ returns, one originating in London and one in Jersey. This meant using the outbound half of both tickets for the first trip, and the return half of both for the second trip.

The saving on the Jersey bound ticket meant the combination was cheaper than two short-period returns. At some point either the pricing changed, or the airline noticed and objected, because we reverted to normal returns.

Interesting. Was there a 'regular' period return available at the time? Or a single for that matter?

 

[DelW]

Interesting. Was there a 'regular' period return available at the time? Or a single for that matter?

I didn't make the bookings myself so I don't know what the options were. This was back in the 1990s when air tickets were multi-sheet pieces of paper.

The explanation I quoted was what I was told when I asked our travel booking lady why I was getting such odd ticket combinations.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Having been to Scilly earlier in the year, I noticed it is fairly common for day trips to be cancelled when the sea is particularly rough (due to the risk of not getting people back) or when the sailing time has to change due to sea conditions. Flying is similar in terms of it not taking much weather for the flights to be cancelled and passengers moved onto the ship. I suspect therefore that the reason is that Isles of Scilly Travel would prefer to have contact details for day trips (which can be booked direct with them) in case this happens.

The sailing is quite early (out) and late (back) so most people need to stay overnight in Penzance both ways unless on the Sleeper, so could this be because of that? That is, 4 days would give 2 on the islands. Though it doesn't make sense with the flights.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Oct 2023 ==

I didn't make the bookings myself so I don't know what the options were. This was back in the 1990s when air tickets were multi-sheet pieces of paper.

The explanation I quoted was what I was told when I asked our travel booking lady why I was getting such odd ticket combinations.

It's generally against airline T&Cs to "nest" tickets to work around Saturday night away restrictions, so they tend to be looking for it.

 

[najaB]

The sailing is quite early (out) and late (back) so most people need to stay overnight in Penzance both ways unless on the Sleeper, so could this be because of that? That is, 4 days would give 2 on the islands. Though it doesn't make sense with the flights.

That could be it, but surely the 4-day minimum stay requirement means that you can't start travelling back (flight/ferry) until day 4. And it's still unusual that there isn't a single. What if I'm going to be staying longer than 30 days (e.g. visiting family or working on the island over the summer).

 

[island]

Are there any other routes where it's not possible (from a ticketing perspective) to do a day trip, even though the timetable(s) would allow it

Not quite the same thing but GWR long weekend and Southeastern Weekender tickets do require a minimum stay of a night or two. There exist other tickets without the restriction of course.

 

[zero]

It's generally against airline T&Cs to "nest" tickets to work around Saturday night away restrictions, so they tend to be looking for it.

Mainly on US airlines. It's not a problem on BA.