For journeys where
Project Oval applies, like Sevenoaks or Eynsford to London, then in broad terms the paper singles have been reduced to equal half of the return, meaning they are generally the same as the contactless PAYG fare (there are some rounding discrepancies as paper fares traditionally only go in multiples of 10p).
There are also some differences between the way Off-Peak time restrictions work between paper tickets and contentless; paper tickets are restricted based on the scheduled departure time of each train you take, whereas PAYG peak or off-peak fares are charged based on the time you touch in, regardless of when you actually board a train or when you touch out. Railcard discounts are of course only available for paper fares, not contactless ones.
For journeys within the London Zones it generally isn't possible to buy a paper fare at the contactless/PAYG rate, unfortunately. The cost of a paper ticket is often a lot more expensive than the PAYG fare, though there are some circumstances (e.g. evening peak NR-only journeys if you have a Railcard, or travelling with a Network Railcard on weekends) where it can be cheaper.
Generally I'll buy a paper ticket through a retailer that doesn't charge admin fees for walk-up refunds, and only collect the paper ticket if I can see there's disruption. Otherwise I'll refund the ticket and use PAYG.
Yes, arguably unfair on the retailer as they incur the costs without getting the sales commision - but I generally use GTR, who are of course a DfT TOC, so I don't feel too bad about it!
Separate (split) tickets are absolutely fine as are walk-up tickets. The issue is about having a contract in place (i.e. buying your ticket) before disruption is known.
Agreed - unfortunately this is one of many scenarios that the TOCs/DfT probably didn't even think of when they increased the price of paper tickets. If they did, they probably thought of it as an "edge case" not worth considering further. I've been there in industry meetings when the desire to push through a particular project/strategy means that broad principles are the only thing considered, with "edge cases" swept aside...
I would absolutely agree; unfortunately the latest NRCoT edition removes even the notion of a "published" timetable and simply refers to the timetable "in place on the day of travel", which could mean anything the industry wants it to mean. They could argue that since you didn't have a ticket when the disruption started, they don't have any obligation to let you on a later train. It's not an argument that I can support, but I can
kind of see where they are coming from.
Absolutely and this is the kind of problem that TOCs like LNER probably don't even realise they are causing.
Completely understand that, but I think avoiding peak Advances may be a
slight overreaction given the workarounds that exist.
The rail industry really doesn't "get" how important it is to be clear to passengers in their terms and conditions; the NRCoT is a case in point (we've had many threads discussing areas it leaves unclear). Terms are often either uselessly vague and open to interpretation, or so full of jargon that no reasonable member of the public could be expected to understand them.