Super Off-Peak Single not showing as valid on Grand Central

[TUC]

I will be travelling from Oxford to Brighouse later today. As the Super Off-Peak Single between these stations is valid via London (subject to the time restrictions for code 9D) I searched for 'via London' journeys. On both the Trainsplit and Cross Country sites, journeys which involve the 1948 Kings Cross to Brighouse service are not showing this as valid and:
a) Transplit offering an Off-Peak Day Single from Oxford to London Terminals and an Off-Peak Single from London Zone 1 to Brighouse, totalling £74.80
b) Cross Country offering an Anytime Single from Oxford to Brighouse costing £127.85
(All fares with a Senior Railcard).

However, both sites are showing the Super Off-Peak Single fare of £60.90 as available on LNER journeys via Leeds.

Why the absence of Grand Central validity?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Likely they have screwed up the reservation quotas.

 

[TUC]

Likely they have screwed up the reservation quotas.

But why would other flexible fares then be showing as available?

 

[Kite159]

But why would other flexible fares then be showing as available?

Because Grand Central have got form at setting quotas for the cheaper 'super offpeak' tickets to nearly zero when still having quotas of their own flexible tickets. Either that or there is a missing link in the routing guide which isn't allowing GC.

Best you can do is make a seat reservation for that GC service using the GWR website or ensure you get at Kings Cross early enough to be one of the first to board to grab one of the unreserved seats which are mainly at one end of the train (although for the life of me I can't remember which end coach). Although in my experience with that train it will be busy until Doncaster before emptying out.

(See also LNER between Stevenage & London).

 

[Haywain]

But why would other flexible fares then be showing as available?

The £74.80 Zone 1 to Brighouse fare is routed Grand Central only, so GC will happily accommodate that. They have previous form for not allowing inter-available tickets to have reservations on their services and it seems that's not changed.

 

[Adam Williams]

My view is that this is a serious design problem with the reservation system.

If the ticket is not quota controlled, i.e. it's not an Advance, TOCs and open access operators should get zero control over whether the ticket maps to a tariff or not. It should be automatically mapped to exactly the same inventory class as every other ticket in the same class of travel.

The vast majority of trains should have no more than 3 inventory classes: general standard class, general first class, and wheelchair/companion spaces. I will accept that there is also an argument sometimes to restrict priority seats: that's 4 inventory classes.

Every single walk-up ticket, regardless of the origin of destination NLCs in the fares data should map to the general inventory class for the fare class set on the walk-up. There must be no special preference given to customers holding specific ticket types.

Unfortunately this view is unpopular amongst operators.

 

[Haywain]

My view is that this is a serious design problem with the reservation system.

If the ticket is not quota controlled, i.e. it's not an Advance, TOCs and open access operators should get zero control over whether the ticket maps to a tariff or not. It should be automatically mapped to exactly the same inventory class as every other ticket in the same class of travel.

Absolutely agree with this, it's outrageous that GC, or any other TOC, can manipulate which tickets are sold in this way.

 

[TUC]

I'm aware of the issue of TOCs claiming there are no remaining tickets available at all for a given service, and of Advance tickets having limited quotas, but not of TOC applying quotas to specific types of flexible walk-up tickets whilst maintaining availability of more expensive equivalents. Surely it must break some aspect of consumer law to induce passengers to buy a more expensive ticket than they need to by falsely claiming that a less expensive ticket is unavailable?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm aware of the issue of TOCs claiming there are no remaining tickets available at all for a given service, and of Advance tickets having limited quotas, but not of TOC applying quotas to specific types of flexible walk-up tickets whilst maintaining availability of more expensive equivalents. Surely it must break some aspect of consumer law to induce passengers to buy a more expensive ticket than they need to by falsely claiming that a less expensive ticket is unavailable?

The system can certainly do this and it's not at all unusual for it to be done. Avanti are notable culprits with regard to short distance tickets around Coventry.

With the ECML single fare priced is anyone going to want to purchase an Any Permitted Super Off Peak Single specifically to travel on Grand Central anyway? A dedicated ticket would be cheaper, and nothing stops someone using one purchased for LNER using it on GC instead if they want.

 

[Haywain]

is anyone going to want to purchase an Any Permitted Super Off Peak Single specifically to travel on Grand Central anyway?

The OP has given a perfect example of why someone would be wanting to buy such a ticket. Dedicated GC tickets only exist from a very limited number of stations that they don't serve, but they provide the only direct services from London to several stations in Yorkshire and the north-east.