Trainline Flex

[tumbledown]

Can Trainline resell the ticket that has been given up by the original purchaser, if they can find another buyer?

 

[MrJeeves]

Can Trainline resell the ticket that has been given up by the original purchaser, if they can find another buyer?

I think this is a good question, to be honest.

They would need to void the original ticket(s) issued and reissue them (which would technically involve refunding and then reissuing the ticket) in order to make sure someone doesn't still travel on the original ticket after having claimed their insurance-backed refund. I think this would be a bit cheeky, and I'd like to think some retail license condition prevents it.

I'd also be interested to know what they do with the reservation on any such ticket if they don't "resell" it. I assume they'd just keep the reservation active, but I could hypothetically see them having reached an agereement to cancel the reservation while not refunding the ticket which would also allow an operator to effectively sell the same ticket twice, with no real downside to them that I could think of.

 

[AlterEgo]

Can Trainline resell the refunded ticket if they can find another buyer?

The cost of the ticket is being covered by an insurer and paid to the purchaser, it is not being refunded or cancelled. The cover is provided by CoverGenius.

 

[Farigiraf]

The cost of the ticket is being covered by an insurer and paid to the purchaser, it is not being refunded or cancelled. The cover is provided by CoverGenius.

So the scenario is basically:
- Passenger purchases a ticket from Trainline, gives Flex fee to CoverGenius
- Passenger decides they no longer want the ticket. CoverGenius pays passenger cost of ticket back
As the ticket is still active, just not used by the passenger, Trainline may potentially be able to resell the ticket, though I'm not sure who actually owns the ticket in this case, the passenger or Trainline - is your ticket forfeited to Trainline when you click refund on their app? If not, then if Trainline resells the ticket, wouldn't the passenger be entitled to the revenue (unless Trainline sneakily puts a 100% admin fee on such things)?

 

[Adam Williams]

Worth mentioning that retailers can cancel tickets (or prevent them being printed) without submitting the refund for settlement.

 

[Haywain]

Worth mentioning that retailers can cancel tickets (or prevent them being printed) without submitting the refund for settlement.

Useful to know as that would seem to be the likely approach. I can't see that the 'insurer' behind this scheme would be happy with Trainline going on to resell the ticket and profit on the arrangement - insurance is not a service provided so that a third party that hasn't suffered any loss can profit from it.

 

[Starmill]

They would need to void the original ticket(s) issued and reissue them (which would technically involve refunding and then reissuing the ticket) in order to make sure someone doesn't still travel on the original ticket after having claimed their insurance-backed refund.

Is that actually possible? If a technical refund were processed, the quota may disappear and not be available for re-sale.

 

[MrJeeves]

Is that actually possible? If a technical refund were processed, the quota may disappear and not be available for re-sale.

The settlement system and reservations system are entirely separate. You can cancel a ticket but not the reservation, then re-use that reservation for a new ticket if you wanted.

For example, that's how we would have fixed the recent issue with the 16-25 minimum fare without risking losing people's reserved seats.

I mean, for the last couple of months (finally fixed now), the reservation system was failing to cancel any reservation in the first place, even if you asked it to!

 

[Starmill]

The settlement system and reservations system are entirely separate. You can cancel a ticket but not the reservation, then re-use that reservation for a new ticket if you wanted.

Oh, I see what you're getting at yes. I suspect that doing that is even more likely to generate questions about compliance than doing too many refunds on non-refundable tickets is though.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Is this not just a re-brand of the "Cancel for Any Reason" insurance they were already offering previously?

I looked into this and it seems the insurance provider for that has gone out of business:

Cancel For Any Reason

Insurance policies are provided by third party Companjon UK and not by Trainline. Specific details relating to Companjon and the terms of the relevant policies can be found in the separate terms and conditions made available both prior to and post purchase.

Please note that any queries about UK Cancel For Any Reason, including any questions about claims, should be made directly to Companjon via their FAQ page: https://www.companjon.com/en/trainline-uk/

And following the link,

Companjon is in the process of winding down business activities over the coming months.

Cancel for any reason allowed cancellation up to 15 minutes before departure of the booked train, so it seems they've just moved to a new insurance provider with worse terms.

 

[Adam Williams]

Well that says a lot about how sustainable the idea was!

Time will tell if it can be profitable at 2 hours before departure.