Upgrade Standard advance to First advance

[mildertduck]

Hi all,

Is the following possible:

I'm travelling on a weekday, on a long distance route. A company I work for has bought me tickets for this journey in Standard class, and I would like to upgrade them to First. Is it possible to excess a Standard Advance into a First Advance?

 

[Romilly]

Yes it is possible. If you are going to be travelling on the same train, but in a different class of accommodation, then only the difference in fares should be payable (unless it's a train operated by Cross Country in which case there is also a £10 admin fee). But you need to sort it out before boarding the train.

See the second half of this page from NRE:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46557.aspx

 

[rdwarr]

Would this just be to the full First Class fare though? Let's say you held a £27 Standard Advance from London to Manchester. Would you be excessed to one of the First Advance fares or the walk-up fare of £235?

 

[PermitToTravel]

You can be excessed to any advance still on sale at the time you're seeking to buy the excess (or to the walk up if you prefer)

 

[Skie]

And you can go from Anytime Standard to Advance Standard too.

 

[premier01]

What about SDS to a First Advance?

E.g. Preston to London SDS @ £ 170 to First Advance @ £ 143?

 

[najaB]

What about SDS to a First Advance?

E.g. Preston to London SDS @ £ 170 to First Advance @ £ 143?

You should be able to do that, though I don't know if you would get any money back.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

What about SDS to a First Advance?

E.g. Preston to London SDS @ £ 170 to First Advance @ £ 143?

It's advisable not to use acronyms so that we can try to make this forum as accessible and helpful to rail passengers as possible.

So, you are asking if a passenger having bought a Standard Class Anytime Single (code "SDS") could exchange it to a First Class 'Advance' (which is restricted to just one train, but would allow the saving to be commuted into First Class benefits). Although this does NOT help to answer Mildertduck's question at all, the answer is in the affirmative.

 

[Haywain]

And you can go from Anytime Standard to Advance Standard too.

You should be able to do that, though I don't know if you would get any money back.

I do not agree that you can excess a Standard Anytime ticket to a First Advance ticket, however, the Anytime ticket will be refundable and a First Advance can be purchased. This means that an admin fee may be applied to the refund, but any further difference in fares will be returned.

 

[Skie]

I do not agree that you can excess a Standard Anytime ticket to a First Advance ticket, however, the Anytime ticket will be refundable and a First Advance can be purchased. This means that an admin fee may be applied to the refund, but any further difference in fares will be returned.

I've done it, only needed to pay the small difference between tickets. It probably helped that I had a booked seat and wanted to travel on the same train, but was no problem for the booking office staff.

 

[CyrusWuff]

I've done it, only needed to pay the small difference between tickets. It probably helped that I had a booked seat and wanted to travel on the same train, but was no problem for the booking office staff.

Just because it has been done in the past, doesn't mean that it should be done as a matter of course! The correct procedure, as mentioned by Haywain, is a refund and reissue. Depending on the TOC, this may be possible on the spot (assuming the original ticket was issued by the same TOC), or it may have to go via their Accounts Department or the original retailer. In fact, the (internal) Excess Fare procedures explicitly state that an Advance ticket is NEVER an "appropriate" fare for calculating an Excess.

In a similar vein, when APTIS and SPORTIS ruled, you could have been issued a First Class Cheap Day Return from Glasgow to York with a route of "Chesterfield" and a Gold Card discount. That wouldn't make it valid! (And would have resulted in the issuing location getting a "Fares Mismatch" letter from Rail Settlement Plan). Some of the modern PC-based ticket issuing systems will let you create such a ticket as well, but it generally needs a Supervisor to authorise it, and would probably produce the same result.