Virgin Trains:Destination "London Zone 2" valid for Macclesfield-Hammersmith?

[taless2]

Hi, I am planning my upcoming train travel, from Macclesfield to Hammersmith in London (London Underground, Zone 2).

Having looked at Virgin Trains, using Advanced Search, I have the possiblity of choosing London Zone 2 as my destination.

I just want to be sure that this ticket (Macclesfield to London Zone 2) is actually valid for what I am planning to do - as I will be crossing Zone 1 London to arrive in Hammersmith which is in Zone 2. I guess it should be, I'm just being anxious about it.

Does anyone have any past experiences regarding this?

Also, will Virgin Trains issue this ticket as "R12 London" or just "R2 London"?

Thanks!!



P/S: I know I can perhaps get a better price by just using Oyster for London Euston-Hammersmith. Just for personal reasons I want to get a through ticket on Virgin Trains.

 

[Daniel]

Hi,

I'm not sure if it'd be issed as R12 or R2, but as a member of LUL staff I can say an R2 wouldn't be valid on that journey

 

[yorkie]

This cropped up in a recent topic (but not from Macclesfield!), and the conclusion was that you have to specify you are going via Zone 1 also, so it is issued to Zone U12* LONDN (or you can simply enter the destination code 0790)

Example Fares are:
£71.00 SVR
£264.00 SOR

 

[taless2]

Thanks for the above!

Can I ask how do I input 0790? I can't do it on Virgin Trains website, tried using National Rail and all I get is Seven Kings (in destination)?

 

[yorkie]

You're welcome You can't enter it on booking sites but anyone who actually issues tickets can enter it on their machine e.g. Avantix.

It also works in Avantix Traveller, this is a very buggy awful piece of software created by Atos Origin for ATOC which is the best way to find fares (you'll find various references to it on this site). Cheekily they charge an admin fee of about £9 + Postage & packing + VAT to have a copy of it on CD.

A ticket to Kensington Olympia is better value, but not valid for exit at Hammersmith.

 

[taless2]

Thanks for the prompt reply!!

I see, looks like I won't be going down the Avantix route then.

Looking at Virgin's website again in more detail, I see these:

a) London Zone 2 is listed as 414, just as Macclesfield is MAC. (does 414 mean anything significant here?)

b) Say, using 13 April 2010, Outbound 1355, and I chose an Advance ticket. Clicking on More Details, I see:

1355 Macclesfield 1542 London Euston Virgin Trains
1542London Euston 1542 London Zone 2 Tube

Surely for Virgin to publish such a routing on their website, it means the Macclesfield-Hammersmith will be valid with this Macclesfield to London Zone 2 ticket?

Thanks

 

[yorkie]

Yes, I think so.

If doing a walk-on journey then Kenny O is cheaper.

And now I think about it a Kenny O ticket is valid at Hammersmith and I think that it may actually be valid to use the barriers there.

Macclesfield-Kenny O is valid for a cross London transfer which would be valid through Hammersmith, and Hammersmith is a valid 'out of station interchange' location (you need to cross a road), so such a ticket may actually work the barriers there.

 

[Daniel]

...and if it doesn't, just ask the gateline attendant.

 

[taless2]

Thanks...!

Sorry for a newbie question again, but what is Kenny O?

 

[yorkie]

Thanks...!

Sorry for a newbie question again, but what is Kenny O?

Kensington Olympia.

I'd never buy a ticket to Euston (London Terminals), and would always buy to Kenny O, if doing a WCML journey.

Except if I was going from Glasgow, then I'd buy from Alexandra Parade to Alexandra Palace for the novelty value, and also to see the look on the face of not very clued up gateline staff who think you're invalid and have a platform ticket for a suburban station. (Yes that did happen once, though not to me!)

 

[taless2]

Hmmm why would you definitely buy to Kensington Olympia and not London Euston?

I had a look at Kensington Olympia on Virgin Trains. If I were to get that (and an Advance ticket), does it mean I have to STICK to their specific trains, i.e. Euston->Willesden Junction->Kensington Olympia, or else it wouldn't work?

Or do I need an Off Peak to allow me to take whichever train I like (i.e. using underground as opposed to overground)?

As you are aware, my intention is to get to Hammersmith. You mentioned Kensington Olympia will allow me that. How about West Kensington, Barons Court? Will a Kensington Olympia ticket allow me that?

Thanks!!

 

[Daniel]

You're only restricted to the Virgin Trains' train. The connections bit is up to you. Basically a ticket to Kensington Olympic would allow you to travel to Hammersmith to change for the District line towards Kenny O. So basically, you leave Hammersmith (Met), heading for Hammersmith (District), but don't enter again... breaking your journey, permanently, basically!

 

[yorkie]

As you are aware, my intention is to get to Hammersmith. You mentioned Kensington Olympia will allow me that. How about West Kensington, Barons Court? Will a Kensington Olympia ticket allow me that?

A ticket to anywhere beyond London that is to a named station that is routed +Any Permitted (or +London or whatever) will work the barriers as it includes a cross-London transfer on LU. Nothing compels you to complete the journey.

So I can get a ticket from York to Clapham Jn and I can then use LU to get to Waterloo, Victoria, Charing Cross, etc...

It should work the barriers at Hammersmith because that is a valid "out of station interchange".

You may be able to exit at other stations, it has been raised here previously and the consensus was that you can cut a LU transfer short (I believe this is in case you are feeling unwell etc) but you would have to ask 'manually' and they will think it odd if you are exiting at a place like that, so my advise is not do to it.

Alighting at Hammersmith with a Kensington Olympia ticket should be fine though, as far as I can determine, and I believe it is likely to operate the barriers.

 

[taless2]

Hey, thanks above for all your kind help! Guess I understood a lot more about how the rail system works now in just a few messages that you guys offered here!

 

[yorkie]

No problem

Do you have a Railcard?

 

[Railjet]

Talking of Kensington Olympia, Avantix shows an OPR fare, LM only, Birmingham - Kensington Olympia of only £14.

Is this a phantom fare, given that it is impossible to get to Kensington Olympia on LM only (and I can't seem to find it on a booking engine)?

 

[MKB]

As an aside, www.londonmidland.com lets you enter 0790 as a destination station, so presumably will work with any Avantix station code.

 

[yorkie]

OPR - SUPER OFFPEAK R LMR
00042 - LDN MIDLAND ONLY

1 Adult @£ 14.00 = £ 14.00

Don't forget it used to be possible to do that journey within the same franchise (operated by Silverlink), before it was split into LO & LM. There is also a similar fare to Willesden Jn. I guess it hasn't been updated to reflect the franchise change.

 

[taless2]

No I don't... It's going to be for a Single Person, and I'm not that young anymore to qualify for the Under 26!!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Thank you so much!!!

www.londonmidland.com was fantastic.

Having played a bit with it, I can see that Macclesfield to Zone U12* LONDN comes out as £32.00 (on 13 Apr, 1355 service). Zone U1* LONDN is also £32.00, but Zone U2* LONDN is invalid.

The prices agree with the one with Virgin Trains. Since Zone U2* LONDN is invalid, I can only speculate that Virgin's London Zone 2 actually means "London Zones 1 & 2"?

Since it's the same price anyway, I may just buy it from buymidland for peace of mind!

Thanks so much for all your advice, it was really helpful!

P/S: Is there such a thing as Zone R12? I'm quite sure I've read it somewhere. What is the difference to Zone U12*?

 

[Mojo]

R12 is the old name for what is now known as "London Zones 1-2," which is a zone 1&2 travelcard (ie. unlimited journeys by all modes in zone 1 and 2, and unlimited bus travel across London). U12 is a single journey to any destination in zone 2 via zone 1.

 

[taless2]

Thank you.

One more question... Will the tickets be issued as ONE ticket, i.e. Macclesfield to U12* LONDN, or is it going to be 2 seperate ones, i.e. Macclesfield to London Euston, London Euston to U12* LONDN?

 

[clagmonster]

It should come as one ticket, Macclesfield-Zone U12* LONDN. It should also have a Maltese cross in the route description, to signify LUL validity.

 

[taless2]

Thanks!