Virgin Trains WC small (3-9 pax) group discount

[Joe Paxton]

As detailed here, and also called a "group-e" discount, this offers "up to 20% off" on "selected Advance tickets" when buying online from the VTWC site.

(I'm sceptical about 'up to x% off' claims but in this case, at least with the tickets I'm looking at, it seems the discount is just under 20% - 19.999999999999996% to be precise! The "selected Advance tickets" is an opaque phrase, but I'd guess the discount is only available on the cheaper tiers.)

My question is, if I book four Advance tickets, but in the end only three people travel, might there be a problem?

I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be an issue, as these are not GroupSave tickets which show the number of people who are supposed to be in the group on each ticket (e.g. GPS3, GPS4) - I don't think these VTWC group-discounted tickets show that (I'm sure I've had some before but I don't recall).

Furthermore the discounted price per passenger for anything between 3 and 9 pax is exactly the same (logic suggests it would be, but I checked anyway!).

I only really ask as I won't be travelling with this group, so I don't want to land them in it should there be a problem with only three passengers actually travelling instead of four.

(The other problem, of extracting the sum owed from the person should they not make it, is entirely mine!)

 

[yorkie]

If all tickets are held and shown then I cannot see how there could possibly be any problem.

 

[tsr]

I can't comment for Virgin as I haven't seen one of their small group tickets lately, but for some operators with a single discount rate for groups ranging between 3 and 9 people, they certainly do only put "GPS" or similar, without any number denoting how many separate tickets / passengers should be in the group. The use of the more flexible discount marker seems to have increased in recent years.

This seems sensible for groups which are clearly still eligible for the same discount, but have had their numbers change within the scope of the conditions at short notice. I hope Virgin are indeed doing this.

If a number showing the group size is printed on each ticket, but you would still have been eligible for the same discount rate, I would simply ask the Train Manager before you board. I wouldn't refuse if I was in their shoes, and I'm sure most of them wouldn't either.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Thanks yorkie and tsr. I shall report back on how the tickets are issued.

I'm now questioning whether actual GroupSave tickets as issued by the south east area TOCs (where the scheme originated) still show the number of travellers who should be in the group.

They certainly used to (i.e. GPS-3, GPS-4) back when it was the old style GroupSave for just 3 or 4 people travelling for the price of 2 adults, but that changed to the new system of a third-off for 3 to 9 adults in May 2014. (My memory isn't that good, but the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine helped!)

 

[Wiggaz]

I booked these Virgin small group tickets last year on two occasions and both times the discount on the ticket was marked 'CORPC'. There was no mention of GroupSave, number of tickets issued, etc.

 

[Joe Paxton]

I booked these Virgin small group tickets last year on two occasions and both times the discount on the ticket was marked 'CORPC'. There was no mention of GroupSave, number of tickets issued, etc.

Thanks Wiggaz, much appreciated. 'CORPC' makes it sound like a corporate discount. Whatever!

 

[Joe Paxton]

Thanks yorkie and tsr. I shall report back on how the tickets are issued.

I booked these Virgin small group tickets last year on two occasions and both times the discount on the ticket was marked 'CORPC'. There was no mention of GroupSave, number of tickets issued, etc.

OK, the tickets were issued in the new format as follows...

Adult Standard Class
with Corporate C

...on two lines as above, and with the "D" (for discount) marker in the normal place on the top orange band on the right hand side.

No mention whatsoever on the tickets of how many passengers are in the group travelling together (unlike GroupSave tickets).