Great Western Coffee Shop

Example ... why on earth would anyone spend 21 pounds on an advanced fare Melksham to Cheltenham Spa (next monday - train at 08:00) when the off peak day single is 14.90?

I think I saw mention of "advanced fare costs more that buy on the day" deep in some other thread, but perhaps it's worth asking as a question in its own right.  I'm scratching my head and can so no benefit at all to the passenger who pays the extra 6.10

WIth two changes, at Chippenham and Bristol Parkway, it is hardly an easy journey either.

A supposition on my part but that advance fare is not normally available from Melksham but has kicked in because the journey on that day includes a later than normal morning departure and a diverted Swansea service from Chippenham with reserved seat capability.  The fares "computer" hasn't been programmed to compare the off peak walk-up fare with the advance. 

It is also complicated by the fact the ^14.90 fare is not normally available from Melksham in the morning as the usual 07:20 leaves too early!  The cheapest ticket normally would be an Anytime single at ^21.50. (but that would be a through service via Swindon (reverse) and Gloucester (reverse))

Ah - but there's a 6 pound advanced fare on the evening train, via Swindon with a change there.  So I don't think it's just the longer route that's kicked in advanced offerings.  And on that evening train, it asks you what type of seat you want, then tells you that you're just being given an allocation as you can't reserve specific seats!

I would indeed have put this down to an "engineering weekend quirk" if I hadn't also come across the same thing - but less dramatic - in tickets for a journey I'm making on Friday of next week.  Manchester Piccadilly to Church Stretton - direct train at 17:30.   I can buy an advanced ticket at 25.00 ... or I can fork out a massive ( ;) ) 22.70 for an anytime day single, which saves me 2.30 and give me the flexibiity to drop back to the 18:30.   What do I get for my extra 2.30 on an advanced ticket?   Now I seem to recall a duty on ticket offices to offer the lowest available fare - does that mean that the 25 pounds advanced fare here is internet only, and if I go down to the ticket office they'll tell me to get the 22.70 single?

Aha - perhaps it is the "XC effect" that was being discussed  here.  (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12197.msg129320#msg129320)  The morning journey involves XC between Bristol Parkway and Cheltenham Spa.  I suppose in this case XC wouldn't want their train filled with "one stop" customers at the expense of their long distance travellers, although I find it hard to believe the train would be that full first thing on Easter Monday!

Grahame whilst it is useful to point out the anomoly it is probably fruitless to try and seek a logical explanantion. As Bnm said in another thread Mr Rail-Fare and Mr Logic have long been at loggerheads.

There's currently a ^6 Advance Purchase fare available on the 0800 Melksham - Cheltenham Spa, 1st April 2013. Arrival is 18 minutes after the option of via Bristol Parkway and there's a 44 minute wait at Swindon. You need to tell the booking engines either 'via Kemble' or 'First Great Western Trains Only'.

Common fault with all booking engines is that the fastest journey takes precedence by default.

Still doesn't excuse having an AP that's more expensive than the walk-up single.

I'm not sure I would go along with "fault" to describe a default offering of fastest, but there really should be a button that says "lower fares via slower routes" without having to know the specific "via" stuff.


That is ... either simple programming carelessness, or a cynical decision to sell a more expensive ticket than necessary to the unwary ... in my view.

I said much the same elsewhere after discovering an AP that was nearly twice the price of the available walk-up fare.

Caveat emptor. 

There are (or used to be; struggling to find examples) several fares on InterCity routes with FGW where a few Advance Fare Bands are more than the equivilent Anytime Single fares for the same route. With First Class fares especially.

It is also just as common with booking engines which make you chose advance singles or open return and not show both for the two singles for a return journey to cost significantly more than the open return option