Great Western Coffee Shop

A friend of mine intends to travel from Newport South Wales to Oxford on Friday.  That should be fine but the return journey is planned for Sunday where engineering works are blocking the line between Didcot and Swindon and again between Swindon and Bristol Parkway.

The on-line journey planner recommends getting a train from Oxford to Didcot, a bus to Swindon, another bus to Bristol and then a train to Newport.  However, an easier option is to get a train from Oxford to Newport with one change at Reading.

To take this preferred route, a via-Reading saver is needed which costs ^50 (as opposed to ^39 non-Reading).  I find it a bit hard to take to spend an additional ^11 to avoid planned engineering works - especially when they^re so extensive that they involve two buses.

I^ve heard that excess fares are sometimes issued to help in this scenario.  Does anyone know anything about them and, if so, how much do they cost?

I might be asking a lot but do you think that FGW will show goodwill and allow return travel via Reading in this instance?

is he/she/it aware that all the newport bound hst's are diverting via btm, and working the route minus swindon and sometimes didcot?

Shazz - I think that's exactly Gordon's point.

Welcome to the forum Gordon. I haven't got an answer for you, but I think it's entirely reasonable not to have to pay a supplement for avoiding two bus journeys.

Welcome, Gordon

It's entirely reasonable ... but some of the fare rules are not reasonable, I'm afraid. You could ask customer services, and if they give you an "it's OK" answer, make a note of the person's name and time of the call.

I think you ARE allowed to do Oxford - Didcot (train), Didcot - Swindon (bus), Swindon - Temple Meads (Train), Temple Meads - Newport (Train) which would at least replace one of the buses by a train.

surely, it shouldnt affect the price of an open ticket?

Its cost me the same when trains got diverted via gloucester from london > cardiff this time last year, as it would for the direct route

That will be because it was a direct train to your destination - Shazz.

If a train at Cardiff showed for London Paddington, and you had a ticket for London Paddington, and the train went via Shrewsbury, Manchester Piccadilly, York and Doncaster it'd still be valid.