Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi,

First Great Western have introduced through fares from the South West to the continent so why not SWT?

For example, we could have tickets from Honiton to Paris, Axminster to Nice, Salisbury to Lille and Basingstoke to Nantes at discount rates via Waterloo or Clapham Jn. / Vauxhall...

PS - I have... worked out a family of four with railcard Honiton to London International and Paris ^59 Return is cheaper than Exeter to Paris through fare!

I used through fares once rather than booking to London CIV and then a separate booking to Brussels. Barely any cheaper, and on return I arrived back at Paddington in time to catch an earlier service than the one the through booking had booked me on by default. Result, one hour later home for the sake of a flexible ticket to Paddington at an extra ^5 or so.

(Yes, I did ask whether I could catch the earlier train at Paddington and was told, not without buying a new ticket.)

So in my mind, the through tickets are not worth it, although they are popular, because the London CIV tickets were/still are never promoted. 

I bet ATOC would say that if they were promoted they would "be abused" just like their stupid comment about the all-line rover.  Although how an unrestricted ticket can be abused is hard to see.

One thing I have noticed is that with First Class Eurostar through booking the lowest First Advance fare is almost always offered even if the fare is not currently on offer on the service domestically. Seems to be either a quirk of the system or an arranged discount opportunity.

Of course they would be abused - passengers might save some money on them !  ::)

The London CIV tickets are a rip off from my area - esp. the peak time ones.

First Advance better value - and you can wait in the First Class lounge at Euston if you arrive early.

Or Off Peak from Paddington if you want to be flexible.

SWT don't sell Eurostar through tickets simply because in their opinion Eurostar wouldn't pay them enough commission. It was in one of the webchats last year.

It is difficult to abuse a CIV ticket though, because according to the rules the TOC requires sight of the European leg tickets before selling the CIV ticket.

Suppose it is possible someone might pay ^59 for a Eurostar ticket then throw it away having obtained a discount on their normal peak London fare, but I don't think the figures actually add up do they?

Paul

An Anytime return would be far better value than ^59 + CIV!

Not neccessarily.

I've purchased a ^59 Eurostar ticket before now just in order to be able to buy a ^50 Bath - London CIV valid for peak time travel rather than a ^130 ish Open return.  I've used the Eurostar ticket on one occassion (a free weekend in Paris) and thrown it away on another

If that is "abuse" then I am guilty.

(All this talk of "abuse" reminds me of a 20-year old Les Dennis joke along the lines of "my mother is so stupid, she thought she was cheating British Rail by buying a return ticket and not coming back"