Advance Fare - Change Time of Travel - Well maybe not then...

[whole diary]

[thetrout]

Hi All,

Can someone just clarify I have understood things properly, or am I being slightly silly (Again!) ??

I wanted to change the time of train from the 19:12 Stoke-on-Trent to London Euston Service. Travelling today. I enquired in the ticket office and was told this was not possible and I should have done it yesterday

Immediately I asked the clerk to check their facts as Advance Tickets can be changed right up until the departure time of the first train. Indeed Virgin Trains own website states that:

Advertised pricing and journey times

Prices advertised are for Advance fares. All prices are per person, one-way, non-refundable and are subject to availability. Advance fares should be booked at least three weeks or more. Customers must travel on the trains they reserve. Change of travel is available up to the departure on payment of a ^10 admin fee plus the difference of the new applicable fare. Normal railcard and child discounts apply. Prices are correct at time of production. Journey times advertised are based on average Monday to Friday timetabled journeys unless otherwise specified.

Slightly ambiguous that statement... The clerk said that they could only excess to an FOS (First Anytime Single) which was daft to do on a Saturday. (Fair enough about the FOS comment)

Then I was offered an SOS and then a SVS (Standard Anytime and Standard Off-Peak Single) For the prices offered I adjourned to the First Class Lounge and about to play Counterstrike Source on their WiFi for an hour and a bit

Anyway, was the clerk right in that an upgrade to an FOS was the only possible option? Or could they have issued me a like for like on a First Advance Ticket with the ^10 Supplement.

To be honest I can hardly blame staff for not knowing the ins and outs of the fares system. But imagine if I'd paid for the SVS let alone the FOS and then discovered I may only needed to have paid a tenner...

Can someone clarify that a First Advance can only be upgraded to an FOS or have I been fobbed off and a Dear Sirs e-mail is necessary.

Cheers. TT

[JayMac]

Well, you wouldn't have been able to get another 1st Advance on the day of travel. These are only available up to 1800 (or 2359 with some retailers online) the day before travel. So the only option is to change to a walk-up ticket, be that 1st Class or Standard Class.

I believe the cheapest overall option should be offered, and I guess that would be to change your 1st Advance to an Off Peak Single, plus ^10. Leaving you the option to upgrade to Weekend 1st on board.

According to the guidance given to staff, on what is and isn't permissible when changing Advance Purchase fares, you can downgrade from 1st Class to Standard Class, although the only example given is from a 1st Advance to Standard Advance. However, I see no reason why you can't downgrade to an Off Peak Single (SVS) on payment of any difference in fares plus the ^10 administration fee. The main condition that has to be met is that anychanges must be made before your original booked train departs - which is what you were attempting to do.

There is no refund of any difference if the SVS is less than the 1st Advance.

The clerk was, in my opinion, right to eventually offer the SVS, even if they initially said only a change to a 1st Anytime Single (FOS) was allowed.

How much was your 1st Advance?

[thetrout]

Stoke-on-Trent to Souffend @ ^27.40 with Railcard.

[JayMac]

Changing an AP ticket means origin and destination must stay the same and so must the operators you use.

Stoke-on-Trent - Southend Stations* Off Peak Single ^49.35
less:
Stoke-on-Trent - Southend Stations* 1st Advance ^27.40
plus:
^10 Administration fee.
equals:
^31.95

Is this what you were finally quoted before deciding instead to wait for your booked train?

A further ^15 would have been payable on board the Virgin service if you'd wished to re-upgrade to 1st Class, and I suspect there would have be no Weekend 1st upgrade available for the Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria part of your journey if you were going that way. Greater Anglia only offer Weekend 1st on London - Norwich services.

So a total of nearly ^47 to change your travel plans, downgrade, then re-upgrade. A change to the 1st Anytime Single would have cost ^118.90.


*Fares structure on this flow is almost identical regardless of whether you chose Southend Stations, Southend Victoria or Southend Central as your destination.

[chuffed]

I had an Advance return fare with disabled adult railcard. printed at home. with XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) from Manch Picc to Briz TM^‡(resolve). last November on a Friday. I tried to change this before 6pm on the previous day to an earlier train because of the flooding on the line near Stafford but was told by the Virgin customer service hostess, that they could not change XC tickets printed at home because of the risk of forgery. I then paid another ^35 to go from Picc to Chelt and then another ^5 or so to Briz using tickety split.
I took this up with XC at customer service manager level and was given a voucher to the value of my unused return ticket which was ^23.75.

[JayMac]

That would have been a goodwill gesture outwith the T&Cs for CrossCountry Print@Home (e-ticket) tickets. The Virgin employee at Manchester Piccadilly was correct.

The CrossCountry website says:

Can I change my travel plans once booked?
E-tickets (printed at home) and m-tickets (via our Train tickets app) cannot be changed. Tickets collected from the station, a ticket machine, or sent by post can be changed for an administration fee of ^10.00 per ticket plus the difference between the fare paid and the cheapest available for the new travel date is chargeable.

The T&Cs you accept during the online purchase of an e-ticket say:

AMENDING YOUR BOOKING
Yes - date/time of tickets can be changed up until time of departure (except if you have chosen to print your own e-ticket(s) or have chosen for your ticket(s) to be delivered to your mobile phone)

By the letter of the T&Cs you accepted, there was no entitlement to change your travel plans prior to departure of your booked train, when holding an e-ticket.

The extra convenience of Print@Home is tempered by that extra restriction.

[thetrout]

Hmmm.

I was quoted ^62.80 which I've just checked is an SVS from SOT - EUS (London Euston) without railcard

Considering that for the same journey, a Super Off Peak Single at ^18.40 (with railcard) would have been valid I have no idea what the guy was trying on... I was also quoted the FOS at ^174 less ^17.40 from the Advance so ^163.60 which would have only got me to EUS anyway!!

Also wasn't told about the ^35.00 FVS London Midland only. However I am not at all surprised on that one.

I didn't want to change the start and end points of the ticket or operators. Just change the time of travel to an earlier train. As it was I remaining the First Class Lounge for the duration instead which actually was rather pleasant. Probably one of my favourite lounges that one

I think based on that information BNM which I thank you very much for, I am going to send an e-mail off to Virgin as I could have ended up with a ticket which would not have been correct or valid for my journey!

Cheers

[JayMac]

Do write in by all means. Just don't mention the London Midland fare as you wouldn't have been able to change your 1st Advance to that.

Origin, destination and train operator(s) must stay the same when changing an Advance Purchase ticket.