Advance - but is it really advance any more?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Cross Country Trains

The 'Advance on the Day' initiative has seen CrossCountry introduce across all its routes* the opportunity for passengers to buy discounted 'Advance' tickets within just 15 minutes of their train leaving the station - enabling travellers to make the most of last minute bookings, while still reserving a seat.

After a successful 'Advance on the Day' testing period involving Travel Management Group, facilitated through Evolvi Rail Systems, CrossCountry's exclusive fares are now available for the corporate clients of travel management companies to purchase through the EvolviNG rail booking and fulfilment system.

I really find myself wondering if they should be called "advance" any more ... it strike me that this is more a method to attract customers to purchase tickets from which 100% of the income goes to the operator rather than a proposition based on the service providers on the route.   Perhaps the 15 minutes will be cut to 5 minutes in the future - though that might lead to ticket rage, where a passenger queues for a ticket while the person in front asks for a groupsave day return for 9 people to Sugar Loaf and books assistance to get off the train there too ... just to find the five minutes has expired when it's his turn.

[JayMac]

These two hypothetical people are presumably queueing to use the same PC/Mac/tablet/smartphone then? 

CrossCountry Advance on the day are only available to purchase online and only from CrossCountry's own website or apps for Joe Public. Or the aforementioned Evolvi system for business bookings.

No chance of 'ticket rage'.