XC make changing Advance tickets FREE

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are the first and only UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train company to remove the £10 fee for changing the date and time of your Advance ticket. So not only can you get great value Advance tickets for any train operator via our website, but you have a little extra flexibility if your plans change.

No more fees - Buy a new Advance ticket, and we’ll refund your original for FREE
Enjoy flexibility - Update the date, time & ticket type (as long as the stations are the same)
Peace of mind - Amend your ticket from 2 hours after purchase, until 24 hours before your journey

Planning on buying a ticket? Make sure it's eligible.

To make sure your ticket is eligible for free amendments, follow these 3 simple steps:
1.Sign in to your CrossCountry account - if you don't have one, register here
2.Buy an Advance ticket through our mobile or desktop website only – sorry, tickets bought at the station or via our app aren’t eligible.*
3.Choose ‘Post’ or ‘Self Service’ as your delivery method

Already bought a ticket? Check if it's eligible.

If you've already bought a ticket from us and have had a change of plan, check to see if you can amend it by going through the below steps:
1.For your Advance ticket to be eligible for an amendment, you will need to make sure that you were signed in to your CrossCountry account at the time of buying the ticket
2.Your booking was made on our mobile or desktop website - sorry, tickets bought at the station or via our app aren’t eligible*
3.Your chosen ticket delivery method was either 'Post’ or ‘Self Service’

If your new ticket is more expensive than your original, you will be charged the difference. If your new ticket is cheaper than your original, we will refund you the difference. Please see our terms and conditions for details

How to amend your Advance ticket.

Please follow the steps below to refund your ticket.
1.Sign in to your CrossCountry account
2.Select "my account"
3.Click “view your bookings” – located in the 'my bookings' section.
4.Select “amend journey” next to the ticket(s) you would like to change
5.Select the ticket(s) you would like to amend and continue.
6.Input the amended 'date and/or time' you would like to change your ticket to.
(Also, let us know If you have [collected] your old tickets, as we will need these back to process a refund.)
7.Select the new journey you would like to book
8.Confirm your seat preferences
9.Confirm your delivery method
(Note: if you select options other than Post or Self-Service you will not be able to change the ticket again) .
10.Continue to pay and confirm your new journey

Have more questions? Take a look at our FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions)'s page for more information

*Print your own tickets 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 with no administration fee. Sign into your account and select 'View my Bookings' and follow the steps to amend your journey. You can change your ticket two hours after purchasing and up to 24 hours before you are due to travel.

https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/customer-service/no-admin-fee

[chrisr_75]

I've not used cross country's website, but can you buy tickets for travel on other TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s and would they also be covered by the free amendments?

It's about time these charges were dropped universally, certainly for online changes - there is likely to be no human intervention so I cannot see that a £10 fee accurately represents the actual cost to the business involved with changing a ticket or seat reservation.

[Fourbee]

Thanks for the info ChrisB. Whilst this is a welcome change, AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) how it works is you buy a new one and get a refund on the old one; which is subtly different to:

If your new ticket is more expensive than your original, you will be charged the difference. If your new ticket is cheaper than your original, we will refund you the difference. Please see our terms and conditions for details

For clarity I would have worded it: "You will be charged immediately for the new ticket and we will refund your old ticket later". At no point is a sum for "the difference" charged or credited to your bank account. The difference will only be realised when all transactions are reconciled to your bank account.

On a positive note, it does also raise the possibility of extending the validity indefinitely and/or getting some money back if you do not intend to travel and you paid more than the lowest advance tier (simply amend to the cheapest random journey at some point in the future).

[eightf48544]

Just had an email from Cross Country on this.

Does say you have had to book direct from them.


"Change of plans? Change your ticket…

You can now change your Advance ticket for FREE. We're the first and only UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train company to remove the £10 fee for changing the time and date of any Advance ticket, when you book direct with us. That means you'll get great value Advance tickets with extra flexibility."

From find out more it's definitely only applies to Advanced tickets bought  from the website.

Planning on buying a ticket? Make sure it's eligible.

"To make sure your ticket is eligible for free amendments, follow these 3 simple steps:

    Sign in to your CrossCountry account - if you don't have one, register here
    Buy an Advance ticket through our mobile or desktop website only – sorry, tickets bought at the station or via our app aren’t eligible.*
    Choose ‘Post’ or ‘Self Service’ as your delivery method"

[ChrisB]

Personally, I'll never ever buy a Print-at-home ticket ever again, and this is yet another reason....

They are completely unchangeable, unrefundable, etc etc. - been caught a couple of times where the reason for travelling has changed date, or been cancelled. Always at least TOD, then they're changeable for another date at least (was with a fee, now free)

[didcotdean]

So why exclude print at home tickets then - can't they invalidate them?

[ChrisB]

Not once they're printed.

[didcotdean]

Or presumably as soon as they are e-mailed out.

Aren't they still the only way you can get an Advance from XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) without paying an additional fee?

[ChrisB]

Sometimes, if not always?....but I think its worth the extra quid to be able to obtain the change option.

They don't run stations and therefore own no TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) and those that do make a charge for their use to TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to allow their tickets to be collected. Those TOCs with TVMs offset theircown charges against those they pay. XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) can't do that, so a small charge I understand

[didcotdean]

I think they only charge if the whole journey is with them - ie when they can't issue a print-at-home ticket.

[ChrisB]

Eh? The only times I've been offered Print-at-Home (PaH) tickets on XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) the whole journey has been on XC.

They have to offer a free way of obtaining your hard-copy ticket - so either PaH with a charge for TOD, or free TOD if PaH not available

[Fourbee]

Just noticed this on their FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) page:
https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/customer-service/faqs/change-my-journeyticket

When I change the date and time of an Advance ticket, which tickets can I choose?

As long as you keep the same origin and destination stations, you can alter the date or time of an Advance purchase ticket by changing it to a new ticket of the same or greater value.

What happened to refunding the difference (for cheaper tickets) mentioned on the main page:
https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/customer-service/no-admin-fee

[ChrisB]

If you click on that second link, the first bullet point explains that you actually buy your replacement ticket through them, and they refund the first ticket with no fees. Thereby changing your ticket for 'free', but you gave to sub the cost of the second ticket until their refund comes through.

Refunding/charging differences between costs would in accounting, be quite difficult

[Fourbee]

The FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions) contradicts the main page though? Shouldn't it just read "new ticket". If the new ticket is the same or greater value no refund will be due.

[Fourbee]

i.e. you wont ever have the situation described on the main page where:

If your new ticket is cheaper than your original, we will refund you the difference. Please see our terms and conditions for details