Well done Rail

[whole diary]

[basset44]

Hi All,

Just spoted this, shows what can be done


^Customers who are travelling on Advance or Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak tickets and arrive at the airport to find their outward flight cancelled may return home using their return tickets immediately, with no further charge being made to do this;
^Customers whose outward flights are cancelled, causing them to travel on an alternative date, may use their Advance tickets, or walk-up tickets that have expired, up until Wednesday 19th May 2010 in order to catch their alternative flight.  Normal ticket restrictions will not apply;
^Customers whose return flights are delayed, causing them to miss booked services, may use their Advance tickets, or walk-up tickets that have expired, up until Wednesday 19th May 2010 in order to complete their journey.  Normal ticket restrictions will not apply.
In both cases customers will need to provide evidence that they are bona-fide airline customers, showing either:


^Airline ticket or ticket stub
^Flight confirmation e-mail print out

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks very much for posting that, basset44: however, if I may ask, what is the source of that welcome announcement?

[willc]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website, though might have been more use putting this up yesterday, when flights were actually grounded.

[basset44]

Sorry should have said FGW^▸ (First Great Western), looks like there is a slight difference in FGW and East coast
in regard to time restrictions.

UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Airspace Closures - Information for Customers
 

Ticket restrictions
If you have been caught up in the disruption at airports we have lifted some ticket restrictions to help you get to where you need to be.  If you^re travelling on pre-booked Advance tickets and need to get back from the airport sooner than planned because your flight is cancelled you can use your Advance ticket on any East Coast train without additional charge.

Additionally, if your flight has been delayed, causing you to miss your booked train, you can use your East Coast Advance tickets beyond their expiry date, until Wednesday 19th May to complete your journey.

If you are travelling on a Peak, Off Peak or Super Off Peak ticket and your flight has been delayed you can also use your ticket beyond the expiry date, until Wednesday 19th May. In these circumstances time of day restrictions have also been lifted.

In all cases you will need to provide evidence in the form of an airline ticket, ticket stub or flight confirmation e-mail print out.

If you are in any doubt please speak to a member of staff at the Travel Centre for more information before boarding the train.

[Btline]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website, though might have been more use putting this up yesterday, when flights were actually grounded.

A bit much to write a comment like that when you didn't put it up!

-----------

Thanks Bassett44 for finding and posting the info.

[willc]

If I wasn't quite clear enough for you btline, I meant the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website had no mention of this on Sunday when planes were grounded over a large area in the British Isles, rather like many other occasions when it posts information late or not at all.

I meant no criticism whatever of bassett44.

[Btline]

Apologies, I mis-understood the tone of your post.
 

[willc]

And just to demonstrate my point, I see in Shorter Journeys in Devon that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are strengthening services around Exeter tomorrow evening for a rugby match. Try finding any mention of it on the FGW website, nor of the football extras between Cardiff and London on Saturday.

[Ollie]

If I wasn't quite clear enough for you btline, I meant the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website had no mention of this on Sunday when planes were grounded over a large area in the British Isles, rather like many other occasions when it posts information late or not at all.

I meant no criticism whatever of bassett44.

Obviously correct me if I'm wrong but the ash wasn't affecting airports in the FGW area on Sunday, things only began to affect the south overnight? I am aware however that extra people travelled on Sunday to Ireland due to those flight cancellations - but that wasn't anything FGW could implement a policy for.

I do however agree that communication regarding additional/strengthened trains is sometimes poor.

[willc]

But if you lived in the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) area and were meant to be flying or from the parts of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) that were affected on Sunday, you might have liked to know where you stood.

The key point surely has to be speed of response to these situations and the rail industry is still very patchy in its approach. Virgin were very quick off the mark adding extra coaches this time round and Eurostar, which last month took an age to get its act together, also moved quickly. It's not as if the forecasters hadn't been saying for a couple of days before that there were likely to be ash problems at the weekend.

It's not that difficult to come up with a 'what if' plan and park a news item like the ticket information hidden on a website that can be activated at the press of a button when needed.

[Henry]

  Perhaps the managers who make these decisions do not work week-ends.

[devon_metro]

I suspect that is the reason. There won't be that many administration staff working Sundays, so website updates are probably far less likely to happen.

[old original]

Just as note...
This info/instruction first appeared about 2 days into the first bout of ash back in April.

[willc]

  Perhaps the managers who make these decisions do not work week-ends.

I suspect that is the reason. There won't be that many administration staff working Sundays, so website updates are probably far less likely to happen.

Hence my point about having a 'what if' plan, which is surely a good idea in a seven-day operation, so that you can respond to situations without having to try to track down a manager on a weekend off. And doing website updates isn't rocket science. If a website's content management system is well-designed, pretty much anyone can use it with the minimum of training. As I said above, you can easily set up a file, date it for some time in the future, then make it live as required. As old original notes, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) was merely repeating the policy it adopted during the first bout of ash disruption, so really no need for a manager to be consulted anyway.