TheTrainline issuing invalid tickets

techno12

Beware TheTrainline!

I used their site last month to book a return from Birmingham to London. All well and good, cheap price, and I elected to pick up the tickets from the station (via the FastTicket machine).

The problem was, the tickets that the machine gave me weren't valid for the train journey I'd booked! !!!!!!?! The guard said that they were only valid for routes 'via Banbury' - the train I was on went via Reading (even though it had stopped at Banbury too. How are we meant to know that 'via Banbury' actually means 'NOT via Reading'!!)

What kind of idiotic system allows you to book and pay for tickets for a particular time and day, only to then deliver you invalid tickets for those times. I'd clicked on the 1.30pm outward service to London, so I'd expect the outward ticket to be valid for that!

I emailed their CS while on the train, and got a prompt reply along the lines of "read our terms and conditions, its up to you to check the individual operators' requirements blah blah". Sigh..

arrowsmith

Sorry Techno12 but I'm with thetrainline on this one, I've bought tickets like this in the past because they are cheaper and they clearly state online that you have the restictions and how many changes you'll need to make.

Also you shouldn't be using the trainline web site directly as you'll be paying card fees. Use the train operating companies such as http://www.silverlink-trains.com/index.php/cms/pages/home and you'll use the trainlines systems to book any train and not pay a card fee or for it to be posted to you.

DougFlo

I suspect that within the terms and conditions on the website, it did state the price you paid was only valid for a particular route.

I always make sure that tickets bought on line state 'All ROUTES' or 'ANY AVAILABLE ROUTE' just to avoid such problems.

What was the category of ticket you bought out of interest as this would prehaps explain it.

dzug1

On the face of it I would have thought that the ticket WAS valid via the route you took unless there was a specific exception for your ticket type. Unless there has been a recent change to the routing guide this is definitely so.

If it's not valid via Reading then it would normally say route High Wycombe. Route Banbury SHOULD mean 'not via Milton Keynes'

techno12

arrowsmith wrote: »

Sorry Techno12 but I'm with thetrainline on this one, I've bought tickets like this in the past because they are cheaper and they clearly state online that you have the restictions and how many changes you'll need to make.

Oh, I'm never using TheTrainline again after that, plus I've realised the tickets can be booked directly anyway which as you say is cheaper.

My point is, as an end-user, if I click on the blob that says "outward journey 1.30pm" and the blob that says "return journey 4.30pm" then I'd expect the tickets to be valid for those times, and to apply to whatever routes the 1.30pm outward and 4.30pm return trains happen to take. That's not too much to ask is it?

Can't remember the exact class of tickets, just the cheapest for the times I wished to travel there and back. Off-peak return I think.

dzug1

Can you remember what the fare was?

I'm 90% convinced that the trainline were right and the guard wrong.

This is looking at map CS in the routing guide.

Bennifred

Hmm - bit of an odd one this! Oddly enough I had looked at Trainline just before seeing this thread, in order to find the cheapest direct return for my DS1 from Stoke to Oxford - saw the cheapest was the "Off-peak return"for £29.10. After reading the OP, I went back and read the terms and conditions, and indeed they stated that the ticket was only valid for journeys via Banbury. I then went on the Virgin trains website, did the same search, it came up with the same price ticket (with Cross Country Trains) at exactly the same time,etc, so I'm assuming it's the same ticket - BUT the terms and conditions doesn't say anything about routing. It all seems a bit strange, especially as the train route is direct, no changes. Is there any way of knowing the definitive terms for the ticket, or can it really vary between the websites, even for the same journey/fare?

dzug1

It shouldn't vary between websites - they all search exactly the same database. So for the same ticket they should give the same fare. However, due to differing ways of searching that database they might not find the same tickets and therefore come up with different fares....

The way to find the definitive terms is a combination of the fares manual and the routing guide - both large, cumbersome and arcane 'documents' - not to be undertaken lightly and easily misunderstood.

laird

Normally the principle is that if the Rail Journey Information System (RJIS) says the route is valid then it will be accepted.

The difficulty the op experienced does seem rather unusual in that Birmingham - Banbury - London via either Reading or High Wycombe if the ticket was marked route 'any permitted' or 'Banbury'.

It seems unlikely that any train manager would mention Banbury if the op held an 'any permitted' route.

Entering Birmingham - London into the online route planners will not offer any tickets routed 'Banbury' instead route 'High Wycombe' is offered so I suspect there may have been some sort of misunderstanding in that the op should have changed to the Chiltern Trains service at Banbury which would then have gone through High Wycombe to London Marylebone.

Personally I have felt some of the announcements made by Virgin Trains regarding validity of tickets to be rather confusing, at Birmingham New Street it is not uncommon to hear announcements that tickets routed 'via High Wycombe' are not valid on this service, this is partially true in that they are not valid beyond Coventry but are perfectly valid Birmingham - Coventry for the connecting service to Banbury and points to London via High Wycombe.
Equally Cross Country Trains staff can be a little confusing to listen to, on Cross Country Trains route 'High Wycombe' trains tickets would be valid for passengers changing on to the Chiltern Trains service at Banbury.

Techno12 it might be possible to recall the booking details from the trainline, usually the booking is listed in 'my bookings' (or something similar) just for post booking queries like this.

adamtrainman

If you've pressed the blob for a specific train and travelled on them specific trains changing at all the right places etc then the trainline is right the guard is wrong, always print out the journey itinery from the website if you can just as proof i bought this ticket at this price and it says do this.