thetrainline.com

isplumm

Littlehelper wrote: »

From what I can see thetrainline.com is the only retailer that provides best fare finder and ticket alert to help people find cheaper tickets, however Virgin Trains have recently implemented thetrainline's best fare finder on their site now too.


I tried out their new beta website last week (there's a link on their home page). Their ticket matrix now shows cheaper single tickets and return tickets together, with the cheapest tickets highlighted, making it much easier for customers to find the cheapest tickets for thier journeys.

Each retailer / train operator displays the same fares / ticket prices but in different ways, however NECX are the only ones who offer discounts on their cheaper advance fares, so if you are due to travel on a NECX route then definitely try their site first.

I can not understand why you would use trainline .... nationalrail gives you exactly the same info & doesn't charge you!!

Mark

chuckley

i found this too. to this day they are STILL advertising a train journey that doesnt exist! its 2nd to last train and it could be worse. but my god that is shocking practice.

imagine it was the last train?? what would u do then?

oh a side note i used FGW's £5 offer on sum tcks recently and they use the trainlines payment system but dont charge?! how come?

SarahMoon

I asked my friend who is a driver and he said its upto the "TOC" if they wish to implement a charge most do not (As they use the Tribute system - its sold as if you bought it direct from them) whilst thetrainline uses another system which earns them no revenue and they charge on the payment

Even though Virgin own the trainline they dont charge through the train site but they do if you go through the train line

yorksrabbit

This thread is turning ridiculous.

Trainline CHARGES for credit / debit card payments (er, how else are you going to pay online???)

Trainline CHARGES a booking fee (but it exists for people to make, er, a booking.)

What's all this drivel in this thread about how GOOD it is?

Virgin doesn't charge extra for debit / credit cards nor does it levy a "booking fee". Nor do other Trainline rivals.

Whether or not Trainline provides accurate timetable / routeing information is academic. It's an expensive, uncompetitive enterprise and on a forum such as this -- where the phrase 'money saving' is a pretty large clue -- enthusiastic endorsements of its extortionate service really do ring incredibly hollow.

chuckley

yorksrabbit wrote: »

This thread is turning ridiculous.

Trainline CHARGES for credit / debit card payments (er, how else are you going to pay online???)

Trainline CHARGES a booking fee (but it exists for people to make, er, a booking.)

What's all this drivel in this thread about how GOOD it is?

Virgin doesn't charge extra for debit / credit cards nor does it levy a "booking fee". Nor do other Trainline rivals.

Whether or not Trainline provides accurate timetable / routeing information is academic. It's an expensive, uncompetitive enterprise and on a forum such as this -- where the phrase 'money saving' is a pretty large clue -- enthusiastic endorsements of its extortionate service really do ring incredibly hollow.

of what use is this idiotic reply to the thread?!

Littlehelper_3

chuckley wrote: »

i found this too. to this day they are STILL advertising a train journey that doesnt exist! its 2nd to last train and it could be worse. but my god that is shocking practice.

imagine it was the last train?? what would u do then?

oh a side note i used FGW's £5 offer on sum tcks recently and they use the trainlines payment system but dont charge?! how come?

Hiya Chuckley,

Which service/route are you refering to that is incorrect?

First Group, Virgin, Cross Country, Stagecoach, Arriva, Grand Central and a few other smaller TOC sites are powered by thetrainline, but it's up to the TOC what they charge on the site. I hear that NECX will start charging thier customers a £2 fee for seat reservations soon (keep an eye out for this in the press for exact details).

Bear in mind that the TOC receives the money made by selling the tickets, but as thetrainline and Raileasy are only third party retailers the margin they earn from the sale is less than 10% of the ticket value (I believe its actualy more like only 5%), hence their need to apply a booking fee to cover their operational costs. So basically if thetrainline is only earning around 5% they would only make £2.50 from a £50 ticket, plus their £1 booking fee and £2.50 credit card fee to cover the merchant charge.

biscit

chuckley wrote: »

of what use is this idiotic reply to the thread?!

It's actually a good post. It makes a very good point and is pertinent to the thread.

biscit

chuckley wrote: »

i found this too. to this day they are STILL advertising a train journey that doesnt exist! its 2nd to last train and it could be worse. but my god that is shocking practice.

imagine it was the last train?? what would u do then?

oh a side note i used FGW's £5 offer on sum tcks recently and they use the trainlines payment system but dont charge?! how come?

Did you double check with nationalrail.co.uk to see if the journey was up there too? It sounds to me like national rail could be at fault.

As I understand it, the timetable data thetrainline and all other 3rd party booking agents use comes from a central source.

MothballsWallet

I once booked with thetrainline to visit my folks in Scotland - coming back, I was supposed to take the GNER (as it was then) East Coast service and change at Darlington to a Virgin service going to Birmingham.

We were delayed getting Darlington, and I missed the connection - thankfully, the GNER conductor said I could stay on until York, and he told me that "anyone who tells you that you can make that connection is talking out of their erris" (paraphrased).

frivolous_fay

I've given up on thettrainline - I put in journey information and it takes so long to process, I just give up and go to national rail enquiries instead.

Used to be good, but I just don't have the patience for it anymore.