Train ticket advice please

miamoo

My sons on leave, and returns to Winchester tomorrow, traveling from Manchester. There is a direct train, but his ticket has london in the 'route' section. Does this mean he has to travel via london, or that he can if he wishes? thanks

dzug1

He can travel direct - but if the fare for that route is more than via London he will have to pay the excess. Best sorted out before departure.

(Assuming a flexible ticket)

Livingthedream

dzug1 wrote: »

Best sorted out before departure.
(Assuming a flexible ticket)

Just to add to the advice that dzug's stated, in my opinion it's best to do it on the train, as normally the train managers are much better at issuing 'change of route excesses'

Also best to ask the train manager for the excess whilst giving him the ticket.

The excess if I'm correct should be £1.90 (£94.60 - £90.80 /2) but maths isn't my strong point assumes no railcard discount.

Tilt

There is a Manchester to Bournemouth Cross Country driect service which calls at winchester.

Livingthedream

dzug1 wrote: »

(Assuming a flexible ticket)

It sounds like a flexible ticket ie Off Peak or Anytime as their routed; Via Banbury or Via London. Whilst Advance tickets are routed; Via Crosscountry trains only or Virgin west coast & connections.

miamoo

Wow thanks for the replies! His ticket is a STD OFF PEAK R, so is this a flexible ticket if so I am very happy ? can he get on the train and pay the extra to travel direct?

Livingthedream

miamoo wrote: »

His ticket is a STD OFF PEAK R, so is this a flexible ticket if so I am very happy ?

Yes.

miamoo wrote: »

can he get on the train and pay the extra to travel direct?

Yes, ask for a 'charge of route excess'

bb21

Livingthedream wrote: »

Just to add to the advice that dzug's stated, in my opinion it's best to do it on the train, as normally the train managers are much better at issuing 'change of route excesses'

Also best to ask the train manager for the excess whilst giving him the ticket.

The excess if I'm correct should be £1.90 (£94.60 - £90.80 /2) but maths isn't my strong point assumes no railcard discount.

This is correct. The correct Off-Route Excess is half the difference between the two return fares for travelling one way. Assuming that no railcard is held, it should indeed cost £1.90.

I recommend sorting it out on the train as well. Off-Route Excess should cost no more to do on the train regardless of opportunities to buy before boarding.

Some guards make the mistake of excessing the ticket as a single. If the price you are quoted is more than this, make sure that the guard has done it correctly. He should select ticket type as "return" and then choose either portion that needs excessing.

Once the ticket is excessed to the correct route, it takes the restriction code of the new ticket (which is 8X), for which no restriction applies "except those scheduled to depart before 0500."

redux

I'm seeing slightly different fares of £92 vs £89.80, so if it can be altered the difference is only about a quid.

In the morning there aren't any direct trains, just a choice between via London or change at Leamington and Oxford and only a few minutes in it.

Assuming Sunday lunch, there's only half an hour difference anyway, and if he crosses London faster than hour-plus National Rail's website predicts, then perhaps less. In fact it looks like if he can get from Euston on to the train at Waterloo in 28 minutes, which might just be possible though a bit tight as the TfL site has a couple which take 9 minutes, he'd change at Basingstoke coincidentally on to the direct train from Manchester which left 8 minutes before his London one. Otherwise the next from Waterloo is 20 minutes later.

Livingthedream

redux wrote: »

I'm seeing slightly different fares of £92 vs £89.80, so if it can be altered the difference is only about a quid.

miamoo wrote: »

Wow thanks for the replies! His ticket is a STD OFF PEAK R, so is this a flexible ticket if so I am very happy ?

The £89.80 and £92 fares are Off peak/Anytime singles the £90.80 and £94.60 are the Off Peak return fares that the OP stated she holds and if they were singles then the excess would be the difference between the two fares ie: £92 - £89.80 = £2.20

redux wrote: »

In the morning there aren't any direct trains, just a choice between via London or change at Leamington and Oxford and only a few minutes in it.

Assuming Sunday lunch, there's only half an hour difference anyway, and if he crosses London faster than hour-plus National Rail's website predicts, then perhaps less. In fact it looks like if he can get from Euston on to the train at Waterloo in 28 minutes, which might just be possible though a bit tight as the TfL site has a couple which take 9 minutes, he'd change at Basingstoke coincidentally on to the direct train from Manchester which left 8 minutes before his London one. Otherwise the next from Waterloo is 20 minutes later.

Correct, but past 12:00 there's a direct hourly service from Manchester at xx:27 until 18:27 which according to the website is 35 min fast than going via London.

miamoo

Thanks again everyone, your advice was spot on. Even better the ticket inspector waived the charge for all the lads!