Virgin trains - booking online and ticket price increased

stevetuk

I was booking some train tickets through the virgintrains.co.uk website and got seat reservations at £135.00 for two people on the return part of the journey. I didn't like the seats, so I clicked 'back' and then got a message saying that the seats weren't available and the price had increased to £177.00 for that leg of the journey.

No matter what I've tried (different browser etc), I still only see the £177 increased price and not the original £135 price.

Is this allowed? Why has the price gone up just because I clicked 'back'? Does anyone know a workaround?

dzug1

Well a possible explanation is that they were the last two seats at that price. When you released them they got bought or at least put on hold by someone else.


A possible workaround is to wait a couple of hours and try again. If they haven't actually been sold they will have been released back on general sale.

Hasbeen

Perhaps the return tickets were advance purchase tickets which are quota driven and now sold out?
Have you tried splitting the journey?

yorkie2

stevetuk wrote: »

I was booking some train tickets through the virgintrains.co.uk website and got seat reservations at £135.00 for two people on the return part of the journey. I didn't like the seats, so I clicked 'back' and then got a message saying that the seats weren't available and the price had increased to £177.00 for that leg of the journey.

No matter what I've tried (different browser etc), I still only see the £177 increased price and not the original £135 price.

You got the last two tickets at £135, so you have to wait 2 hours for the reservations expire before you can get them again.

stevetuk wrote: »

Is this allowed? Why has the price gone up just because I clicked 'back'? Does anyone know a workaround?

I don't use the Virgin website because it uses thetrainline interface, but on Atos WebTIS sites (such as East Coast, Southen, etc) there is the option to change seat reservation preferences within an existing booking.