Reading to Gatwick Return - What Ticket to Buy?

martindow

I'm catching a plane from Gatwick and the return is due late in the evening just in time to get the last FGW train to Reading if the flight is on time. If it is late I can still get back as there are trains through the night via Victoria/ Paddington.

An off peak return RDG-GAT is £18.75 with a Senior Railcard but that is not valid via London. If the plane is late and I need to take that route a new off peak single via London is £20.55.

Is it possible to pay a supplement to the return ticket to upgrade it to via London or would I need to buy a new ticket?

dzug1

It should be possible to upgrade the ticket - on payment of half the difference between the two return fares



Bear in mind if you go via London transport between Victoria and Paddington won't be included. Well it will be - but there won't be any other than the night bus that you will need - somehow - to buy a ticket for. No cash fares remember

redux

I'd be fairly tempted to buy the more expensive return from the start anyway, especially if the flight is easyJet.

martindow

Thanks dzug. I can't make FGW's site give a return fare so the via London fare would be 20.55 x2 = 41.10. There is a difference of 22.55 between the two return fares, so I would have to pay an additional 11.27 - is that correct. Presumably at that time I would have to sort this out with the conductor on the Gatwick Express as booking offices would have closed at that time.

Crossing London is not ideal but there would be no point waiting at Gatwick as the first few direct trains in the morning from 05.31onwards would not accept an off peak ticket. I've got an Oyster card and there are two buses per hour. I've a feeling that they might accept a national bus pass as I don't think it has the usual limitations in London.

martindow

redux wrote: »

I'd be fairly tempted to buy the more expensive return from the start anyway, especially if the flight is easyJet.

It is easyjet and I'm well aware that delays are likely to build up during the day. If I can pay extra as dzug has explained that is going to be the best bet I think.

I'm a bit mystified that I can't find a return fare via London and FGW's site suggests two singles.

wealdroam

martindow wrote: »

I'm a bit mystified that I can't find a return fare via London and FGW's site suggests two singles.

There is an Off Peak Return from Reading to Gatwick at £25.00 (with railcard) that is valid either via London or via Guildford, and an Anytime Return at £54.10.

No idea why FGW don't show them. I used Southern.

yorkie2

Reading - Gatwick Route: via Gomshall is £18.75 for the Off Peak Return (SVR)

Reading - Gatwick Route: via [FONT=DejaVu Sans,Arial Unicode MS]✠[/FONT]ANY PERMITTED route is £25.00 for the SVR

The appropriate excess is, therefore, £3.15 (or £3.10 depending on whether this is supposed to be rounded up or down).

See Excess: change of route

redux wrote: »

I'd be fairly tempted to buy the more expensive return from the start anyway, especially if the flight is easyJet.

Why? That's a waste of three quid if he doesn't make the train, or six quid if he does!

martindow

Thanks everyone. I've now found the £25 fare on other sites but still can't get FGW's site to show it.

I think I may well go for the any permitted ticket as I don't fancy arguing the toss with a Gatwick Express conductor at 1am for the sake of a few Pounds.

yorkie2

martindow wrote: »

I think I may well go for the any permitted ticket

If you wish to go out via Gomshall and return via London, the ticket office should sell the excess to you at the time of purchasing.

Extract from the routeing guide:

...customers may wish to travel out by one route and return by another. .... the customer should be issued with a ticket for the more direct route and an excess fare issued to cover the difference in fare ... This option should be made available to customers who wish to pre-book a dual routed ticket prior to travel.

As detailed before, the more direct fare is £18.75 and the excess is £3.15.

If you wish to over-pay, that's your prerogative, though it says a lot about how passenger unfriendly the railway industry is considered to be (rightly or wrongly) when people feel the need to over-pay to avoid arguments.

martindow wrote: »

as I don't fancy arguing the toss with a Gatwick Express conductor at 1am for the sake of a few Pounds.

Southern do not employ conductors on the Gatwick Express route. Southern took over this route in 2008 (it was previously a separate company), and in the first few years they did have on-board ticket examiners, but this is no longer the case. Back when they had on-board ticket examiners, they would have been happy to issue the excess fare for you, as per the excess fare rules.