Super Off Peak

Pound

I was looking to get a Super Offpeak ticket which I could see as an available option on the Virgin Trains mobile app for £20. As I wasn't 100% certain that I would get that train and was the last train SOP was eligible, I decided to buy my ticket at the station.

When I got there the cheapest option the self-serve machine had was "off peak" for £30. I had no choice but to buy that as there was no time to purchase on the app or ask for help. I did manage to ask someone before the train left who told me the app and the self-serve are "different retailers".

On other occasions where I've used the self-serve the prices have been the same for the app so confused why it didn't give me the option this time. Any ideas?

yorkie2

Pound wrote: »

I was looking to get a Super Offpeak ticket which I could see as an available option on the Virgin Trains mobile app for £20. As I wasn't 100% certain that I would get that train and was the last train SOP was eligible, I decided to buy my ticket at the station.

When I got there the cheapest option the self-serve machine had was "off peak" for £30. I had no choice but to buy that as there was no time to purchase on the app or ask for help. I did manage to ask someone before the train left who told me the app and the self-serve are "different retailers".

There isn't enough information to comment on that.

Pound wrote: »

On other occasions where I've used the self-serve the prices have been the same for the app so confused why it didn't give me the option this time. Any ideas?

Without knowing any of the details of the journey being made or the date/time of travel (today?) all I can say is the most likely explanation is that the Train Company has not set up the machine to sell the cheapest fare.

Assuming the ticket office was not open, if there was no notice on the machine informing you the cheapest fare may only be available on board, then it sounds like a consumer law breach has probably occurred. This should be reported to the ORR, as well as a refund requested from the train company (in my opinion, of the difference plus a reasonable admin fee of perhaps £10)

If you wish to progress the matter, you may wish to post on a dedicated Rail Disputes forum (googling for those 3 words will find it) but you'd need to provide much more information for the best possible advice to be given.

wealdroam

A possibility is that the machine is setup to provide the 'most popular' tickets on the first screen.

Was there perhaps a button labelled 'press here to see more tickets' or something like that?

Pound

yorkie2 wrote: »

There isn't enough information to comment on that.

MKC to STA at 17:19 on Friday

Assuming the ticket office was not open, if there was no notice on the machine informing you the cheapest fare may only be available on board

It was actually the ticket office I spoke to who told me they were "different retailers"

Pound

wealdroam wrote: »

A possibility is that the machine is setup to provide the 'most popular' tickets on the first screen.

Was there perhaps a button labelled 'press here to see more tickets' or something like that?

Pretty sure there wasn't. I remember entering the destination, "London Midland only" and not seeing any option for extra pages, etc.

katejo

Pound wrote: »

I was looking to get a Super Offpeak ticket which I could see as an available option on the Virgin Trains mobile app for £20. As I wasn't 100% certain that I would get that train and was the last train SOP was eligible, I decided to buy my ticket at the station.

When I got there the cheapest option the self-serve machine had was "off peak" for £30. I had no choice but to buy that as there was no time to purchase on the app or ask for help. I did manage to ask someone before the train left who told me the app and the self-serve are "different retailers".

On other occasions where I've used the self-serve the prices have been the same for the app so confused why it didn't give me the option this time. Any ideas?

Just 1 question: At what time of the day did you A. check the price on the app & B. check the price on the machine?

Recently i had the following happen. I was due to go on an off peak journey the following day. I looked up the price but decided to buy the ticket the following day. The next day I went to buy the ticket but the machine would only offer a peak time ticket. I had to queue up at the station and ask. I was told that the machine blocks purchase of off peak tickets during the peak travel period. It assumes that passengers will be stupid and buy the wrong type of ticket.

Pound

It was about 17:10

miller

Pound wrote: »

On other occasions where I've used the self-serve the prices have been the same for the app so confused why it didn't give me the option this time. Any ideas?

Maybe I've missed something. This is a snippet of the restriction text for that LM Super Off-Peak Return:

Not valid for travel on London
Midland services timed to
DEPART the origin station on
the ticket between 1630 and
1930 in either direction

I'd imagine it decided to hide it at 1630 and sold you the Off-Peak return for £30 instead.

miller

There is more to this. The relevant restriction code is LG.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/LG

Virgin Trans' website is quoting me the Super Off Peak price for the 1719 departure as well.

miller

If you put in Euston to Stafford on their website it offers the (seemingly correct) Off-Peak fare for the 1646 LM departure (which forms the 1719 from Milton Keynes).

I have tried other TOC websites and they also offer Super Off-Peak fares from Milton Keynes to Stafford on the 1719.

I think the online booking engines/apps have an implementation glitch; as much as I hate ticket vending machines hiding fares it may be correct on this occasion.

Pound

miller wrote: »

Maybe I've missed something. This is a snippet of the restriction text for that LM Super Off-Peak Return:

Not valid for travel on London
Midland services timed to
DEPART the origin station on
the ticket between 1630 and
1930 in either direction

I'd imagine it decided to hide it at 1630 and sold you the Off-Peak return for £30 instead.

The origin station is Euston where the departure is before 16:30. So that train is 'super off peak' for the rest of the journey no matter what time passengers board