Money Moral Dilemma: Should we reimburse our guest's train tickets?

meknowalot-51

What you should do is ask your elderly friend to rebook the train tickets(if possible) to a more convenient time for you all.Let her know that your going to cover all the aditional costs that may incur in the rebooking.If it's not possible to transfer the tickets to another date then tell her your going to pay the full amount.

anotheruser

Kim_13 wrote: »

If off peak or anytime tickets were booked, she can claim a refund from the train company less £10 admin fee, so it would reduce the bill.

Alternatively, it's possible to change the date on an advance ticket if the original date hadn't passed yet. You could offer another date and pay the admin fee(s) for her instead.

Exactly this.

I work on the railways, in this field.

If it's an OFF-PEAK or ANYTIME ticket, the whole amount (minus £10) can be refunded up to a month from the date in the "valid until" section. Better to get it done sooner though.

If it's ADVANCE - no refunds but it can be changed to another date, if the date on the ticket hasn't passed. It'll cost whatever the difference is in ticket prices, plus £10.

You can only change one thing about a ticket.
So the person can change an ADVANCE to an OFF-PEAK, but the off-peak ticket must start on the same day as the original Advance (as you're changing the ticket type).
You can change the date, but the new ticket must also be an Advance ticket.

Most ticket offices will only charge one lot of £10, instead of £10 per ticket.

KxMx

I think by booking in advance a risk is taken, and it seems like the lady in question choose to take this risk.

Your illness is no-ones fault but in this scenario the lady did choose when to buy the ticket.

I think it'd be nice if you offered to reimburse but not necessary.

constantworrier

Yes I think so. If you cancelled at short notice it's not fair on her to lose the money.

helenmup

I think you should refund her

TBagpuss

I think it depends. If you can afford it, then offering to cover the cost of changing the tickets, or covering any cost if she can't get a refund, if a nice thing to do.

If you can't, I don't think it is an obligation. After all, she presumably made a choice about what kind of ticket to get and whether she bought non-refundable tickets.

If I thought that the visitor was on a very limited budget I would probably be more forceful about either reimbursing her or buying the new tickets once everyone was well and we were re-arranging the visit

dawyldthing

I'd book for her to come later in the year as she was prob looking forwards to it

jrmsn

By all means discuss refund options but they should not be out of pocket. If they decline your offer of paying them, be sure they're not just being polite! And do it soon.

People who think it's her fault for getting an early discounted ticket should remind themselves which website they're on. Of course she should have booked ahead to get a cheap ticket.

Phylliseva

Common courtesy dictates that you should offer to reimburse the cost of her ticket or else pay for her ticket when she is able to come.

Bellisima

If it was me, I would offer to reimburse them, whatever their age or income. You could of course take them out for a meal to compensate when they next visit, but a refund is better. The fact you’re asking if you should means you already know the answer.