First class upgrade gotcha

TadleyBaggie

I was travelling from Basingstoke to Waterloo and so booked my ticket as usual via South Western Railways website (no fee), selected a off peak standard return with zone 1-6 travelcard, which with my railcard discount was around £19. As I went through the booking process I got a pop-up which said I could get a upgrade to first class for £7. This sounded a good idea as the later trains out of London can get crowded and rowdy. So I accepted the upgrade.

However when I got to the station and printed my ticket I realised that there was no travelcard included. And so I had to use contactless to get around the underground.

I seems a little deceptive to offer an upgrade (at a price) but not point out the travelcard would be dropped.

Nasqueron

To be honest you've saved money by them doing that.

Zone 1-6 daily travel is capped at £12.50 for contactless/oyster, the any time card 1-6 zone travel card is £18.10 (£12.70 off peak)

Voyager2002

I am puzzled: a ticket to Waterloo would not include a Travelcard (for that you would need a ticket to London Zone x).


If your ticket is for a train that terminates at Waterloo then no underground travel would be involved. If you arrive at another London terminal then the original ticket would be valid on the underground from your arrival point to Waterloo.

TadleyBaggie

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I am puzzled: a ticket to Waterloo would not include a Travelcard (for that you would need a ticket to London Zone x).

Usually when I go to London via Waterloo I specify a standard return with London Travelcard and get issued a single ticket that works both on the station gates and the underground gates. If no Travelcard is specified then the operator issues two tickets, one for each leg of the journey.

I used to use the second method and then use an Oyster card to get around London but then found (once I had a Senior Railcard) that getting combined with the train ticket was cheaper. I'm travelling tomorrow and a simple off-peak ticket is £16.45 but a off-peak with Travelcard is £19.65, i.e. £3.20 for the Travelcard. I don't think there is a cheaper way to get unlimited underground travel.

TadleyBaggie

I just checked the same journey specifying First Class rail and the cheapest off-peak return was £27.05, but adding a Travelcard puts the price up to £44.60, i.e. over £17 seemingly for just the Travelcard, which seems insane.

martindow

I've just looked and first class off peak day returns are offered at £27.05, £41.00 and £41.50 to Waterloo or £44.60 or £67.60 with a travel card. It's all baffling.



It may be worth asking at the ticket office - there is no price advantage in buying these tickets in advance

Kite2010

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I am puzzled: a ticket to Waterloo would not include a Travelcard (for that you would need a ticket to London Zone x).


If your ticket is for a train that terminates at Waterloo then no underground travel would be involved. If you arrive at another London terminal then the original ticket would be valid on the underground from your arrival point to Waterloo.

The ticket is issued as an outer boundary travelcard, effectively a standard zones 1-6 travelcard with one journey from Basingstoke to the boundary of zone 6 (which for most passengers will be Surbiton if on a "via Woking" routing) and one journey from the boundary of zone 6 back to Basingstoke


----



The main issue when you select the First Class option as it gives you a First Class travelcard which carries a large premium over the standard class version. Easiest way is probably to buy the standard class travelcard, travel to London in standard class and if the return service is busy with rowdy passengers, sit in first class and pay the £10 weekend first upgrade if the guard manages to come round (although a trick I use is to sit in the unit furthest from the barriers at Waterloo as they tend to be quieter, even though at Basingstoke it will be a walk back along the platform).

jbuchanangb

I hope your trip went OK. I assume that you have had your Senior Rail Card added to your Oyster card so you get one-third off rail/underground travel in the Oyster area. If not, that would be a good thing to do next time you visit London.