Split ticketing – official MSE discussion

Nonesuch_xx

Brfares website (damn autocorrect)

anetos05

So which websites are you actually supposed to use as I've read that sites like TrainPal charge booking/admin fees, are you supposed to do it yourself and look on the TOC websites/apps? What about if you want to split your journey with multiple lines under different companies?

alanrowell

Train Tickets | Train Journey Planner | ScotRail does split ticketing

Neil49

anetos05 said:

So which websites are you actually supposed to use as I've read that sites like TrainPal charge booking/admin fees, are you supposed to do it yourself and look on the TOC websites/apps? What about if you want to split your journey with multiple lines under different companies?

Take a look at TrainSplit. They don't charge. 

daveyjp

Neil49 said:

anetos05 said:

So which websites are you actually supposed to use as I've read that sites like TrainPal charge booking/admin fees, are you supposed to do it yourself and look on the TOC websites/apps? What about if you want to split your journey with multiple lines under different companies?

Take a look at TrainSplit. They don't charge. 

Not strictly true.  There is a fee based on the savings achieved.  Still worth it if you save hundreds, which I did recently.

"If a split ticketing saving is found a small percentage of the saving is charged so we can continue to maintain and further develop the site for a seamless user experience, but in all instances this will work out cheaper than the "through fare" ticket from your origin to your destination (without any splits). If there is no saving by splitting the fare, no fees are charged."

Steamrider

Just a small caution - we came back recently from Newcastle to Brum on a split ticket, and Trainline booked us onto a split ticket via Burton. Unfortunately, every other X-Country goes via Tamworth instead, as this one did. They never emailed to correct their mistake, and on the day their app went bananas and eventually decided we were travelling an hour later. Worth checking the actual train stops, rather than relying on them. I'd be interested to know if they are liable, had the nice lady ticket-collector not worried too much.

martindow

Steamrider said:

Just a small caution - we came back recently from Newcastle to Brum on a split ticket, and Trainline booked us onto a split ticket via Burton. Unfortunately, every other X-Country goes via Tamworth instead, as this one did. They never emailed to correct their mistake, and on the day their app went bananas and eventually decided we were travelling an hour later. Worth checking the actual train stops, rather than relying on them. I'd be interested to know if they are liable, had the nice lady ticket-collector not worried too much.

If you have an itinerary to go with your tickets , you are covered even if it contains an error.  So if you travelled on the train leaving Newcastle at the specified time and Trainline made the error, you are covered as ticket inspectors have to accept the specified journey. 

If you had a ticket not tying you to specific trains, it is up to you to ensure that it stops at Burton.  If that is the case and your train didn't stop there you were quite lucky that the inspector was amenable.

Trainline charge a booking fee which you can avoid paying by using Cross-Country or any other rail company's site where the tickets offered should be the same with no extra charges.

MrJeeves

I must say that the MSE page about cheap train tickets is rather bizarre: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets/

It shows Split My Fare under "Quick, clear but not always cheapest" saying it was cheapest on 3 of 15 journeys, and then Split Your Ticket and TrainSplit under "Worth checking for belt 'n' braces" and they were cheapest on between 2 and 4 of 15 journeys.

But all three of those use Raileasy's booking engine, and will always deliver the same results, and take the same "share of saving", just with different user interfaces for each. It makes absolutely no sense that one would be cheaper than the other.