London to IOW via hovercraft

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Shelldean
Shelldean Posts: 2,392 Forumite
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in Public transport & cycling
I've got a return ticket from London to IOW, the journey shows train to Portsmouth and Southsea, then hovertravel bus to hoverport. Then hovercraft.

However today's service is currently suspended due to adverse weather.
As we're supposed to be going to tomorrow, when the predicted weather is no better, how will we cross the Solent?

Can we simply go to Portsmouth harbour and use the fast ferry, (which is running normally today) or do we now need to purchase tickets for the ferry?

If we can't use the hovercraft, and do have to purchase ferry tickets, can we claim back the extra we've had to to pay? Or would it be a case that we just claim back from the train company we purchased the original tickets from, the unused portion?
Probably not worth it, but I assume we could claim on our travel insurance,for our extra costs?


Am also concerned that if we do need to purchase ferry tickets, do we purchase singles at a cost of £31.20(for both) and hope we can use the return portion of the hovercraft ticket?
But if the weather doesn't improve we'll need to use the ferry to return as well, spend another £31.20
But a return is £58 so a slight saving, but a concern that we'll not the return portion!!!


Can anyone advise what my best course of action is??
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  • suki1964
    suki1964 Posts: 14,313 Forumite
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    Tickets are transferable to the Ferry
  • Shelldean
    Shelldean Posts: 2,392 Forumite
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    suki1964 wrote: »
    Tickets are transferable to the Ferry

    Not that I doubt you....but how do you know? I couldn't find anything today. And southern and national rail were equally useless. Just told me to contact Hovertravel. And I can only do that via email. Can't find a number for them, apart from service updates

    Service has now been resumed today. So fingers crossed for tomorrow!
  • suki1964
    suki1964 Posts: 14,313 Forumite
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    edited 13 March 2019 at 5:36PM
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    Because Ive often travelled that route and the hovercraft has been cancelled due to the weather

    Well not that whole route, but bought a ticket and gone over on the hovercraft and had to come back on the fast cat

    There is also live chat available on their website, have you tried that?
  • PDC
    PDC Posts: 805 Forumite
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    Found this on their twitter feed from somone asking a similar question;

    https://twitter.com/HovertravelLtd/status/1104721561871896576
    charley jessica
    @SW_Help Hey there! I have a ticket from London to Shanklin via @HovertravelLtd. I'm on the super delayed 1P23. Will my ticket be valid via @wightlinkferry due to the delays and Hover being suspended?


    Hovertravel Ltd
    Replying to @BeingCharley @SW_Help @wightlinkferry
    Hi Charley, I'm afraid Wightlink will not accept your ticket, however if you purchase another ticket, you can claim a refund for the unused Hovercraft portion of your ticket.
  • Shelldean
    Shelldean Posts: 2,392 Forumite
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    suki1964 wrote: »
    Because Ive often travelled that route and the hovercraft has been cancelled due to the weather

    Well not that whole route, but bought a ticket and gone over on the hovercraft and had to come back on the fast cat

    There is also live chat available on their website, have you tried that?

    For some bizarre reason, the live chat doesn't exist for me!! Maybe as I use a kindle fire for internet?

    But they have now replied via email saying the same as PDC found.

    I can claim a refund for the unused portion of my ticket from the rail company I brought my tickets from

    Apparently my issue is my ticket says "Ryde hoverport" And Wightlink won't accept tickets with this as a destination.

    Also asked what their best guess for travel tomorrow is?
    And her response was not looking good until about 17.00. Although that could obviously change!!

    Not sure what to do now?
  • suki1964
    suki1964 Posts: 14,313 Forumite
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    Sorry if I gave you false hope as the times Ive gone over on the hovercraft and the weather has changed Ive been able to use the tickets on the cat ( I will admit that has to be 12 years ago or more)

    Rock up and just see what the weather is doing. It has to be pretty rough for the hovercraft not to "sail" and the storm cleared here this morning so I reckon by tomorrow all could be fine.
  • Shelldean
    Shelldean Posts: 2,392 Forumite
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    suki1964 wrote: »
    Sorry if I gave you false hope as the times Ive gone over on the hovercraft and the weather has changed Ive been able to use the tickets on the cat ( I will admit that has to be 12 years ago or more)

    Rock up and just see what the weather is doing. It has to be pretty rough for the hovercraft not to "sail" and the storm cleared here this morning so I reckon by tomorrow all could be fine.

    Thanks. We are going to just 'rick' up. And see what happens. Today the crossings restarted at 15.15 from Ryde. And 15.30 from Southsea.

    Have got kinda back up plan, that will save a few £££ on the Wightlink fares.
    Will report back once home what actually happened and see if we can't use hover whether or not we can use the ferry
  • stripeyfox
    stripeyfox Posts: 474 Forumite
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    I didn't know they still even operated the hovercraft. I thought they'd been consigned to history along with the cross channel hovercrafts with their "luxury" service. Nice to hear it is still in service!
  • Shelldean
    Shelldean Posts: 2,392 Forumite
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    stripeyfox wrote: »
    I didn't know they still even operated the hovercraft. I thought they'd been consigned to history along with the cross channel hovercrafts with their "luxury" service. Nice to hear it is still in service!

    Apparently it's the only passenger hovertravel in the UK. After the channel crossings switched to catamarans.
    Well so says Wikipedia!!
  • forgotmyname
    forgotmyname Posts: 32,552 Forumite
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    Same here, I thought the hovercraft had stopped service a long time ago?

    Did they stop it and then reinstate it?
    Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...

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