To think that Adavnce Train Tickets have stupid conditions

[WetAugust]

I want to get from town A to town z.

I could go from station A1, that then stops at station A2 before continuing to town Z.

The cost of the ticket is the same from A1 to Z (via A2) as it is from A2 to Z.

I live an equal distamce from stations A1 and A2. I want to buy an Advance ticket as it will cost me a quarter of the price of buying one on the day.

But I cannot buy a ticket from A1 and get on at A2, even though the train stops at A2.

Bloody barking and unnecessarily restrictive.

Don't quite understand, do you mean you want to buy your ticket from A1 but travel from A2, or you want to buy a ticket from A1 and decide on the day which station to get on at?

I don't understand your OP, but YANBU.

I have tickets for all four of us to go away this weekend- and am ill. I phoned to see if the tickets could be transferred; YES, OF COURSE! They said.

Oh, but it is a £10 charge.

Per ticket.

Per journey.

Umm, so that's £80. Right.

I buy a ticket from A1 and decide to get on at A2 - therefore the train company doesn't carry me from A1 to A2 - but I'm not allowed to do that unless I buy a flexible ticket which is another 50 more on a ticket that was only 23 in the first place!

Barking.

I means I have to determine which station I will get on at 2 months before I travel and before I know the availability of family members to drop me at station A1 or A2.

Does either station have ticket barriers? Because if not, then the chances that anyone will know where you got on are slim. Either that or hope that any guards on duty aren't aware of this clause and will let you on whichever you choose.

Sorry if im being dim but why cant you buy a ticket from a2 to z

Because one family member works next to station A1 and the other works close to A2 and I need one of them to ferry me to the station and as it's 2 months hence it's difficult to know which will be at work that day.

Friend living in Geneva wanted to fly to South Africa, but had to go via London - booked the flights, Geneva to London and London to SA for all the family.
Changed jobs and moved to London, so only wanted to use the SA leg. Tried to get a refund and was told, not only no refund, but if you do not fly the Geneva leg, the whole thing is cancelled with no refund.
They had to fly to Geneva then back to london to use the tickets.

On a more useful note, how does anyone know you did not get on at A1?

Insane Carol!

And yet they want more people to use public transport! Is it a surprise people are reluctant when you have to jump through hoops like this?

I'm planning a journey for me & DC's in the summer, it is actually cheaper to fly than get the train, by quite a lot!

Buy from A1 and if you end up going from A2 through a barrier, ask the guard at the big gate to let you through because you missed the train leaving from A1.

If there's no barrier at A2, there is zero issue.

That would really annoy me. It wouldn't even have occurred to me to check as you did - I regularly do a train journey a bit like that, and I have never had any issue from ticket inspectors, and I've always been unfront with 'oh, I have a ticket from x but just got on at y, here you are' ... because I had no idea it wasn't normal practice.

I see. Ridiculous!

I think that yabu tbh.

The prices are pretty good IMO, hence the restrictions.

I would have thought it's pretty unusual to not k ow which station youare travelling from!

Not when you live between two stations, diddl.

I don't think we can tell whether 80 quid is a good price without knowing the distance, personally.

Hope you don't mind a slight hijack August but I've got a similar question myself. Does anyone know if you board a National Express coach further along the route than your ticket says (ie closer to your destination) will they let you on? And if so, would you have to pay a penalty? For some reason Stansted airport to Birmingham is 20% cheaper than the fare from the next fare stage along. If you understand what I mean!

DH had this on a stag do. It cost him £100 to go to Newcaste, but was only £50 to go to Edinburgh (same train). I told him to just buy a ticket to Edinburgh and blag it but he's too honest.

Jodie I'm pretty sure that with National Express you have to get on at the stop you brought the ticket from. Especially if theere is going to be a difference in cost. I'm not sure about a penalty. They might just not let you board the coach.

OP YANBU, if the cost is the same they should let you get on at either, but they won't. I had a long argument with the guy on the gate who wouldn't let me through to buy something from a shop next to the station when I had to change trains. I had an hour between trains and would have been getting on exactly the same train as if I didn't go. But no, he was insistent that I would have to wait, get on the train, get off at the end of the line and then get back on the same train I'd just got off with a new return ticket.

How far in advance do they know their shifts and how far ahead do you have to buy a ticket for it to be advance?

Thanks. I can't see a way to contact them to make sure.

But of course you can always buy a ticket on the day if the restrictions don't suit!

I had this, I bought an advance ticket from a London to my home town. Got off half way as DH came to pick me up and we wanted to visit family.

At the ticket barrier the chap was arsey about letting me through as my ticket said a town 45 mins further down the line. Apparently the cheap advance ticket isn't available to that station, and he wanted to charge me the full fare of £28.
Shamefully, I did the only thing I could. I burst into tears and he let me through.

Those acting classes I took from 11-17 do come in handy sometimes!

Which is why people just drive, pay for the petrol they use and let the clowns run the circus of a railway that we have.

I'm assuming that A1 and A2 are reasonably close seeing as (if I've understood correctly) going to A1 would mean going further away from your intended destination.

If so, just buy the advance ticket from A2 then, if circumstances change, you can buy an additional ticket from A1 to A2. Sorted.

I feel your frustration and as a daily commuter into London the train companies are the last people i defend, believe me. However, advance tickets are cheaper for a reason. If you want the flexibility for 'break of journey' as i believe it's called then pay a regular fare!

I'm a guard and in the situation you describe I would not have an issue 99% of the time although I would warn you that strictly speaking it wasn't permitted. If you were aggressive/defensive before I'd even spoken (as happened last week in the same situation) you would have failed the attitiude test and would be buying a new ticket or getting off. I base many decisions which are at my discretion on the attitude test!

One thing I would remind you is that advance tickets are quota controlled so if you buy a ticket from A1 but can equally easily get on at A2, and in fact do so, you may have prevented someone who could only travel from A1 from getting a cheap ticket.

As for being charged to change tickets, it's galling I know but the advance tickets are cheap because you're giving up flexibility. I frequently have passengers try to travel on advance tickets several hours early. It's no skin off my nose but I say no because I think it's very unfair on people who have paid 5 or 6 times as much for flexible tickets.