train ticket refunds

[rabbitwoman]

of course, there are so many worries around at the moment this may not seem very important - but so many people are rallying round and trying to help in these exceptional circumstances, i am AMAZED that you cannot get a refund on train tickets at the moment!

of course, if you are going on holiday and able to plan in advance the cheapest way to travel by train is to buy three months before travel and book advance single tickets - these are 'non-refundable' though. online and on twitter i have seen literally dozens of people who have spent hundreds of pounds on these advanced single non-refundable tickets - and the train line is just refusing to refund them.

my tickets for for my holiday down to cornwall at easter. i spent £100. they will not refund - and i cannot even rebook. these trains probably won't even be running by then. for me it is not such a huge deal, but there was someone on twitter who had spent over £700 on train tickets, to take a family away, and they are digging down and saying the terms and conditions state they are non refundable.

it's bloody scandalous!!

It's disgraceful. All the information says not to travel unless it's essential, oh but we won't refund you. Ridiculous. And the company my DH booked with aren't even waiving the admin fee for amending the booking.

So we're hoping his trains get cancelled 👍

@NumberMonkey can I ask how you got GWR to refund you for an advance single - I cancelled as I'm self isolating and they are refusing to refund without a Drs note - as if my GP has nothing better to do than do me a sick note for a train company.......

I think GWR have rescinded their advance refunds now - at least according to the person I was having the online chat with at Trainline earlier.
I’m waiting til we go into full lockdown. Which I think is inevitable. Then I don’t think they’ll have any choice.

I just got a reply email from them - no go, they won't refund, I should re-book for a letter date.

Completely immoral. Its bad enough you have to go to such lengths to get a decent price in the first place....

£100 isn't too much for me at the moment - but my husband's job is as much at risk as any, and he almost certainly won't get sick pay if he has to have time off, so we can't be sure we can afford to take the trip at a later date anyway.

What a mean spirited bunch. Won't use thrm again.....

Avanti are letting you move advance tickets without the admin fee but they haven't released any apart beyond early June...

@Iusedtobeapartygirl - thank you very much, I'll try that!

Avanti have published their revised timetable, my train no longer exists, wonder if I can use delay repay to get a full refund...

Answer not on FAQ and I don't use Twitter...

@UnaCorda

Good luck!

Transport for Wales are running an emergency timetable starting from Monday. Because the booked trains no longer exist, there will be nothing stopping you claiming a refund. The same should apply wherever your original train has been cancelled.

@Iusedtobeapartygirl - no joy.

@UnaCorda

Oh no! I wonder if they've changed their policy since I was refunded!?

Or, and I don't know if this would have made a difference, but I'm a relatively frequent first class passenger. I wonder if paying more for first class meant I had better treatment?