Identifying savings on Trainsplit to book through LNER to gain cashback

[paul1609]

Moderator note: Split from

Now a convert to RailUKforums for my ticket purchases!

Until recently joining, really just for advice on delay repay, for which assistance was just great. (THANK YOU ALL!) I had only ever used Trainline for buying tickets However, half hour ago I did a comparison for a hypothetical return trip from Spalding to Lincoln, 2 adults, both senior...

www.railforums.co.uk

I find it better to use trainsplit to identify the savings print out the sugested tickets and then book them on LNER for 10% cashback on my Amex.
LNER are a bit slow with refunds and their delay repay mystifies me on split tickets sometimes they pay me back more than Ive paid in the first place but Ive never felt the need to contact them on an internet forum tbh.

 

[yorkie]

I find it better to use trainsplit to identify the savings print out the sugested tickets and then book them on LNER for 10% cashback on my Amex.
LNER are a bit slow with refunds and their delay repay mystifies me on split tickets sometimes they pay me back more than Ive paid in the first place but Ive never felt the need to contact them on an internet forum tbh.

In my opinion this is morally dubious, if you have no intention of making a purchase, and are knowingly incurring costs for companies who do the work for you, for your own financial benefit.

If many people did this, measures would have to be implemented to avoid financial losses, such as requiring a login and disallowing accounts that only leach information and don't make a purchase.

It would be fairer if you did your own research, instead of gaining an unfair financial advantage by benefiting from the work of others, at their expense.

 

[railfan99]

In my opinion this is morally dubious, if you have no intention of making a purchase, and are knowingly incurring costs for companies who do the work for you, for your own financial benefit.

If many people did this, measures would have to be implemented to avoid financial losses, such as requiring a login and disallowing accounts that only leach information and don't make a purchase.

It would be fairer if you did your own research, instead of gaining an unfair financial advantage by benefiting from the work of others, at their expense.

I have met paul1609. For the benefit of a foreign visitor, he was exceedingly generous with his time.

We use Internet sites in discrete ways, searching direct airline, hotel and third party aggregators' sites to find the best arrangements for travellers, whether that be on quality. price or some other factor. Are you suggesting none of us ought switch from site to site?

Some visitors to trainsplit may have first looked at LNER, GWR, Trainline and Avanti WC sites but then purchase through trainsplit, so hopefully the back and forth will even out.

 

[Deafdoggie]

I have met paul1609. For the benefit of a foreign visitor, he was exceedingly generous with his time.

We use Internet sites in discrete ways, searching direct airline, hotel and third party aggregators' sites to find the best arrangements for travellers, whether that be on quality. price or some other factor. Are you suggesting none of us ought switch from site to site?

Some visitors to trainsplit may have first looked at LNER, GWR Trainline and Avanti WC sites but then purchase through trainsplit, so hopefully the back and forth will even out.

Exactly. If everyone had to buy from the first site they looked at then I fear trainsplit would lose out. Forcing accounts and log-ins would further deter people other than the die-hards. But I suspect that's why discussion is being discouraged. As this thread is about trainsplit it isn't off-topic either!
The number of people who look elsewhere first then come to trainsplit and buy, far outweighs those who come to trainsplit then go elsewhere to buy. But if you can't morally use it without completing the purchase it seems a tad pointless to me. Sometimes I just want an idea of how long a journey might be, or a guide price, is that morally wrong?

 

[father_jack]

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It would be fairer if you did your own research, instead of gaining an unfair financial advantage by benefiting from the work of others, at their expense.

I actually agree with this bit- too many people lament the closure of shops but the same people probably used to go and look at say, a camera or another expensive piece of equipment and waste the time of an expert who's got no sale and they went away and bought online......

 

[Haywain]

I actually agree with this bit- too many people lament the closure of shops but the same people probably used to go and look at say, a camera or another expensive piece of equipment and waste the time of an expert who's got no sale and they went away and bought online......

I do this from time to time when buying from Currys PCWorld (or whatever they call themselves now), because I can get all the information I want at the store but they only provide free delivery when ordering online.

 

[father_jack]

I do this from time to time when buying from Currys PCWorld (or whatever they call themselves now), because I can get all the information I want at the store but they only provide free delivery when ordering online.

It was more the small independent versus Amazon analogy that I was aiming at.

 

[yorkie]

I have met paul1609. For the benefit of a foreign visitor, he was exceedingly generous with his time.

We use Internet sites in discrete ways, searching direct airline, hotel and third party aggregators' sites to find the best arrangements for travellers, whether that be on quality. price or some other factor. Are you suggesting none of us ought switch from site to site?

No; I didn't say that.

What you are saying in this post is very different to using a site with no intention of purchasing from it, to obtain information to gain a financial advantage to book with another site.

Some visitors to trainsplit may have first looked at LNER, GWR, Trainline and Avanti WC sites but then purchase through trainsplit, so hopefully the back and forth will even out.

And is a completely different concept to what was posted above

I do this from time to time when buying from Currys PCWorld (or whatever they call themselves now), because I can get all the information I want at the store but they only provide free delivery when ordering online.

If buying from the retailer who provides the information, I see nothing wrong with that.

Again it's a different concept to using a company to gain information (that the original company has incurred costs to provide it) in order to purchase through another company, for financial gain.

 

[Halwynd]

If everyone does this Trainsplit goes bust - who'll help identify any savings then?

I have a Trainsplit/RailUK Forums account but haven't used it yet, purely because my rail journeys these days are few and far between, and for very short distances costing just a few pounds, but when the railway is in a better place than it is today I will probably undertake longer journeys again and will use Trainsplit.

Whilst, hopefully, I might never need any advice on a problem, the fact that the support is there if needed - particularly given how the railway treats its passengers today - would be worth a lot more to me than cashback.

Each to their own though.

 

[TUC]

It's hard to see how any system requiring a purchase to be made would operate. There are plenty of times, for example, when one might check out the rail fare for a journey and decide that, even after allowing for ticket splits, it's still cheaper to drive.

 

[Jim the Jim]

Exactly. If everyone had to buy from the first site they looked at then I fear trainsplit would lose out. Forcing accounts and log-ins would further deter people other than the die-hards. But I suspect that's why discussion is being discouraged. As this thread is about trainsplit it isn't off-topic either!
The number of people who look elsewhere first then come to trainsplit and buy, far outweighs those who come to trainsplit then go elsewhere to buy. But if you can't morally use it without completing the purchase it seems a tad pointless to me. Sometimes I just want an idea of how long a journey might be, or a guide price, is that morally wrong?

Indeed - Trainsplit is generally the site I use after I have decided the tickets offered on other sites are more expensive than I'm happy with.

 

[yorkie]

Exactly. If everyone had to buy from the first site they looked at..

Is anyone suggesting that? I think it's just been put up as a strawman argument, not a serious suggestion!

It's hard to see how any system requiring a purchase to be made would operate. There are plenty of times, for example, when one might check out the rail fare for a journey and decide that, even after allowing for ticket splits, it's still cheaper to drive.

Clearly, a system would not operate in such a way; no-one has seriously suggested that.

In a hypothetical world where a lot of people did as described in the opening post, then a potential way forward might be to enable accounts to get a grace period of a certain number of searches without making a purchase, and for a purchase to be made every X number of searches (X could potentially be a fairly large number); this would absolutely not prevent misuse but would at least prevent people from exclusively using the site for scraping purposes.

I personally don't think it would come to that, as I would expect most people wouldn't want the hassle that involves, just to gain a relatively small financial advantage for things like cashback.

If anyone is keen to avoid the share of savings fee, then that can still be done by supporting the site, by adding each individual ticket to the basket before paying for the transaction.

It is difficult for third party retailers to compete with the likes of LNER, who engage in practices that are potentially anticompetetive in nature, and also have access to taxpayers money to cross-subsidise their retail operations.