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Birmingham Airport ticket website

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Alfonso

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I recently found a link here to a weird West Midlands Railway site that only sold bargain tickets to Birmingham airport. I can't find it anymore even with the help of Google. Was it my first ever Railforums based dream or does it actually exist?
 
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alistairlees

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I tried Berkhamsted to Birmingham international one way on Tuesday 7th January.

it offered me a £5.00 Adult Standard Class Single. This was described as ‘non exchangeable and non refundable’. It was also described as being valid only on LNWR / WMT, and being valid for any train at any time of the day. So it does not appear to be an Advance.

According to BR fares there is no £5.00 single from Berkhamsted to Birmingham international.

Am I missing something?
 

jthjth

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I can't find any BoJ restrictions either (at least ones that aren't readily advertised)...

https://www.traintoplanesaver.co.uk/about-us/faqs/

The following terms and conditions apply to our Standard Class tickets:

  • Standard Class Single tickets are valid on WMR and LNR services only
  • Standard Class Single ticket are valid at any time of the day, on the date booked
  • Train to Plane Saver tickets are single leg fares and are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. There are however certain circumstances where you may be eligible for refund. This is detailed in the National Rail Conditions of Travel
  • If you are planning a return trip - you must buy two single tickets, with the outward and return journeys taken on the dates shown on your tickets
  • Railcards can’t be used for booking Train to Plane Saver tickets online. If you wish to use a Railcard, please purchase your tickets at a station or an alternative website
  • Children under the age of 5 travel for free. Children aged 5 and over, pay the standard Adult fare
  • Your ticket is only valid for the direction that you booked online and you must not break your journey unless you need to change trains for the destination shown on your ticket
 

jthjth

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I thought all ticketing sites had to offer the same range of tickets. I can’t find these fares on, for example, the EMR site. Am I wrong?
 

yorkie

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I thought all ticketing sites had to offer the same range of tickets. I can’t find these fares on, for example, the EMR site. Am I wrong?
Some train companies flout this, and not much is done about it.

It's arguably an anticompetitive action by the company; it looks like an abuse of a dominant position to me.

If the fares are "basic" and "permanent" fares (as defined in the Ticketing Settlement Agreement) they must be made available to all retailers.

I welcome these fares, but all retailers should be allowed to sell them!

I'm sure someone will be looking into it now that it's been posted here though ;)
 

superjohn

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Assuming this is actually live and not some test site that has accidentally been made public, there seem to be some serious bargains to be had. I’m seeing £7 singles between Euston and Birmingham International or Liverpool and B’ham International every day next week. These are effectively anytime day singles. Even within the BoJ and operator restrictions there is going to be lots of split ticketing potential.
 

jthjth

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Assuming this is actually live and not some test site that has accidentally been made public, there seem to be some serious bargains to be had. I’m seeing £7 singles between Euston and Birmingham International or Liverpool and B’ham International every day next week. These are effectively anytime day singles. Even within the BoJ and operator restrictions there is going to be lots of split ticketing potential.
Well you could do Liverpool to Euston via Birmingham International for £14 (2 x £7) in just under 4 hours. No time restrictions or fiddling about with advances.
 

Ianno87

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Daft question: Is there any requirement at all to prove you're actually flying from/into Birmingham to use these fares?
 

bakerstreet

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https://www.traintoplanesaver.co.uk/about-us/faqs/

The following terms and conditions apply to our Standard Class tickets:

  • Railcards can’t be used for booking Train to Plane Saver tickets online. If you wish to use a Railcard, please purchase your tickets at a station or an alternative website

It would be useful to know of ‘alternative’ websites that sell these.
Could anyone print screen from NFM the ticket details? I can’t find them on BRFares. If you work in a ticket office how would you find these fares if asked?
 

Lemmy99uk

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It would be useful to know of ‘alternative’ websites that sell these.
Could anyone print screen from NFM the ticket details? I can’t find them on BRFares. If you work in a ticket office how would you find these fares if asked?

The ‘alternative websites’ quote is intended for railcard holders. There are no railcard discounts on train to plane tickets and you have to go elsewhere to book a normal discounted fare.
 

Haywain

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It would be useful to know of ‘alternative’ websites that sell these.
Could anyone print screen from NFM the ticket details? I can’t find them on BRFares. If you work in a ticket office how would you find these fares if asked?
If they are set up for online retailing you wouldn’t find them easily, and should be unable to sell them.
 

jthjth

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Are franchises allowed to sell tickets that do not qualify for rail card discounts? I can see them saying that these fares are so cheap that any further reductions would be unreasonable. However, the same argument could be made for the lowest tier of advance tickets. Then we could see the gradual introduction of a floor limit on the use of rail cards. At the other end of the scale, Caledonian Sleeper don’t allow two together discounts on their club rooms. Again, how is this allowable?
 

alistairlees

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At the other end of the scale, Caledonian Sleeper don’t allow two together discounts on their club rooms. Again, how is this allowable?
Because Club Twin rooms are already discounted, more than a Two Together railcard would discount them by.

For example:
Club Solo (1F4): £325.00
Club Twin (2F4): £390.00

If it were 2 * Club Solo discounted by 2TR railcard then it would be (2 * £325.00)*.66 = £429.00.

Caledonian Sleeper is charging two people who travel together - whether they have a 2TR railcard or not - £39.00 less at this price point. It's outrageous!
 

JamesT

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Are franchises allowed to sell tickets that do not qualify for rail card discounts? I can see them saying that these fares are so cheap that any further reductions would be unreasonable. However, the same argument could be made for the lowest tier of advance tickets. Then we could see the gradual introduction of a floor limit on the use of rail cards. At the other end of the scale, Caledonian Sleeper don’t allow two together discounts on their club rooms. Again, how is this allowable?

From https://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/help/terms-conditions/
Railcard discounts do not apply to Season tickets, train company promotional tickets, Eurostar tickets, and most London Underground and DLR tickets
(I haven’t looked, but I imagine that’s a generic term for all railcards)
At least some railcards have minimum fare restrictions at times to dissuade using them on peak services.
Railcards are not a blanket discount, they’re aimed at particular groups of people trying to travel at particular times. If the rail industry decides that some services don’t justify further discount then I’d say that’s entirely up to them.
 

alistairlees

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I still can't find these fares (the ones that are "TraintoPlaneSaver", to get back on topic) in the fares data though
 

Bletchleyite

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These appear to be dirt-cheap LNR Only Anytime Day Singles (but no break of journey so no jumping off early - nothing to say however that you can't combine them with something else if you are going further). The price does not seem to vary by date, only by route.

You also have to print the e-tickets (which are actual barcoded e-tickets but not in the standard format) or use them on an iPhone. There seems to be no show-on-phone option for Android unless you have a PKPASS app.

Just bought a few, though sadly it'll only save work money, not me :)

Be warned that the blanking out of return dates can get stuck on your previous search, in that case use Incognito Mode to make it go back.
 

Bletchleyite

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"Train to Plane Saver is a trading name of West Midlands Trains Ltd, whose registered office is at 2nd Floor St Andrew's House, 18-20 St Andrew Street, London, United Kingdom, EC4A 3AG. West Midlands Trains Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 09860466."

It's their own game :D
 

trentvalley

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The way I read it is that you don't have to get a direct train, you can connect somewhere as long as it's in the correct direction.

So for instance you could connect at Rugby on to the Euston trent Valley fast train rather than going via Northampton.

Just the way I read it.
 

Fawkes Cat

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The price does not seem to vary by date, only by route.
And reading up this thread, the prices have been revised since the site first came to be: back at post #11, £7 was quoted for Liverpool to Birmingham International - but the system now offers that journey for £15.
 

trentvalley

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And reading up this thread, the prices have been revised since the site first came to be: back at post #11, £7 was quoted for Liverpool to Birmingham International - but the system now offers that journey for £15.
Prices changed some point last week
 

Bletchleyite

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Looks like a new version of Megatrain.

Not really; the prices are not being yield managed. Bletchley-BHI, for example, appears to be £8 on all days at all times and the tickets are effectively Anytime Day Singles (though break of journey is not allowed).

I suspect this is being done under the "temporary fare" getout but I would be interested to know if that is true.
 
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