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Advice Avanti Advance Ticket

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matthewluck

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Hi,

I booked a First Class Advance ticket from Manchester Piccadilly - London Euston in mid-January for 24th March, with the expectation that I would be able to change it, paying a £10 admin fee, if necessary.

It has become necessary to travel on a different date. I would like to travel on 14th April instead.

Avanti have advised me on Twitter that tickets will not be released for this date until 25th March (after my ticket has expired).

These are strange times but it does seem very unreasonable not to allow the ticket to be changed to another ticket type, let alone the delay in releasing advance tickets.

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions?
 
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CyrusWuff

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I would imagine the delay in releasing Advance tickets is because Avanti don't yet know what level of service they'll be running given the "stay at home" rule isn't due to be lifted until 29th March as part of "Step 1b" out of lockdown, with Step 2 (reopening of non-essential retail) no earlier than 12th April.

Unfortunately, your only option (assuming the train you booked is still showing as scheduled to run) would seem to be to change the ticket to as late a date as possible (which currently appears to be 26th March) and then change it again when tickets are released. This will, however, cost you £10 (plus any difference in fares) each time.

The only exception to this would have been if you'd purchased the ticket before 5th January, when you could have changed the ticket with no admin fee or requested a refund (in the form of an eVoucher or Rail Travel Vouchers).
 

jfollows

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Hi,

I booked a First Class Advance ticket from Manchester Piccadilly - London Euston in mid-January for 24th March, with the expectation that I would be able to change it, paying a £10 admin fee, if necessary.

It has become necessary to travel on a different date. I would like to travel on 14th April instead.

Avanti have advised me on Twitter that tickets will not be released for this date until 25th April (after my ticket has expired).

These are strange times but it does seem very unreasonable not to allow the ticket to be changed to another ticket type, let alone the delay in releasing advance tickets.

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions?
Surely something is wrong with your dates in the original post, if you're asking for advice you might want to correct them if so? For example, how can a ticket not be released until 25th. April for travel on 14th. April?
 

Mcr Warrior

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Surely something is wrong with your dates in the original post, if you're asking for advice you might want to correct them if so? For example, how can a ticket not be released until 25th. April for travel on 14th. April?
OP might possibly have intended to say that tickets for future travel on 14th April aren't being released until 25th March, the day after his original ticket(s) expires (24th March).
 

matthewluck

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OP might possibly have intended to say that tickets for future travel on 14th April aren't being released until 25th March, the day after his original ticket(s) expires (24th March).
Yes, I did mean March. Have edited now :)

Have just called Avanti and they suggested that I call them a few days before the original booked journey to see what is available.
 
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alistairlees

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This situation has frequently occurred since at least summer last year, when timetables were not confirmed far in advance (sometimes only a week in advance) and Advance tickets had not been released.

I don't really see why you should lose out because of this. AWC should just allow you to change it after your original departure - what else are they going to do? Just ask them.
 

Trackman

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This situation has frequently occurred since at least summer last year, when timetables were not confirmed far in advance (sometimes only a week in advance) and Advance tickets had not been released.

I don't really see why you should lose out because of this. AWC should just allow you to change it after your original departure - what else are they going to do? Just ask them.
It happened to me.
I ended up emailing reservations.
They put on a note on my booking saying the e-ticket can be used for a future booking. I imagine they cancelled the original e-ticket. Only thing is you have to ring them up to make the booking.
 

liam456

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Could I just hijack this related thread and ask why Avanti seem to release Scotland-London advance fares much later than LNER? I'd like to travel from Glasgow to London right at the end of March and plenty of low advance fares are available from Edinburgh to London but advance allocations aren't available yet for Avanti from Glasgow.

Is there something about the WCML timetable that means Avanti can't plan as far in advance as LNER?
 

Watershed

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Could I just hijack this related thread and ask why Avanti seem to release Scotland-London advance fares much later than LNER? I'd like to travel from Glasgow to London right at the end of March and plenty of low advance fares are available from Edinburgh to London but advance allocations aren't available yet for Avanti from Glasgow.

Is there something about the WCML timetable that means Avanti can't plan as far in advance as LNER?
LNER have, with the exception of a handful of non-relevant services, kept their timetable the same throughout this lockdown. Therefore there is little uncertainty as to what level of service they will be operating in a few months' time.

Avanti have reduced their timetable significantly; they won't want to release Advance tickets until they can be fairly confident that the services in question will be part of their timetable.

Once the DfT gives Avanti the all-clear to increase their timetable again, it will take some time to filter through all the processes required to make that happen. Releasing Advances therefore doesn't happen overnight.

There are several other possible reasons as well.
 

liam456

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LNER have, with the exception of a handful of non-relevant services, kept their timetable the same throughout this lockdown. Therefore there is little uncertainty as to what level of service they will be operating in a few months' time.

Avanti have reduced their timetable significantly; they won't want to release Advance tickets until they can be fairly confident that the services in question will be part of their timetable.

Once the DfT gives Avanti the all-clear to increase their timetable again, it will take some time to filter through all the processes required to make that happen. Releasing Advances therefore doesn't happen overnight.

There are several other possible reasons as well.

Thanks, watershed. I wonder then, why east coast travel was worthy of having frequencies remain high while west coast travel less so.
 

Watershed

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Thanks, watershed. I wonder then, why east coast travel was worthy of having frequencies remain high while west coast travel less so.
To be fair, I don't think there's currently a drop in the frequency on the Scottish part of the route compared to pre-Covid (ISTR there was earlier on in the pandemic).

However there is certainly an argument to say that if 1tph to Birmingham and Manchester is all that's warranted, how is 2tph to Leeds justified? And vice versa.
 

Starmill

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The alternative option is to ask Avanti if they could cancel your ticket and send you a voucher for its value less any applicable amin fees. This will enable you to rebook whatever you like, as it becomes available at short notice.
 

matthewluck

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The alternative option is to ask Avanti if they could cancel your ticket and send you a voucher for its value less any applicable amin fees. This will enable you to rebook whatever you like, as it becomes available at short notice.
I phoned and asked to do exactly that a couple of weeks ago and they declined. Perhaps they may be more open to doing so as no new advance tickets have been released.

On my latest call today, it was suggested that I contact them each Friday to see if advance tickets have been released. Was also told they *might* be able to do something if there are no advance tickets available the Friday before my booked tickets expire. So I guess I will just have to wait and see!
 
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