St Albans City to Bath Spa

[SAPhil]

My wife is intending to make this journey on 25th November returning on the 27th. I have looked up the fare options and the cheapest way appears to be separate Advance Singles for each journey. Does the Advance bit only apply to the First Great Western bit of the journey or is she committed to the train times selected for the FCC part of the journey as well?

 

[Paul Kelly]

I believe we are discussing advance singles from St Albans to Bath Spa (and vice versa) routed "+AP SLOUGH". As far as I'm aware FCC services don't have reservations, so the only mandatory reservation will be for the FGW leg of the journey. Therefore if you want to take an earlier train to London to be sure of the connection there is no problem with that.

Bear in mind though that no break of journey is allowed on advance tickets, so you wouldn't be allowed to take a train many hours earlier and spend the day in London before heading on to Bath; you're "supposed" to go straight from St Pancras to Paddington. It's a rather difficult-to-enforce restriction though.

 

[SAPhil]

I believe we are discussing advance singles from St Albans to Bath Spa (and vice versa) routed "+AP SLOUGH". As far as I'm aware FCC services don't have reservations, so the only mandatory reservation will be for the FGW leg of the journey. Therefore if you want to take an earlier train to London to be sure of the connection there is no problem with that.

Bear in mind though that no break of journey is allowed on advance tickets, so you wouldn't be allowed to take a train many hours earlier and spend the day in London before heading on to Bath; you're "supposed" to go straight from St Pancras to Paddington. It's a rather difficult-to-enforce restriction though.

That's what I was hoping. Mind you, she's more likely to be on a slightly later train from St Albans given that she usually runs late - lucky that the cross London times always err on the generous side!

 

[MikeWh]

That's what I was hoping. Mind you, she's more likely to be on a slightly later train from St Albans given that she usually runs late - lucky that the cross London times always err on the generous side!

She must allow the correct amount of time for cross London transfers or she may not be allowed to travel on a later train. She can use earlier trains to connect but if a delay occurs to one which is not allowing enough time she will be at the mercy of the goodwill of the train manager.

 

[LexyBoy]

That's what I was hoping. Mind you, she's more likely to be on a slightly later train from St Albans given that she usually runs late - lucky that the cross London times always err on the generous side!

Aim for an earlier train then, so that if she misses that she'll be on the suggested train.

As MikeWh says, it's risky leaving less than the (admittedly generous) transfer time.

Last time I was at St Albans, a train was leaving southbound as I arrived but I didn't worry, thinking that trains are frequent enough. After over an hours's wait, with the previous four trains all cancelled, I was regretting not checking live departures before heading out... If that had been my 'booked' train leaving the station, it would have been a very expensive mistake...

 

[yorkie]

I agree with the above posts, but if you are wanting some further reading on the subject, which does crop up quite often, feel free to have a read of these topics (I've added this one to the top of the list - I'll be pasting it in another thread in a few days probably! )

• St Albans City to Bath Spa
• VWC and connections' advance ticket
• Advance Tickets.unreserved seats
• Unreserved portion on an AP ticket...
• St Albans - Bridgend advanced ticket
• Breaking journey on unreserved last leg of AP ticket
• Advance fare train limitations
• "Advance ticket" question
• AP EMT + Connections: Do time restrictions apply to SWT portion too?
• EMT +cnnectns Leeds - Sheffield
• Tickets 'with Connections'
• Hayle to Paddington
• Advance Tickets: Question on Restrictions.
  (Note that each scenario above may be different to yours; yours is actually very straightforward as there are no reservations on any St Albans to London trains and you are not trying to have a meal in London or anything like that!)

Also, Question 25 of the "Advance Fares FAQs" in "The Manual" makes it clear that in the case where you have connecting trains, that are non-reserveable, you can take an earlier connecting train. I did see somewhere someone asked whether it was okay to take a later connecting train, and the 'official' answer was that it means the minimum connection time is not being adhered to, so it done at your own risk.