Bournemouth to Petersfield via Southampton

Afternoon,

I work in Bournemouth so this morning picked up an Anytime Return from Petersfield to Bournemouth. This evening my fiancee has offered to pick me up from Southampton - I'm due to change at Southampton Central however the 16.45 XC service also stops at Southampton Airport Parkway, which is much easier for my fiancee to drive to. I suppose "excessing" the return portion of my ticket is out of the question, but I'm not sure whether it may be covered in the routing guidelines - or whether it's just easier and simpler for me to pay the £4 one off fare from Central to Parkway?

Assuming your existing ticket is marked Via Havant it is possible to excess the return half to be Via Woking instead, which would then render it valid via Southampton Airport Parkway and enable you to stop short there, but this would cost more than the £4 single from Southampton Central to Southampton Airport Parkway.

If your existing ticket is Via Woking, you may alight at Southampton Airport Parkway and no excess is required.

island said:

Assuming your existing ticket is marked Via Havant it is possible to excess the return half to be Via Woking instead, which would then render it valid via Southampton Airport Parkway

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National Rail Enquiries and every ticketing site I've checked shows the through "via Havant" fare as valid to double back between Southampton Central and Airport Parkway stations. There is no need to pay anything extra.

The OP could even apply for a partial refund of their ticket (from the retailer who sold it them), which would be for the difference between the fare paid and that applicable for the journey(s) actually made, though subject to an administration fee of up to £10.

As some southern Southampton Central to Brighton services run via Southampton Airport Parkway this implies it is a valid route anyway.

gwrtimetable19 said:

National Rail Enquiries and every ticketing site I've checked shows the through "via Havant" fare as valid to double back between Southampton Central and Airport Parkway stations. There is no need to pay anything extra.

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I will politely disagree. This is a permitted route for the throughout journey as both stations are within the Southampton routeing point group, but as per page F8 of the Routeing Guide, doubling back in this way is only permitted for interchange. Finishing your journey early is not (in my view) permitted in these circumstances, though it is somewhat of a grey area.

For completeness, the only valid routeing points for the journey are Havant to Brockenhurst, which allow map LP only, the straightforward route across the West Coastway. Eastleigh to Fareham via Botley isn’t on the map.

gwrtimetable19 said:

The OP could even apply for a partial refund of their ticket (from the retailer who sold it them), which would be for the difference between the fare paid and that applicable for the journey(s) actually made, though subject to an administration fee of up to £10.

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I’ve not seen this option made available for a ticket where both outbound and return legs have been part used. However, ignoring for the sake of discussion that and the question of whether the route is permitted or not, the fare purchased was SDR PTR-BMH £31.90 and the cheapest tickets possibly allowing him to make the journey used would be SDS PTR-SOU at £18.40 plus CDR SOA-BMH £15.50, which is more than £31.90 so no refund would be due.

(SDS = anytime day single, SDR = anytime day return, CDR = off-peak day return, PTR = Petersfield, SOU = Southampton Central, SOA = Southampton Airport Parkway, BMH = Bournemouth)

MotorcycleAlan said:

As some southern Southampton Central to Brighton services run via Southampton Airport Parkway this implies it is a valid route anyway.

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Unfortunately that isn’t how the Routeing Guide works. Whilst you can always use your ticket on a through train from your origin to your destination, that only applies if a single train runs from one to the other.

island said:

I will politely disagree. This is a permitted route for the throughout journey as both stations are within the Southampton routeing point group, but as per page F8 of the Routeing Guide, doubling back in this way is only permitted for interchange. Finishing your journey early is not (in my view) permitted in these circumstances, though it is somewhat of a grey area.

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There's no need to even consider the Routeing Guide and any restrictions it may seek to impose. This page on National Rail Enquiries states that:

When you book your journey online, any ticket offered in connection with the timetable or itinerary produced by the journey planner will be accepted as a permitted route.

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Therefore the route via Parkway is a permitted route. We know that the ticket types in question (and the relevant restriction codes) permit break of journey, so it is valid to exit at Parkway.

You are correct that in this instance it appears there's no refund due despite only completing ¾/⅔ of the journey in effect. I thought it was just worth mentioning in case the OP encounters an analogous situation in future.

The OP appears to have neither booked his journey online nor obtained an itinerary via Southampton Airport Parkway, so the passage you quoted would not be engaged.

island said:

The OP appears to have neither booked his journey online nor obtained an itinerary via Southampton Airport Parkway, so the passage you quoted would not be engaged.

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This is a pedantic difference in practice. It would be a brave rail industry spokesperson who'd admit that a flexible ticket's validity depends on how you buy it.

This is all rather much ado about nothing, since the double back is a permitted route as per the Routeing Guide and so the OP can't be charged anything extra onboard the train. And Parkway is an open station that would be very difficult to barrier.

Even if Parkway were barriered, the OP could only be charged the difference between the fare paid and the fare appropriate to the journey undertaken (i.e. a change of route excess to Parkway if you will). In other words nothing.

There is no such thing as “a change of route excess to Parkway”; the change of route would be from VIA HAVANT to VIA WOKING and as I previously mentioned, the cheaper option would be a new ticket from Southampton Central (or St. Denys, if the train calls there) to Southampton Airport Parkway.

However I agree that it is most unlikely to be enforced in practice and that there is no refund due for not using part of the ticket; that much disposes of the matter for all practical purposes.

island said:

There is no such thing as “a change of route excess to Parkway”; the change of route would be from VIA HAVANT to VIA WOKING and as I previously mentioned, the cheaper option would be a new ticket from Southampton Central (or St. Denys, if the train calls there) to Southampton Airport Parkway.

However I agree that it is most unlikely to be enforced in practice and that there is no refund due for not using part of the ticket; that much disposes of the matter for all practical purposes.

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Apologies, change of destination excess - i.e. the charge laid down in Condition 16.4.