Advance tickets by Southern - unusually big railcard discount

[Edvid]

I'm thinking of travelling with Southern sometime this month so I've been checking out what tickets are on offer. Just by chance I happened to find a thread about Southern Value Advance tickets on uk.railway, which surprised me because I was not aware that Southern sold advance tickets - although they are limited to journeys between Brighton/Portsmouth and London Victoria.

There are 3 price tiers by the looks of things (£3, £5 and £10 per single). While The Trainline and most of the TOCs don't sell them online, NXEC and Raileasy do - in fact I've yet to find a Southern Value Advance ticket that they sell for more than £3 (excluding railcard discounts). As Railcards are permitted, you would expect the discounted price to be about £2, right? Right?

Wrong. It's £1.30, and I make that a discount of nearly 57%. Even according to National Rail Enquiries (who 'price' these tickets at £5 across the board) the discounted price is £2.20 (a 56% discount). Is it legitimate to travel with these unusually heavily discounted tickets?

 

[Max]

If you have a reservation for a specific train I doubt they could stop you. Other TOCs offer generous Railcard discounts too, for example NXEC offer over 40% if you book through their website, whilst TPE offer 50% for 16-25 railcard holders.

 

[Mojo]

There are a variety of exceptions for the standard 34% railcard discount, even for 'walk-up' purchase. For example railcard holders will be able to travel at child rate (50% discount) on the Severn Beach Line operated by First Great Western.

 

[Edvid]

According to Section F of the National Fares Manual (NFM99), there are no 16-25 Railcard discounts that exceed 34% (see page 4) - although as Max pointed out TPE offer 50% discounts to such railcard holders.

By the way Mojo, which railcard holders can get 50% off fares on the Severn Beach Line? I tried Avonmouth to Redland on the FGW website but the discounts for '16-25s' still appear to be about 34%.

And thanks to you both for your replies. My original questions downthread are still open if anyone else wishes to have their say.

 

[me123]

I know also that NXEC offer discounts of up to 40%, but that may include online discounts from purchasing from their site.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Having had a brief search at work and as far as I can see the offers you are getting are online offers, like you get with car insurance, etc, I suspect you would be unable to get them at the station.

Secondly my machine doesn't show the YP giving a discount, this may be an error on my machine though, as I rarely sell any fares down that way.

 

[Chris B]

There is also the point of sale - at which you enter into a legally-binding contract to allow you to travel.

I understand that any fare sold by a recognised & accepted online ticket shop is valid just as soon as the money leaves your account.

They advertise a fare when you make an enquiry, and you accept their offer when you buy the product. Some sites cover themselves by not charging you until the product is despatched / delivered, and include this in their T&Cs that the contract is only binding once cash has exchanged hands. This allows them to correct any mis-pricing on their website.

BUT, you are charged as soon as you hit the 'buy' button, so the price is as you see it, and you cannot be denied the travel as a contract is formed on purchase.

So, as soon as you collect your tickets, they must be accepted for travel.

 

[Mojo]

By the way Mojo, which railcard holders can get 50% off fares on the Severn Beach Line? I tried Avonmouth to Redland on the FGW website but the discounts for '16-25s' still appear to be about 34%.

The website is incorrect, this was raised by myself & the Community Rail Partnership to Andrew Griffiths at FGW and a correction was issued.

Read more about the reduced fares and its reasoning in the Line Development Plan; page 24, 5.1.2:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/Severn Beach Line Development Plan.pdf

 

[Max]

The website is incorrect, this was raised by myself & the Community Rail Partnership to Andrew Griffiths at FGW and a correction was issued.

Oh dear, maybe in 12 months thetrainline will get round to updating the system :roll:

 

[Chris B]

I think TrainLine gets updated monthly....

 

[Edvid]

Many thanks for all your advice - I've got 2 tickets for £1.30 each and I'll be travelling to Brighton and back tomorrow.

 

[Max]

I think TrainLine gets updated monthly....

I'm referring to the Doncaster-Peterborough weekend only CDR. On thetrainline it incorrectly charged railcard holders full price. It was reported many times but it took them about 12 months to alter it. I dread to think how many people were overcharged!

 

[Chris B]

That would be because the TOC setting the fare failed to correct it - the Trainline simply uploads these on a monthly (I think) basis....

 

[Edvid]

Yesterday's trip went off without a hitch, and it was a pretty sunny day to boot. Now I'm looking forward to travelling on 377s on the Midland Main Line even more.

I've had another look at the NXEC fares interface, and it appears that for some services on Saturday, enough Advance tickets have been sold such that the second tier of pricing (and even third tier (railcard-discounted price £4.35) for the 1806 VIC-BTN) is visibly in place.

The quota system seems to be working perfectly, it just appears that relatively few people know that Southern sell these tickets for journeys on their network. On a final note, I see that Southern are selling these tickets for whole journeys (including 34% railcard discounts) between London Victoria and:

Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth and Southsea
Fratton
Havant

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Looks like someone from Southern has been keeping tabs on this thread - it appears that the 56% railcard discount in place earlier has been reduced to 34%, which I bet was what they meant to offer in the first place! No matter - you can still get change from a fiver for a round trip.

 

[class 313]

377s are comfy, though the best places on a 377 to sit on a 377/2 is both ends in the ex-first class seats.

 

[yorkie]

That would be because the TOC setting the fare failed to correct it - the Trainline simply uploads these on a monthly (I think) basis....

It was correct everywhere else.

 

[Edvid]

I see that Southern are selling these tickets for whole journeys (including 34% railcard discounts) between London Victoria and:

Portsmouth Harbour
Portsmouth and Southsea
Fratton
Havant

Now I've checked all the West Coastway stations and it looks like more of them are covered by Advance tickets to/from London Victoria:
Warblington
Emsworth
Southbourne
Nutbourne
Bosham
Chichester
Cosham
Fareham
Swanwick
Southampton Central
Hove

The following stations are only included for journeys TO London (for some reason):
Fishbourne
Barnham
Ford
Littlehampton
Angmering
Goring-by-Sea
West Worthing
Worthing
Lancing
Shoreham-by-Sea
Portslade

 

[Mojo]

Seems odd that some of the 'cheap advance' tickets are only valid to London when the standard pricing structure of most walk on tickets to most stations means that walk up tickets from London are cheaper.