Birmingham Or Sandwell & Dudley to Edinburgh (22/4 to 26/4)

[wandacat]

I am looking at booking tickets from either Birmingham or Sandwell & Dudley to Edinburgh and return going out on 22/4 and returning on 26/4 for 2 Adults, 1 child and 1 other (Who turns 16 on 17/3) . Ideally my wife would like to travel 1st class as it is a treat for a 50th birthday buth the 1st class options is causing me a few headaches. I have the following questions

1) Ticket information for these dates can be booked but looks patchy. (Have £220.64 quoted with a Friends and Family railcard in Standard Class on specified trains and £1118.10 in 1st Class - Ouch!) Have advanced tickets been released yet for these dates? If not when are they likely to be, in particular 1st Class advances (see below)

2) Are tickets being held back for possible engineering works?

3) I have come across availability for the Virgin West Coast Family ticket, but there is no availability after 8/4 -(Priced at £150 standard and £300 First) - Covers 2 Adults Max and upto 4 children (5 to 15) - Specified train out. Any train back. Is there a reason for this availability stopping after 8/4 and are future dates likely to be released soon?

4) If I purchase a Friends & Family railcard prior to the 17/3 (My daughters 16th birthday) she is entitled to children's fares using the railcard upto it's expiry date. Is there any way round the rulings on the Virgin Family ticket (Railcard use not valid) as on the dates of travel we could only use it for 2 Adults and 1 Child and would need to purchase another (Probably 1at class) Adult ticket for which Advance fares do not seem to be available.

Sorry for all the questions but would appreciate some advice on this.

Thank You

 

[Clip]

I think you are a little too early for the advanced fare quota to be released

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

1) Ticket information for these dates can be booked but looks patchy. (Have £220.64 quoted with a Friends and Family railcard in Standard Class on specified trains and £1118.10 in 1st Class - Ouch!) Have advanced tickets been released yet for these dates? If not when are they likely to be, in particular 1st Class advances (see below)

No, they have not been released yet; it would be very unusual for Advances to be completely booked out so far in advance (although it can happen, e.g. on the Caledonian Sleeper). You can see the date(s) up to which Advances have been released by train company on this list or this list. As you will see, Advances have been released for dates up the week before when you intend to travel, so it may be worthwhile signing up to alerts on the second link, so that you are told when Advances go on sale. Obviously don't actually use The Trainline to book your tickets, as they charge silly and avoidable fees!

2) Are tickets being held back for possible engineering works?

Network Rail have been unable to confirm timetables and engineering works the usual 12 weeks in advance, due to a backlog in their timetabling department starting with the misfortuned May 2018 timetable change. Whilst larger engineering blockades are known well in advance, it is only this far in advance that final details of more minor planned works are set in stone, and obviously the TOCs don't want to sell fixed-train tickets for a train they're not sure will run!

3) I have come across availability for the Virgin West Coast Family ticket, but there is no availability after 8/4 -(Priced at £150 standard and £300 First) - Covers 2 Adults Max and upto 4 children (5 to 15) - Specified train out. Any train back. Is there a reason for this availability stopping after 8/4 and are future dates likely to be released soon?

I would suspect that availability of this ticket may be related to the availability of Advances, due to the requirement to use a booked service on the outward leg. It may be that it is necessary to manually release Family ticket reservations separate, hence availability being slightly behind normal Advances.

4) If I purchase a Friends & Family railcard prior to the 17/3 (My daughters 16th birthday) she is entitled to children's fares using the railcard upto it's expiry date. Is there any way round the rulings on the Virgin Family ticket (Railcard use not valid) as on the dates of travel we could only use it for 2 Adults and 1 Child and would need to purchase another (Probably 1at class) Adult ticket for which Advance fares do not seem to be available.

I'm not aware of any relaxation of the rules in the same way that they are for normal tickets, unfortunately. You'll need to consider whether a Family Return or Railcard-discounted separate tickets will be cheapest considering the circumstances - note that there is no discount on first class tickets with a Family Railcard, but there is for 16-25 Railcards if you buy a First Class Advance (for your 16-y-o daughter).

Sorry for all the questions but would appreciate some advice on this

No problem - you will probably get better advice here than from most train companies' customer services or ticket offices, since it is "peer reviewed", if you like!

 

[30907]

Also, would you be able to use a F&F discounted ticket for your older daughter with only the Virgin Family ticket? I rather think not.
I wonder what VT would say to a VF ticket purchased before your daughter turns 16 but used after? Worth asking them?
Lastly, I'd suggest doing some test bookings at F&F prices - for early April it looks like about £150 return with Advances, £235 with Offpeak, £400 First Advance (those are for Glasgow, sorry, I didn't check.

 

[wandacat]

Thanks for the replies.

I have sent Virgin Trains an E mail tonight with regards to the 1st Class Family Ticket.

 

[wandacat]

Had a quick response back to my E Mail (See below) from Virgin Trains at 0633hrs. Presume its an overseas contact centre which is not able to consider anything off script. I did query if I could purchade the Family 1st class ticket before my eldest daughter tirned 16 in March for the Journey in April, the same as you can on a Friemds and Familt railcard.
As the cost of a further Adult 1st Class ticket on the same train is upwards of 200 pounds it might be worthwhile looking at flight prices.



Virgin West Coast Family 1st Class Ticket

Thank you for your e-mail, I hope you are doing good today.

I completely understand your concern regarding the Rail Travel. I will certainly look in to the query.

However, I regret to inform you that our department will not be able to assist you with the Rail card as we only deal with the bookings of leisure tickets.

I want to bring this to your notice that your concern only depends up on the sole discretion of the train staff.

As I know this would not be possible, I can not suggest you to proceed with family ticket with your child turning 16.

I hope the above information was helpful.

Please don't hesitate to contact us for any further queries.

Have a lovely day ahead.

 

[Tetchytyke]

You can't use the railcard with the Family Ticket so the fact they'll let you keep using the Railcard is irrelevant. She's an adult if she's over 16 and will count as a 3rd adult for a family ticket.

The choices are:
Use the F&F railcard rather than the Family Ticket for the extended child fare validity (F&F railcard is not valid for use in 1st class);
Treat her as a child and hope you don't get stopped/guard will use discretion;
Get a 16-25 railcard for her, as you can use this to buy a discounted Advance 1st class ticket for her in addition to the fanily ticket.

Don't put too much stall on the current fares. Although NR's website says weekend VT tickets are on sale up to 14 April that's not true. I'm travelling on Sunday 7th and Advance tickets aren't available yet, and won't be until 18 Feb.