Changing return tickets

[Halsebee]

if I buy a saver return (not a supersaver or an anytyime return, i.e. the mid range ticket) from, say, Taunton to Paddington, use the outward ticket on a train for which a supersaver ticket is valid, but then for the return journey there are 3 options:

1. use on a train which a saver return is valid. My ticket is valid.
2. use on a train for which only anytime tickets are valid. I believe I would have to buy an upgrade for the ticket to allow travel on an anytime ticket. I think, but correct me if wrong, the upgrade would be the difference in cost between an anytime return and a saver return? No problem here, I travel on a more expensive train, I must pay the difference.
3. I return on a train for which a supersaver ticket is valid. Clearly my saver ticket is valid, but can I claim a refund of the difference between a saver and a supersaver return ticket? I'm sure the answer would be no, but this seems to be unfair on the passenger. If I travel on a more expensive train, I pay, if I travel on a cheaper train, the railway keeps the money.

Any experts care to comment?

 

[bb21]

No you cannot excess a ticket and get a refund. What you paid for with the more expensive fare is flexibility.

As a general rule, no refund is due if an excess is to a cheaper fare.

Sometimes, especially with Anytime fares but not so much with Off-Peak fares, it may be cheaper to obtain a refund on the unused portion, losing the £10 admin fee, and then rebook a single.

 

[Qwerty133]

Unless one ticket has TOC restrictions and the other does not it virtually never makes sense to pay out for a off peak or any time return when a super off peak return is valid for your outbound journey unless your plans guarantee you'll need to travel back at a time the super off peak isn't valid as it is possible to excess from the super off peak to the off peak or anytime if you later find yourself needing to use a service not valid for the super off peak.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

The answer, really, is either to buy the cheapest (Super Off-Peak) ticket, and then pay the excess if you end up taking a train on which your Super Off-Peak ticket isn't valid, or to get a ticket that is valid at "peak" times (e.g. from the other side of London).

 

[gray1404]

The Saver Return doesn't exist anymore. It is now called an Off Peak Return. The Super Saver Return is now called a Super Off Peak Return and the Standard Open Return is now called an Anytime Return.