I am trying to book a sensibly priced ticket for someone going from York to London at non-peak times, departing York 0852 (PBO 1015-1018) arriving King's Cross 1118, and departing at 1900 (PBO 1945-1946) arriving York 2101.
Unfortunately a return fare for this journey is ludicrously expensive.
Splitting at Peterborough, I can get a £5 ticket YRK-PBO and £5 PBO-YRK on that train using the 'NXEC Birthday' offer. So all I need to do is get them a ticket from Peterborough to London. They want to go to a station in the travelcard area so a Day Travelcard would be nice.
The 1118 arrival is valid on an Off Peak Travelcard, but apparently the 1900 isn't, despite NXEC's website saying that Off Peak tickets are valid from 1900. A Super Off Peak is "more restrictive" according to ATOC, but it costs a lot more - because you can go back another day, which they don't want to do. It's not valid on the morning train to London but it is valid on the 1900 from KGX. So neither of these tickets are valid on both trains! So the only ticket I can select is called "Off Peak" yet is £108 for 2 people and they then need to pay AGAIN for a travelcard from King's Cross - this is over TWICE the price they should be paying.
I thought travel was meant to be "simpler".:roll:
Are NXEC guards really refusing "Off Peak" tickets on the 1900 when the "more restrictive" "Super Off Peak" is valid? Or is it one of those cases where it isn't officially valid but to refuse to accept them would be bonkers so they're accepted anyway? Any regular commuters have an answer to this?
Unfortunately a return fare for this journey is ludicrously expensive.
Splitting at Peterborough, I can get a £5 ticket YRK-PBO and £5 PBO-YRK on that train using the 'NXEC Birthday' offer. So all I need to do is get them a ticket from Peterborough to London. They want to go to a station in the travelcard area so a Day Travelcard would be nice.
The 1118 arrival is valid on an Off Peak Travelcard, but apparently the 1900 isn't, despite NXEC's website saying that Off Peak tickets are valid from 1900. A Super Off Peak is "more restrictive" according to ATOC, but it costs a lot more - because you can go back another day, which they don't want to do. It's not valid on the morning train to London but it is valid on the 1900 from KGX. So neither of these tickets are valid on both trains! So the only ticket I can select is called "Off Peak" yet is £108 for 2 people and they then need to pay AGAIN for a travelcard from King's Cross - this is over TWICE the price they should be paying.
I thought travel was meant to be "simpler".:roll:
Are NXEC guards really refusing "Off Peak" tickets on the 1900 when the "more restrictive" "Super Off Peak" is valid? Or is it one of those cases where it isn't officially valid but to refuse to accept them would be bonkers so they're accepted anyway? Any regular commuters have an answer to this?
