Do Southern have a policy allowing earlier travel on Advance ticket to/from London if going further?

[gray1404]

Do Southern have a policy allowing earlier travel on Advance ticket from/to London if you have connected off a long distance service from further afield? It has been reported on here that they do allow this and it has even been seen in an internal memo. However, I have just asked on Twitter and I was told that I am tied to the train stated on my ticket. When I have asked on the day for permission I have been both allowed on refused depending on who I speak to.

Does anyone have anything in writing that they do allow this - travel on an earlier train - when travelling to/from somewhere long distance off their network?

 

[bigfoote]

From personal experience (YMMV), the only train you are tied to is the main service. Connections are not timed, instead from memory "reasonable connections are permitted". Example, last time I travelled from the Brighton area to Newcastle, my only tied train was from Kings Cross, as such I got an earlier connection to let me have some time for refreshment etc in London.

 

[JonathanH]

To some extent this is a bit more academic than it used to be since most of the IC operators north of London removed many of the cheapest tiers of through advance tickets onto the Southern network

 

[AlterEgo]

From personal experience (YMMV), the only train you are tied to is the main service. Connections are not timed, instead from memory "reasonable connections are permitted". Example, last time I travelled from the Brighton area to Newcastle, my only tied train was from Kings Cross, as such I got an earlier connection to let me have some time for refreshment etc in London.

Some connections are timed and have a reservation for a specific train.

 

[IceAgeComing]

Different train company but I never had an issue with SWR travelling a bit earlier on my ticket which was a Portsmouth-Stirling advance ticket with the London-Stirling being the main component of course - can't remember but I think that it was "valid on LNER trains and valid connections" but it might have booked me on a specific SWR train in which case I definitely broke the rules.

 

[Bensonby]

Is there any benefit in buying a “through” advance ticket in these corucmstances? Surely the answer is to buy two separate tickets?

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Is there any benefit in buying a “through” advance ticket in these corucmstances? Surely the answer is to buy two separate tickets?

A through Advance may be considerably cheaper than paying what would probably otherwise be a commuter-oriented walk-up fare for the shorter leg to/from London.

 

[IceAgeComing]

Through advances also cover the cost of the Underground between whatever two termini you are travelling between.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Through advances also cover the cost of the Underground between whatever two termini you are travelling between.

It's easy enough to get an Advance to London Zone U1* if necessary.

 

[gray1404]

So it seems no one has referenced this internal memo telling Southern staff to allow travel on alternative connecting service for those travelling on long distance advances I also asked their Twitter team and was told I have to stick to booked train - even though someone said they would say it would be ok to get an alternative.