Does a TPE ”Airport Advance Single” mandate a specific connection?

[D365]

I recently travelled on an ”Airport Advance Single”, in this case the TPE 10:18 MAN-SHF with the Northern 09:45 MIA-MAN to get me to Picc.

The route specified on my confirmation email was ”Only valid on booked TransPennine Express services and required connecting services.” According to staff at MIA, this routing (and the T&Cs on the TPE website) means I have to follow the itinerary to the letter, and cannot travel on an earlier train to Picc. Is this really the case?

 

[Bletchleyite]

It depends what you have a reservation on. If you have a reservation on both trains, you must use them. If you don't have a reservation on the Northern train, then you can use a different one. These days with almost everything having "counted places" you probably do.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Is there any flexibility on using these Airport Advance tickets on train services originating from Manchester Airport station if your inbound flight is confirmed as having arrived late?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is there any flexibility on using these Airport Advance tickets on train services originating from Manchester Airport station if your inbound flight is confirmed as having arrived late?

I understand that yes, there is, a quick Google suggests up to 3 hours later (or the next train if that's later than that), but you have to have the ticket changed at the ticket office with proof of the delay.

 

[D365]

With the condition that your planned train departure time must have been one hour after the booked arrival time of your flight. However, I normally prefer to give myself two hours. Hence the question of whether I could transit to Piccadilly and wait for my connection there.

The itinerary for my ticket read as follows:

Departs​	Arrives​	By​	Reservations​
09:45 - Manchester Airport​	09:59 - Manchester Piccadilly​	Train (NORTHERN)​	Reserved - no seat allocated.​
10:18 - Manchester Piccadilly​	11:08 - Sheffield​	Train (TRANSPENNINE EXPRESS)​	Coach: A Seat: xx​

 

[XAM2175]

Hence the question of whether I could transit to Piccadilly and wait for my connection there.

It can't hurt to ask the guard on the Northern service - I was given permission to travel earlier on an Avanti and connections advance in similar conditions a little while back.

 

[miklcct]

I understand that yes, there is, a quick Google suggests up to 3 hours later (or the next train if that's later than that), but you have to have the ticket changed at the ticket office with proof of the delay.

Does this flexibility apply to all airport stations in Great Britain, such as Gatwick Airport, Southampton Airport, Birmingham International, etc?

 

[Watershed]

I recently travelled on an ”Airport Advance Single”, in this case the TPE 10:18 MAN-SHF with the Northern 09:45 MIA-MAN to get me to Picc.

The route specified on my confirmation email was ”Only valid on booked TransPennine Express services and required connecting services.” According to staff at MIA, this routing (and the T&Cs on the TPE website) means I have to follow the itinerary to the letter, and cannot travel on an earlier train to Picc. Is this really the case?

For any legs where you have been issued with a reservation, you must take the booked service. In this respect, an Airport Advance is no different to a regular Advance.

Of course there's no harm in asking the guard of a preceding service - before getting on - whether they'd be prepared to let you travel on their train. Most Northern guards would probably be happy to let you do so.

 

[roversfan2001]

Does this flexibility apply to all airport stations in Great Britain, such as Gatwick Airport, Southampton Airport, Birmingham International, etc?

No, it's a TPE specific promotion - and I think limited to just Manchester Airport.

 

[D365]

For any legs where you have been issued with a reservation, you must take the booked service. In this respect, an Airport Advance is no different to a regular Advance.

Of course there's no harm in asking the guard of a preceding service - before getting on - whether they'd be prepared to let you travel on their train. Most Northern guards would probably be happy to let you do so.

Thank you. As it happens, I did ask the Northern guard and he insinuated the same. It was only the Transpennine staff at the gate who prevented me from accessing the platform one hour early.

 

[Howardh]

Thank you. As it happens, I did ask the Northern guard and he insinuated the same. It was only the Transpennine staff at the gate who prevented me from accessing the platform one hour early.

Does that mean you weren't allowed on the platform to use the cafe and facilities?

 

[D365]

Does that mean you weren't allowed on the platform to use the cafe and facilities?

Correct - no game at MIA. Although I wasn’t aware that there is a cafe on the platform side.

 

[Howardh]

Correct - no game at MIA. Although I wasn’t aware that there is a cafe on the platform side.

Yes there is plus toilets. If not allowed on it's a long march back to the terminal.

Is there a platform ticket available to get round that? I bet the cafe owner wouldn't be happy, just as those airside weren't when security queues were over 2 hrs long.

Can't access....can't spend.

 

[Fokx]

There’s a barrier block on all Airport Advance tickets. The barriers when in use will not allow the passenger to pass through them until 40 minutes before booked departure time.

The Airport Advance ticket follows all the restrictions of a normal advance single with the exception that if the user is late due to a delayed flight, they can use their ticket beyond the departure time of authorised to do so by the ticket office and if they have allowed an hour from booked flight arrival to train departure time

Yes there is plus toilets. If not allowed on it's a long march back to the terminal.

Is there a platform ticket available to get round that? I bet the cafe owner wouldn't be happy, just as those airside weren't when security queues were over 2 hrs long.

Can't access....can't spend.

There’s a shop, food options and toilets in the airport station/bus station area before the barriers

 

[mmh]

There’s a barrier block on all Airport Advance tickets. The barriers when in use will not allow the passenger to pass through them until 40 minutes before booked departure time.

The Airport Advance ticket follows all the restrictions of a normal advance single with the exception that if the user is late due to a delayed flight, they can use their ticket beyond the departure time of authorised to do so by the ticket office and if they have allowed an hour from booked flight arrival to train departure time


There’s a shop, food options and toilets in the airport station/bus station area before the barriers

Wait, it's possible to include departure time on a magstripe and have barriers with logic to calculate whether they should open or not from this?

The reason I ask is because we've long been told magstripes are outdated because of how little data they can have on them.

 

[Fokx]

Wait, it's possible to include departure time on a magstripe and have barriers with logic to calculate whether they should open or not from this?

The reason I ask is because we've long been told magstripes are outdated because of how little data they can have on them.

I’m not technically minded in all things ticketing and barriers but it is what I have been taught and is wrote in my retail training material regarding the ticket type at Manchester Airport Station.

Piccadilly barriers are set to reject child tickets (and some railcards) allegedly

Remember though that the Airport advance is also available as a QR/Aztec code

 

[Haywain]

Wait, it's possible to include departure time on a magstripe and have barriers with logic to calculate whether they should open or not from this?

No, the departure time is not coded on the ticket.

Piccadilly barriers are set to reject child tickets (and some railcards) allegedly

That’s easy, the status is coded on the mag stripe.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What they can do though is to set the gateline to reject ALL Advances, then check the times manually.

 

[Haywain]

What they can do though is to set the gateline to reject ALL Advances, then check the times manually.

Yes, that’s the likely answer.

 

[Wallsendmag]

What they can do though is to set the gateline to reject ALL Advances, then check the times manually.

Airport Advance at least.