East Coast Advances/Small Group Discount

[khib70]

I booked advance tickets with EC from Edinburgh to London, using their small group discount for a group of six people. Two of them can't make it for various reasons. Presumably the remaining four can travel without any unpleasantness? It won't be a problem to bring the tickets for the missing persons if necessary.

After all EC have the revenue, and are getting two buckshee unreserved seats. Does anyone think we're going to have a problem? Coughing up for four Anytime singles would kind of spoil our fun!!

 

[bb21]

I would be very surprised if you run into any trouble. The discount for four people travelling is the same as for six people travelling. The TM will not know how many people originally booked anyway.

 

[yorkie]

East Coast have a habit of putting all reservations on one coupon, so I guess you are worried that the guard will notice that some passengers are not present?

There is no requirement to use an Advance ticket, so if a passenger cannot travel, that is absolutely fine, and this does not in any way invalidate anyone else's ticket!

 

[MikeWh]

I can't say for certain in this case, but I do know that if you have all the tickets on the usual groupsave 3 or 4 scheme then it doesn't matter if someone isn't there. The main worry would be other members of the party travelling separately and if you have the tickets then that ceases to be a worry. I would contact EC customer services and ask them to be certain.

Edit: Beaten to it!

 

[khib70]

East Coast have a habit of putting all reservations on one coupon, so I guess you are worried that the guard will notice that some passengers are not present?

There is no requirement to use an Advance ticket, so if a passenger cannot travel, that is absolutely fine, and this does not in any way invalidate anyone else's ticket!

Thanks, everyone. Just wanted to be sure. Nothing more likely to spoil a weekend away with the boys than an unexpected Anytime SIngle!

 

[LexyBoy]

East Coast have a habit of putting all reservations on one coupon, so I guess you are worried that the guard will notice that some passengers are not present?

There is no requirement to use an Advance ticket, so if a passenger cannot travel, that is absolutely fine, and this does not in any way invalidate anyone else's ticket!

What are the terms of the discount though?

GroupSave requires the specified number to be present, otherwise the tickets are not valid as the conditions for the discount are not met. In reality guards see that the correct fare has been paid and are fine with it.

I'd say it will almost certainly be fine, whether it's actually valid depends on how the discount works- whether it's based on a number of people travelling together or just buying x tickets together.

 

[John @ home]

What are the terms of the discount though?

Terms and conditions

33% discount will be applied for bookings of 3 or more (up to a maximum of 9) on East Coast Standard or First Advance tickets. Discount will only be applied to bookings made at eastcoast.co.uk/3plus. Subject to availability. Not valid in conjunction with any other offers or with Railcard discounts. Usual Advance fare terms and conditions apply. Discount includes online discount where relevant.

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/special-offers/standard-live-pages/3plus/

It seems to me that a requirement for the booking to be of 3 or more does not amount to a requirement for the whole party to be present when tickets are checked.

 

[LexyBoy]

Terms and conditions
It seems to me that a requirement for the booking to be of 3 or more does not amount to a requirement for the whole party to be present when tickets are checked.

Thanks for the clarification. As you say, it seems to be a discount applied at the point of purchase (like online booking discounts), rather than a GroupSave style discount. No problems for travel then