Edinburgh to/from Manchester

[Mcr Warrior]

:? As far as I am aware, there are no route "any permitted" tickets available between Edinburgh and Manchester.

The only choices seem to be "Route Carlisle" (for example, a walk-up Standard Off-Peak Return is £58-60) and the somewhat more expensive "Route York" (walk-up Standard Off-Peak return is £76-90).

A couple of questions:-

If the cheaper "Route Carlisle" ticket has been bought, can it be excessed up to travel "Route York", and if so, does one have to buy the excess in advance of travelling on that part of the journey, or can the excess be issued on the train? (And would the excess, using the example above, be £18-10)?

And if the dearer "Route York" ticket had been bought, would it be o.k. to travel on one or both legs "Route Carlisle"?

 

[John @ home]

If the cheaper "Route Carlisle" ticket has been bought, can it be excessed up to travel "Route York", and if so, does one have to buy the excess in advance of travelling on that part of the journey, or can the excess be issued on the train? (And would the excess, using the example above, be £18-10)?

Yes. From the National Routeing Guide (http://www.atoc.org/rsp/Routeing_Guide.asp):

On occasions the Routeing Guide will prevent a customer from making their preferred journey. In such instances and where appropriate, the customer should be offered the opportunity to purchase an excess fare ticket, prior to travel, which allows the journey to be made by their preferred route. Where a journey is undertaken by an alternative route to that for which the ticket was originally purchased, and for which a higher fare applies, additional payment is required to enable the customer to make or complete their revised travel arrangements.

This option may not apply to customers holding advance purchase tickets, or tickets which are available by specified trains or endorsed for travel only by the services of a particular train operator. Where two or more permitted routes are available for a specific journey, customers may wish to travel out by one route and return by another. If a higher fare applies for the return leg of the journey the customer should be issued with a ticket for the more direct route and an excess fare issued to cover the difference in fare for the return routeing.

John

 

[Mcr Warrior]

John,

Thanks for the helpful response. That was my general understanding.

Reason for specifically asking is that when I had a look at train times / fares on both the Virgin Trains and National Rail websites, neither site shows the higher-priced £76-90 "Route York" fare as being interavailable for travel "Route Carlisle".

(Perhaps someone can post a screenshot to prove/disprove this assertion).

 

[yorkie]

They are wrong and it is listed in the routeing guide which is available at http://www.atoc.org/rsp/Routeing_Guide.asp

http://www.atoc.org/rsp/_downloads/Routeing_Guide/instructions.htm

DUAL ROUTE AVAILABILITY
Where two or more permitted routes are available for a specific journey, customers may wish to travel out by one route and return by another. If a higher fare applies for the return leg of the journey the customer should be issued with a ticket for the more direct route and an excess fare issued to cover the difference in fare for the return routeing. This option should be made available to customers who wish to pre-book a dual routed ticket prior to travel.

So if you want to go via Carlisle and back via York, you should be charged the cheaper Carlisle fare and excessed only on one portion to the higher York fare, this would make the total cost £67.75 (the excess is £9.15 one way)

The excess on a Route York ticket being used via Carlisle would be £0.00 because it is more expensive!