Excessing Route & With A Railcard

[dmacw]

I am due to go to a conferance in late September near Birmingham International. I had to book using the intranet within work. Now, all the system wanted to know is where I wanted tickets from and to (Wokingham to Birmingham International). It didn't ask for any more detail but said someone would contact me nearer the time.

I got an e-mail last week to say that said tickets had been booked from Wokingham to Birmingham International via Oxford. I contacted head office saying I would rather go via London and I have a 16-25 railcard that can save the company money! They replied saying these tickets (Saver Return or whatever it is called now) are non refundable, I e-mail back saying actually they are, you have been misinformed. I then get told to contact the travel company who they booked the tickets with (basically I think head office were fed up with me)

If I pick the tickets up at the ticket machine as per instruction, can I take them to a ticket office and get route London instead and use the 16-25 railcard on the ticket?

Thanks for any answers in advance

 

[glynn80]

If I pick the tickets up at the ticket machine as per instruction, can I take them to a ticket office and get route London instead and use the 16-25 railcard on the ticket?

If you go to Wokingham ticket office before you board, you can get what is called a "Change of Route" excess fare, however you will not be able to apply any Railcard discount to just the excess fare unfortunately.

Just to clarify the issue, the FRPP (Online Staff Manual) states the following on the situation:

Change of Route

National Rail Conditions of Carriage, Condition 13, permits customers to travel by a different route, from the one stated on the ticket or allowed by conditions of the National Routeing Guide, to make their journey on payment of an Excess fare. The Excess fare is calculated as follows:

Single tickets

The difference between the price already paid and price of the cheapest Single ticket, available for immediate travel, that allows the customer to travel on the route and Train Company of their choice

Return tickets - change of route in both directions

The difference between the price already paid and price of the cheapest Return ticket, available for immediate travel, that allows the customer to travel on the route and Train Company of their choice.

Return tickets - change of route in one direction only

Half the difference between the price already paid and price of the cheapest Return ticket, available for immediate travel that allows the customer to travel on the route and Train Company of their choice.

So for the Wokingham to Birmingham International flow, the SVR fare for the "rte Oxford" ticket is £43.50 and the SVR fare for the "rte London" ticket is £53.00. The difference between these (£9.50) will be the excess fare that will need to be paid. If you wish to only excess one portion of the ticket (either the outward or return), this will be half the difference (£4.75).


P.S. The only way to get the Railcard discount added would be to get the original "rte Oxford" ticket refunded and then purchase a brand new "rte London" ticket. The problem with this is refunds are subject to £10.00 administration fees and this is obviously more than the £9.45 excess fare itself.

 

[paul1609]

I dont doubt that Glynn is right but I'd ask anyway. Ive been given railcard discount before when Ive route excessed a ticket bought with a MOD warrant before.

 

[glynn80]

I dont doubt that Glynn is right but I'd ask anyway. Ive been given railcard discount before when Ive route excessed a ticket bought with a MOD warrant before.

It is of course possible to issue an excess with a Railcard discount even though the original ticket is not discounted (and it is probably worth a try as you have nothing to lose), but officially the rule in the FRPP states the following:

Notes: Railcard discounts are allowed provided the original ticket is discounted

 

[LexyBoy]

Surely it would be best to get a refund and buy a new ticket with railcard?

Refund : £33.50
New ticket with Y-P: £35.00
Total cost: £1.50

Versus a £9.50 excess on your undiscounted ticket.

 

[glynn80]

Surely it would be best to get a refund and buy a new ticket with railcard?

Refund : £33.50
New ticket with Y-P: £35.00
Total cost: £1.50

Versus a £9.50 excess on your undiscounted ticket.

I suppose it depends on how the original ticket was purchased and then how easy it would be for the OP to retrieve that refund.

For example if it was purchased via Credit Card, the OP would have to fill out a refund form (which takes two weeks to process) and then try and retrieve that money from his employer. If it was purchased using cash on the other hand, he could fill out the form (wait the same two weeks), but could have the refund delivered to his own address making the transaction much easier.

 

[yorkie]

Surely it would be best to get a refund and buy a new ticket with railcard?

Refund : £33.50
New ticket with Y-P: £35.00
Total cost: £1.50

Versus a £9.50 excess on your undiscounted ticket.

If possible, yes. The "Oxford" fare is not valid until after 0930 but the "London" fare without a railcard is valid from 0905 out of Euston (and any train from Wokingham to London) but with a railcard it is valid on ANY train out of Euston (and, equally, any train from Wokingham).

This is due to Cross Country (operated by Arriva but keep that quiet as they don't like to admit it! ) introducing draconian restrictions on their tickets, compared to Virgin being very reasonable.

Going via Oxford, unless you fancy paying through the nose for an Anytime fare, you don't get to Birmingham Int on an Off Peak until 1137!

Yet via London you can get there for 1033 on an Off Peak ticket without a railcard, and with a railcard you can get there even earlier!