Family & Friends railcard validity with other tickets

[SandsofEss]

I’m trying to work out if a particular use of a Family & Friends railcard is valid. Can you help?

I plan to travel from Kent to the Midlands with my child. Because Southeastern runs a ‘Kid for a Quid’ promotion on off-peak tickets, and because I have an annual season covering part of our intended journey, it works out slightly cheaper for us to split our tickets like so:

Me: Off-Peak Return from Tonbridge to Buxton with FAF railcard

Child: Kid for a Quid Weekender from Marden to London
+
Off-Peak Return from London to Buxton with FAF railcard

Am I able to use our Family & Friends railcard discount on my ticket while she travels on a Kid for a Quid ticket?

Regarding the promotion, the Southeastern website says “Railcard discounts can be used for the adult tickets”, which would suggest that I can.

But, the Ts & Cs for the FAF railcard include several lines that suggest that an adult using the railcard must be travelling with a child who also holds a discounted ticket, which the ‘Kid for a Quid’ fare technically wouldn’t be as it cannot be discounted with a railcard.

More pertinently, the Ts & Cs include the following line: “Discounted price tickets purchased by a Family & Friends Railcard holder should be issued for travel for the same origin and destination and should normally be of the same ticket type (example all Off-Peak Returns).”

If you read the first “should” as “must”, then this surely means my proposed use of the railcard is not valid. Not only that, but any time I wish to use the railcard I’ll have to buy all tickets from the same origin station, even though I have a season ticket that covers part of the journey.

Have I understood this correctly please?

 

[island]

In practice you’ll find the F&F discount won’t apply to a transaction unless there are at least 1 adult and 1 child with the exact same origin and destination.

You may want to use your Gold card discount instead for that part of the journey within the relevant area, as that does not suffer from this restriction.

 

[alistairlees]

I assume your season ticket is from Marden to Tonbridge?
If so then you need to get family railcard discounted tickets from Tonbridge to Buxton for both of you; and a ticket for your daughter from Marden to Tonbridge.

 

[SandsofEss]

Thank you.

That's a shame, and will make future journeys mildly more expensive.

I wonder what the reason is for this restriction on the railcard's use? Nothing obvious immediately springs to mind.