The following article appeared in the April edition of Railtalk magazine (www.railtalk.net)...
NXEC 10% off is back
I reported back in February that National Express East Coast (NXEC) abolished their 10% discount for tickets bought through their website. Well good news – it’s back! But there is a catch – first class fares and travel at certain times is excluded.
Despite sending emails out to customers advertising Leeds to London at £37.50 first class including 10% discount, when a customer tried to book the price was £42.00 and no discount was available. This was reported to National Express but, at the time of writing there was no response.
FCC evening peak restrictions
A passenger who frequently requires a single from London to Luton on First Capital Connect (FCC) during the evening peak informed us that she was told by some ticket clerks that Off Peak single tickets are “not valid” for travel at this time and she should “purchase an Anytime single”.
In fact, it is only the return portion of Off Peak Day returns that are not valid out of London in the evening peak. Outward portions of Off Peak Day returns, and Off Peak singles are valid departing London throughout the evening peak.
Instead of looking up the restrictions, some ticket clerks are making (incorrect) assumptions that singles and outward portions of returns have the same validity of the more familiar return portions. It is likely that many people have been charged incorrectly, and many of those people won’t have questioned it.
It is worth pointing out that NXEC, who do not allow the outward portion of Off Peak Day, or Off Peak single tickets to be used in the evening peak out of London on the flows that they set, have to accept such tickets on their 18:20 service from London to Stevenage as these fares are set by FCC, not NXEC. Meanwhile, unlike FCC, NXEC do allow return portions of Off Peak returns to be used in the evening peak. Confused? Here’s a table that lists validity at peak time* from King’s Cross:
*Note that the above table doesn't tell the full story, as the peak restrictions are not universal; FCC-set fares are restricted as follows: Off Peak (return) 17:30-18:30 and Off Peak Day (return) 16:30-19:01. On fares set by NXEC: Off Peak (outward/single) restricted 15:59-17:45 and Off Peak Day (all types) are restricted 1555-1901. I have not mentioned Super Off Peak above, as they are all not valid at peak time, but they are restricted 14:58-18:58. (Yes, Super Off Peak is valid on the 19:00 and Off Peak Day isn't!)
Do the conductors actually know all these restrictions? I doubt it. But I’m pretty sure that, on the 18:20 with a well loaded train and such complicated restrictions to check in 19 minutes from London to Stevenage (including time to make the announcements), they won’t have time to issue too many excess fares anyway.
Breaking Off Peak outward journeys
Before “simplification” an absurd condition of Saver tickets prevented passengers breaking their journey on the outward portion. We were initially promised that simplification would do away with this rule and we would be able to break our journey on either portion, however this was broken as it became a case of “Break of journey is permitted on both outward and return portions of Off-Peak tickets unless otherwise indicated by a restriction shown against he ticket's validity code.” Simple, eh?
Initially NXEC were the only company to impose this pointlessly draconian – and virtually impossible to enforce anyway – rule, however since the most recent fares change in January, Virgin have also decided to restrict break of journey.
This means that tickets such as London to Carlisle were valid for break of journey on the outward portion for just a few months.
It is worth noting that break of journey is only prohibited on tickets where Virgin and NXEC set the flow (I’m not aware of any other operator imposing such a restriction), however it appears that some flows have been omitted, for example an East Croydon to Gretna Green ticket allows break of journey (except from King’s Cross). At £90.20, this is cheaper than a London to Carlisle ticket (£92.30) which does not allow a break of journey! The East Croydon to Gretna ticket gives the added bonus of a cross-London transfer in each direction!
It’s also well worth remembering that using station facilities does not constitute a break of journey, so barrier staff are not within their rights to refuse you through the barrier to use station facilities, including shops, toilets, the ticket office, and any other facility. You only break your journey when you leave station premises (except to walk between stations, such as Moor Street to New Street in Birmingham). So unless the barrier staff stalk you, they really can’t tell if you are breaking your journey or not.
NXEC 10% off is back
I reported back in February that National Express East Coast (NXEC) abolished their 10% discount for tickets bought through their website. Well good news – it’s back! But there is a catch – first class fares and travel at certain times is excluded.
Despite sending emails out to customers advertising Leeds to London at £37.50 first class including 10% discount, when a customer tried to book the price was £42.00 and no discount was available. This was reported to National Express but, at the time of writing there was no response.
FCC evening peak restrictions
A passenger who frequently requires a single from London to Luton on First Capital Connect (FCC) during the evening peak informed us that she was told by some ticket clerks that Off Peak single tickets are “not valid” for travel at this time and she should “purchase an Anytime single”.
In fact, it is only the return portion of Off Peak Day returns that are not valid out of London in the evening peak. Outward portions of Off Peak Day returns, and Off Peak singles are valid departing London throughout the evening peak.
Instead of looking up the restrictions, some ticket clerks are making (incorrect) assumptions that singles and outward portions of returns have the same validity of the more familiar return portions. It is likely that many people have been charged incorrectly, and many of those people won’t have questioned it.
It is worth pointing out that NXEC, who do not allow the outward portion of Off Peak Day, or Off Peak single tickets to be used in the evening peak out of London on the flows that they set, have to accept such tickets on their 18:20 service from London to Stevenage as these fares are set by FCC, not NXEC. Meanwhile, unlike FCC, NXEC do allow return portions of Off Peak returns to be used in the evening peak. Confused? Here’s a table that lists validity at peak time* from King’s Cross:
Code:
[B][FONT=Lucida Console][FONT=Lucida Sans Unicode]Ticket validities King's Cross - Stevenage & Peterborough (PM Peak)[/FONT][/FONT][/B][FONT=Lucida Console]
[B]Destination: Stevenage Route: Any Permitted[/B]
Off Peak Day (Out/Sgl) Valid
Off Peak Day (Rtn) Not Valid
Off Peak (Out/Sgl) Not Valid
Off Peak (Rtn) Not Valid
[B]Destination: Peterborough Route: Any Permitted[/B]
Off Peak Day (Out/Sgl) Not Valid
Off Peak Day (Rtn) Not Valid
Off Peak (Out/Sgl) Not Valid
Off Peak (Rtn) Valid
[B]Destination: Peterborough Route: FCC Only[/B]
Off Peak Day (Out/Sgl) Valid
Off Peak Day (Rtn) Not Valid
Off Peak (Out/Sgl) Valid
Off Peak (Rtn) Not Valid[/FONT]Do the conductors actually know all these restrictions? I doubt it. But I’m pretty sure that, on the 18:20 with a well loaded train and such complicated restrictions to check in 19 minutes from London to Stevenage (including time to make the announcements), they won’t have time to issue too many excess fares anyway.
Breaking Off Peak outward journeys
Before “simplification” an absurd condition of Saver tickets prevented passengers breaking their journey on the outward portion. We were initially promised that simplification would do away with this rule and we would be able to break our journey on either portion, however this was broken as it became a case of “Break of journey is permitted on both outward and return portions of Off-Peak tickets unless otherwise indicated by a restriction shown against he ticket's validity code.” Simple, eh?
Initially NXEC were the only company to impose this pointlessly draconian – and virtually impossible to enforce anyway – rule, however since the most recent fares change in January, Virgin have also decided to restrict break of journey.
This means that tickets such as London to Carlisle were valid for break of journey on the outward portion for just a few months.
It is worth noting that break of journey is only prohibited on tickets where Virgin and NXEC set the flow (I’m not aware of any other operator imposing such a restriction), however it appears that some flows have been omitted, for example an East Croydon to Gretna Green ticket allows break of journey (except from King’s Cross). At £90.20, this is cheaper than a London to Carlisle ticket (£92.30) which does not allow a break of journey! The East Croydon to Gretna ticket gives the added bonus of a cross-London transfer in each direction!
It’s also well worth remembering that using station facilities does not constitute a break of journey, so barrier staff are not within their rights to refuse you through the barrier to use station facilities, including shops, toilets, the ticket office, and any other facility. You only break your journey when you leave station premises (except to walk between stations, such as Moor Street to New Street in Birmingham). So unless the barrier staff stalk you, they really can’t tell if you are breaking your journey or not.
