King Cross -> Grantham 28/12/23

[ficedula]

I'm potentially needing to get from Kings Cross to Grantham on the evening on the 28th. I have no idea which time I'll be coming back, so I'll need a flexible ticket. (If I do end up travelling, I'll also be travelling down from Grantham->Kings Cross in the morning, so a return).

I can find an Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) for £61 which seems to allow travel on all the evening trains up until 22:00 but not on the 23:00 or 23:33 departures. The ticket does have a 'via Peterborough' restriction on it.

Questions:

1) Presumably the 'via Peterborough' restriction is what means it's not being shown as valid for travel on the last two trains of the night (which don't stop at Peterborough)?
2) If so, can the ticket be excessed to allow travel via Peterborough? Can that be done onboard the train, and would it be economic to do so (vs. purchasing a different ticket)?
3) If so, and I do end up wanting to travel via the 23:00/23:33, does the fact I might not have excessed the ticket at the point I arrived at KGX affect whether I'm entitled to delay repay / assistance / etc. should those trains be delayed or cacelled?

Although I'm hoping I'll be returning before 22:00, worst case scenario would be that I arrive at KGX for the last train, it doesn't run, and I'm also refused assistance/a hotel/etc. because my ticket wouldn't have been valid on that train!

 

[rg177]

This ticket is unquestionably valid on the 23:00 and 23:33 departures - both services operate via Peterborough and call there, though only to set down passengers. All services direct from King's Cross to Grantham take the same route.

The 'via Peterborough' routing was added to stop people going via Nottingham when the new pricing structure on LNER-set fares was introduced.

As for why it's showing as not valid - which site are you trying to use to buy this ticket?

 

[LA50041]

I'm potentially needing to get from Kings Cross to Grantham on the evening on the 28th. I have no idea which time I'll be coming back, so I'll need a flexible ticket. (If I do end up travelling, I'll also be travelling down from Grantham->Kings Cross in the morning, so a return).

I can find an Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) for £61 which seems to allow travel on all the evening trains up until 22:00 but not on the 23:00 or 23:33 departures. The ticket does have a 'via Peterborough' restriction on it.

Questions:

1) Presumably the 'via Peterborough' restriction is what means it's not being shown as valid for travel on the last two trains of the night (which don't stop at Peterborough)?
2) If so, can the ticket be excessed to allow travel via Peterborough? Can that be done onboard the train, and would it be economic to do so (vs. purchasing a different ticket)?
3) If so, and I do end up wanting to travel via the 23:00/23:33, does the fact I might not have excessed the ticket at the point I arrived at KGX affect whether I'm entitled to delay repay / assistance / etc. should those trains be delayed or cacelled?

Although I'm hoping I'll be returning before 22:00, worst case scenario would be that I arrive at KGX for the last train, it doesn't run, and I'm also refused assistance/a hotel/etc. because my ticket wouldn't have been valid on that train!

Where does it say this is invalid? It shows as valid on NRE for the 2300 && 2333. There is also nothing in the restrictions text to bar these services

 

[ficedula]

Huh; well, that simplifies my choice!

I was looking on Raileasy which certainly make it look like the £61 flexible return isn't valid on those trains:

 

[alistairlees]

I can find an Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) for £61 which seems to allow travel on all the evening trains up until 22:00 but not on the 23:00 or 23:33 departures. The ticket does have a 'via Peterborough' restriction on it.

Where can you find this situation? On the LNER.co.uk website? The Nationalrail.co.uk website? Somewhere else?

There is no issue with selecting either the 23.00 or 23.33 Kings Cross to Grantham with a £61 Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) from Grantham to London on railsmartr.co.uk, for example. See https://tickets.railsmartr.co.uk/fa...ardDepartAt=22:00&adults=1&children=0&limit=5

 

[rg177]

Huh; well, that simplifies my choice!

I was looking on Raileasy which certainly make it look like the £61 flexible return isn't valid on those trains:

How bizarre - indeed - it won't allow you to select the £61 fare. Rest assured, this is definitely valid.

URL for those interested - https://www.raileasy.co.uk/booking-...12-28T17:00:00&returndate=2023-12-28T22:00:00

As said above, no issues on Railsmartr, nor on Trainsplit or the forum's site (which is powered by Trainsplit)

 

[Watershed]

The 'via Peterborough' routing merely means that you must travel through Peterborough; there is no requirement for the train to stop there - indeed many trains between Grantham and London don't. The same applies to any other geographical route on a fare.

 

[Haywain]

As said above, no issues on Railsmartr, nor on Trainsplit or the forum's site (which is powered by Trainsplit)

Or on the LNER website.

 

[yorkie]

I wouldn't use the Raileasy site.

Raileasy do not actually operate the Raileasy site a company called Atomised does that. In contrast, Trainsplit is actually run by Raileasy. This is a cause of confusion, which I hope won't last too much longer.

---

 

[Haywain]

I wouldn't use the Raileasy site.

Raileasy do not actually operate the Raileasy site a company called Atomised does that. In contrast, Trainsplit is actually run by Raileasy. This is a cause of confusion, which I hope won't last too much longer.

---

Raileasy don't run Raileasy? How very bizarre.

 

[ficedula]

I wouldn't use the Raileasy site.

Raileasy do not actually operate the Raileasy site a company called Atomised does that. In contrast, Trainsplit is actually run by Raileasy. This is a cause of confusion, which I hope won't last too much longer.

---

I was mainly using Raileasy because it gives me a higher number of time/ticket options visible at once on screen, which is nice for comparisons. Rather less useful if some of the data it's presenting me with isn't actually correct though!

Thanks all for the information.

 

[OscarH]

Raileasy don't run Raileasy? How very bizarre.

LNER don't run the LNER site themselves! (on a less sarcastic note, yes it's confusing, as is often the case history is complicated)

 

[Haywain]

LNER don't run the LNER site themselves! (on a less sarcastic note, yes it's confusing, as is often the case history is complicated)

LNER do own and run the LNER site, and it is very much LNER that you go to if you have any issues with your bookings.

 

[OscarH]

LNER do own and run the LNER site, and it is very much LNER that you go to if you have any issues with your bookings.

The technical side is outsourced to Vix/Silverrail is my understanding, with customer services in house, as is fairly standard?

 

[Haywain]

The technical side is outsourced to Vix/Silverrail is my understanding, with customer services in house, as is fairly standard?

Much more complex, but I'm not going to into that here.

 

[OscarH]

Much more complex, but I'm not going to into that here.

Perhaps a bad example then, pretty much any other TOC would have worked! But yes I think we're going off topic now

 

[Wallsendmag]

The technical side is outsourced to Vix/Silverrail is my understanding, with customer services in house, as is fairly standard?

Name one TOC that builds their own site, I'll wait. You missed Softwire

 

[OscarH]

Name one TOC that builds their own site, I'll wait. You missed Softwire

That was my point :P

 

[Wallsendmag]

That was my point :P

Supplied by and operated by are two very different things, LNER (including me when I work for them) very much do control the day to day operation of the site.

 

[OscarH]

Supplied by and operated by are two very different things, LNER (including me when I work for them) very much do control the day to day operation of the site.

I think getting into exactly where that line is would be too complicated for this thread, and is probably not appropriate for a public forum (I can't be commenting on specifics like that on our side at least)