LNER's ridiculous time options when booking a ticket

[Haywain]

I'm sure it'd take about 2 months to commission a change to be made officially here

From bitter experience I would say that is quite optimistic.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Given that one of the great advantages of online purchases is being able to make last minute decision it does seem odd that too many rail ticketing apps do not support purchases right up to the time of the given journey.

I'm sure the LNER App should support purchases until more or less departure time.

 

[takno]

From bitter experience I would say that is quite optimistic.

Assuming there's a team still actively working on the product I'd probably guess at least a month for it to grab the attention of a product owner, at least a couple of weeks to agree that it's s candidate for the small changes workflow, another week or so to write up the ticket, 3 weeks waiting for design input, at least a week waiting for the next backlog review, probably at least a fortnight waiting for higher priority small changes, a week to do it, another week to test, and a fortnight for beta testing and deployment. Essentially 3 months at best, with a high chance of it not making the top of the backlog for 6 months in the middle.

It would be handy though

 

[robbeech]

They’d have sold you the correct ticket, something an app appears unable to do.

Plenty of threads on this forum complaining about ticket machines, but also plenty complaining about lack of knowledge and lack of enthusiasm to help in ticket offices too. Plenty of reasonably standard tickets that Sheffield ticket office won’t sell you for example.

A good argument for manning stations from start to close of service then!

See no issue with this if it can be suitably self funded without additional money from the tax payer or without additional increases to fares.

 

[infobleep]

The underlying booking engine does support :15, :30 and :45 minute specifiers, so spent ten minutes writing a WebExtension to expose these:

View attachment 147365

I'm sure it'd take about 2 months to commission a change to be made officially here

If there's any interest I'll chuck it on the Chrome Web Store, but the extension is attached..

I'm amazed at how quickly you were able to write the extension. Good work.

Worth noting, for those that might not be aware, extensions don't work in Chrome on Android phones. I assume it's the same in iOS too.

The Kiwi Browser Android app, which is based on Chromium, does support extensions but as they aren't usually designed for mobiles, they don't always work.

 

[Alex365Dash]

Worth noting, for those that might not be aware, extensions don't work in Chrome on Android phones. I assume it's the same in iOS too.

The Kiwi Browser Android app, which is based on Chromium, does support extensions but as they aren't usually designed for mobiles, they don't always work.

Generally true, but for this specific case, the LNER app does 15-minute periods anyway (but you do lose the ability to fulfil to Ticket on Departure when eTickets are available).

 

[infobleep]

Generally true, but for this specific case, the LNER app does 15-minute periods anyway (but you do lose the ability to fulfil to Ticket on Departure when eTickets are available).

It does but I noted the opening poster didn't want to use an app.

 

[Haywain]

It does but I noted the opening poster didn't want to use an app.

I can't see anywhere that the OP has said that.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I can't see anywhere that the OP has said that.

I didn’t, but on that point, when I’m in a hurry it makes sense for me to be able to quickly go to a website I’m familiar with.

 

[Haywain]

I didn’t, but on that point, when I’m in a hurry it makes sense for me to be able to quickly go to a website I’m familiar with.

Fair enough but I find the app very user friendly.

 

[TUC]

It's hard to see why most people wanting to buy a last minute online ticket would use a website rather than an app. Apps are most people's default, especially when using a phone, not a laptop.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

It's hard to see why most people wanting to buy a last minute online ticket would use a website rather than an app. Apps are most people's default, especially when using a phone, not a laptop.

Not if I don’t already have it on my phone.

A lot of posts here criticising other people’s media habits or choice of where they get tickets from; no need for people to tell others to do things a different way, let’s just make sure all of the advertised ways are actually effective?

 

[TUC]

Not if I don’t already have it on my phone.

A lot of posts here criticising other people’s media habits or choice of where they get tickets from; no need for people to tell others to do things a different way, let’s just make sure all of the advertised ways are actually effective?

It's not a criticism. It is saying that it is perhaps understandable if LNER and other TOC think that the main interest of their customers is in using apps on their phones, not websites, and so prioritise their development.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

It's not a criticism. It is saying that it is perhaps understandable if LNER and other TOC think that the main interest of their customers is in using apps on their phones, not websites, and so prioritise their developmeny.

I know, but I'm just saying whether or not (and for what reason) I choose to use the app or the website isn't really relevant when both should be enabled so one can purchase available tickets.

 

[TUC]

I know, but I'm just saying whether or not (and for what reason) I choose to use the app or the website isn't really relevant when both should be enabled so one can purchase available tickets.

Help me understand. I'm genuinely trying to figure out what advantage there is in using the website over the app?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Help me understand. I'm genuinely trying to figure out what advantage there is in using the website over the app?

For one thing, I don't want wasted storage or a clogged home screen for a service I'll barely use.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For one thing, I don't want wasted storage or a clogged home screen for a service I'll barely use.

You have an iDevice, right? Apps don't have to be on the home screen, and you can set them to automatically deinstall without data loss if your storage is tight.

 

[Starmill]

I'm sure the LNER App should support purchases until more or less departure time.

It did. The problem was just that getting the search results for right away was impossible. You had to search for a future time selected manually (not even defaulted to the next available time, abd if you searched for a time 14 minutes in the future you got an error message and it still didn't change your search) and then press back, adding friction. It's slower on my device than the trainline app is and it doesn't seem to remember my recent locations so searching would always take longer. However after being promoted by someone in this thread I've just checked for updates on the app and lo and behold it does now offer a "now" search option by default in the app. What a pleasant surprise.

 

[takno]

It's not a criticism. It is saying that it is perhaps understandable if LNER and other TOC think that the main interest of their customers is in using apps on their phones, not websites, and so prioritise their development.

If this was the case then they wouldn't work so hard to bully people into using the app rather than the website. LNER's main trick is to only let you book reward tickets through the app, although of course pushing you into seatfrog is similar. In development terms it's generally a lot easier to provide a website than an app, it will work across a wider range of devices and generally solves accessibility problems more gracefully.

The main reasons for companies to push apps in preference to web are that they want to prevent you from using adblockers or blocking cookies, or that somebody has wasted a lot of money on a mobile development agency and would rather double down than admit their mistake.

 

[TUC]

If this was the case then they wouldn't work so hard to bully people into using the app rather than the website. LNER's main trick is to only let you book reward tickets through the app, although of course pushing you into seatfrog is similar. In development terms it's generally a lot easier to provide a website than an app, it will work across a wider range of devices and generally solves accessibility problems more gracefully.

The main reasons for companies to push apps in preference to web are that they want to prevent you from using adblockers or blocking cookies, or that somebody has wasted a lot of money on a mobile development agency and would rather double down than admit their mistake.

'Bully'? That is an extraordinary word to use. It is very normal for businesses to steer and incentivise customers to use one option rather than thevother, but that is a very long way from bullying.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The main reasons for companies to push apps in preference to web are that they want to prevent you from using adblockers or blocking cookies, or that somebody has wasted a lot of money on a mobile development agency and would rather double down than admit their mistake.

In actual fact it's none of those things, not least because most people don't use adblockers. Plus there don't appear to be any ads on LNER's website anyway, nor the app, or at least not on the front page.

It is the fact that apps use considerably less bandwidth (as you're just sending the data to display, not the whole page user interface) thus it saves money. But with most people using the Internet on phones these days it's a bit of a "win win" - customers like it too.

 

[TUC]

For one thing, I don't want wasted storage or a clogged home screen for a service I'll barely use.

The storage such apps use is next to nothing. I just checked my LNER app. After multiple uses, it take up 57mb on my phone compared to, for example, Facebook which takes up 885mb.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

@TUC at the end of the day, I just think we all have to accept that different things work for different people, and therefore if you wish to use the app you should do so, and if I wish to use the website I should do so, and there’s not really any cause to try and prompt the other to convert, as it were

The key point is, all the while LNER have both options on offer, they should maintain them both appropriately, and if they don’t want to do that, they should just not offer the lacking service at all, rather than comparatively neglecting it.

 

[infobleep]

I can't see anywhere that the OP has said that.

It was this post below but I was misremembering @TT-ONR-NRN, said.

Because I dislike TfW's website, GWR outrageously force you to download their app, Trainsplit is my preferred option but sometimes long winded and not ideal for when in a hurry, etc. It's simply a booking engine I know well as (apart from this) don't normally have problems with getting a ticket quickly.

It's not a criticism. It is saying that it is perhaps understandable if LNER and other TOC think that the main interest of their customers is in using apps on their phones, not websites, and so prioritise their development.

But if one builds a responsively designed Web site, it shouldn't matter if one is on a mobile or desktop, as the site will adapt. So offering 15 minutes on a desktop site would replicate on the mobile site.

 

[lachlan]

Last time I tried to use the LNER app for a long distance journey, there was a glitch preventing me from booking the journey I wanted that wasn't there on the website. Yet I wanted to book on the app to use my Perks credit and some other bonus that is only on the app. LNER didn't seem interested in determining what the glitch was but did credit me the money to use on their website - turns out the voucher wasnt valid for the ticket I wanted to use.

Their booking systems on the app and the website are messy and broken in different ways - I wouldn't use them any more if I didn't get money off/cashback for booking through LNER