LNER's ridiculous time options when booking a ticket

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Preposterously, when booking a ticket on LNER.com and choosing the time of your train, it only offers options by the hour (10:00, 11:00, 12:00, etc) rather than every fifteen minutes like most.

This would be okay, were it not for the fact that they're ridiculously awkward and don't let you choose 10:00 if it's past that time, so you cannot choose 10am for a 10:15 train at, say, 10:04.

Even so, this isn't normally a massive problem because you can just choose 11:00, and then press "Earlier trains," although this is a major faff really, and if they're only going to offer times by the hour they should allow you to choose the hour just gone. You shouldn't have to choose 11:00 for a 10:15 train and then search for earlier services.

Anyway, what WAS an issue was when I was attempting to buy a ticket from Cogan back to Cardiff. It was about 11:15pm, I had finished ice hockey practice and was trying to get the last train home from the arena. But because of this stupid hourly option, there was only an option for 23:00 and 00:00 the next day. 23:00 didn't work, as like I said above it says "You cannot travel in the past," so I chose 00:00 and it showed me times from 5am, when the first train was. I chose "Earlier trains" and it said "These are the first trains of the day."

So because my train was after 11pm but not late enough to be the next day, I was unable to book the ticket on LNER.com.

Edit: LNER.co.uk not .com

 

[YorkRailFan]

Anyway, what WAS an issue was when I was attempting to buy a ticket from Cogan back to Cardiff. It was about 11:15pm, I had finished ice hockey practice and was trying to get the last train home from the arena. But because of this stupid hourly option, there was only an option for 23:00 and 00:00 the next day. 23:00 didn't work, as like I said above it says "You cannot travel in the past," so I chose 00:00 and it showed me times from 5am, when the first train was. I chose "Earlier trains" and it said "These are the first trains of the day."

Just out of interest, why were you using LNER to book a journey in Wales, a country (yes, it's a country) which LNER doesn't serve?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Just out of interest, why were you using LNER to book a journey in Wales, a country (yes, it's a country) which LNER doesn't serve?

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.

 

[YorkRailFan]

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.

Fair play, I personally don't mind getting an app, but for a website, I do also use LNER as a go to (but they do serve my local station) but Northern's is also good.

 

[Merseysider]

FWIW the CrossCountry app is also easy to use but has the benefit that Advance tickets can be changed FOC. It also allows you to choose journey departure times in increments of 1 minute.

 

[mad_rich]

I suspect they are sick of people trying to buy a ticket for a train departing in 5 minutes, and then having problems with the payment or ticket delivery or missing the train and then giving LNER a headache they don't need.

 

[Bald Rick]

There are plenty of things on the web that are preposterous, but this doesnt make the top million.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I suspect they are sick of people trying to buy a ticket for a train departing in 5 minutes, and then having problems with the payment or ticket delivery or missing the train and then giving LNER a headache they don't need.

Well if that is the case, their attempt to mitigate the chances of doing tasks they consider inconvenient has meant tickets available for purchase cannot be bought.

There are plenty of things on the web that are preposterous, but this doesnt make the top million.

Okay. If the topic doesn't interest you personally, fair enough, but I chose to enquire about it as I'm both curious and frustrated by it

 

[zwk500]

I suspect they are sick of people trying to buy a ticket for a train departing in 5 minutes, and then having problems with the payment or ticket delivery or missing the train and then giving LNER a headache they don't need.

This doesn't solve the problem though, because you could still be trying to buy a ticket close to the top of the hour.

Okay. If the topic doesn't interest you personally, fair enough, but I chose to enquire about it as I'm both curious and frustrated by it

I felt the complaint was fair enough. Buying an e-ticket 10/15 minutes prior to departure is hardly unreasonable, and the system as you describe it (I've never used LNER's website on the day, I use the LNWR app atm and that lets me search for next departure from current time, so I can buy a ticket at any time) sounds awkwardly unfriendly for no particularly good reason.

It'll probably be down to a mix of cost, the spec given to the developer, and communication. Getting it fixed will likely cost more than it would have done to allow selection by the minute in the first place, but hey ho...

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Getting it fixed will likely cost more than it would have done to allow selection by the minute in the first place, but hey ho...

Even if they don't allow you to search by the minute, they should still allow you to choose the hour that we're in without saying "You can't travel in the past." Say it's 10:15, I should be able to choose 10:00 if the next option is 11, and then they can show me the trains in 10:00-10:59 that aren't in the past (so 10:15 onwards departures)

 

[zwk500]

Even if they don't allow you to search by the minute, they should still allow you to choose the hour that we're in without saying "You can't travel in the past." Say it's 10:15, I should be able to choose 10:00 if the next option is 11, and then they can show me the trains in 10:00-10:59 that aren't in the past (so 10:15 onwards departures)

Tbh that sounds more clunky than just allowing a 5- or 1- minute increment search. I am no coding expert, but it sounds like you'd have more processing (and therefore a slower result) by saying 'Any train after 10.00 but it's now 10.24 so remove the first 4 results) than saying just 'any train after 10.25'.

Regardless of how the issue might be solved, it would now be a change request to the delivered website, and therefore cost more.

 

[smsm1]

I find the UK train booking system such a pain for this reason. You end up being unable to live train information too due to it through the TOC systems. Also what if you have jumped on a train and buying a ticket. Yes I know you are meant to but before boarding, but say you normally but from the guard and he's too busy or unable to come through today. It would be much better if this restriction was relaxed a bit too cater for last minute journeys better.

DB in Germany manage to allow journey plans in the past so that you can see the live status of the trains, why can't we do that here too?

 

[19Gnasher69]

I had the same problem travelling from York to Harrogate a while ago. It was a last minute journey and the Northern app wouldn’t let me buy the ticket as it was too close to departure time. I just bought a Harrogate to York open return and showed the tickets in reverse.

 

[Kite159]

Just out of interest, why were you using LNER to book a journey in Wales, a country (yes, it's a country) which LNER doesn't serve?

One reason might be that the OP has an offer for a certain percentage cashback when booking on the LNER website as they frequently pop up as offering cashback on the likes of Airtime Rewards or bank 'everyday cashback reward schemes. Certainly I've used the LNER website to do similar when they didn't have a minimum spend with my Natwest credit card.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

One reason might be that the OP has an offer for a certain percentage cashback when booking on the LNER website as they frequently pop up as offering cashback on the likes of Airtime Rewards or bank 'everyday cashback reward schemes. Certainly I've used the LNER website to do similar when they didn't have a minimum spend with my Natwest credit card.

Their £5 start up reward for downloading the app is also rather generous

 

[waterboo]

Preposterously, when booking a ticket on LNER.com and choosing the time of your train, it only offers options by the hour (10:00, 11:00, 12:00, etc) rather than every fifteen minutes like most.

This would be okay, were it not for the fact that they're ridiculously awkward and don't let you choose 10:00 if it's past that time, so you cannot choose 10am for a 10:15 train at, say, 10:04.

Even so, this isn't normally a massive problem because you can just choose 11:00, and then press "Earlier trains," although this is a major faff really, and if they're only going to offer times by the hour they should allow you to choose the hour just gone. You shouldn't have to choose 11:00 for a 10:15 train and then search for earlier services.

Anyway, what WAS an issue was when I was attempting to buy a ticket from Cogan back to Cardiff. It was about 11:15pm, I had finished ice hockey practice and was trying to get the last train home from the arena. But because of this stupid hourly option, there was only an option for 23:00 and 00:00 the next day. 23:00 didn't work, as like I said above it says "You cannot travel in the past," so I chose 00:00 and it showed me times from 5am, when the first train was. I chose "Earlier trains" and it said "These are the first trains of the day."

So because my train was after 11pm but not late enough to be the next day, I was unable to book the ticket on LNER.com.

Edit: LNER.co.uk not .com

Sorry to hear about your frustrations, but unless you've directed your complaints direct to the source of discontent - this becomes futile conversation.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Sorry to hear about your frustrations, but unless you've directed your complaints direct to the source of discontent - this becomes futile conversation.

No it doesn’t. I’m interested to know people’s experiences, whether they’ve had a similar situation happen, whether they’re aware of why the website is set up that way, if it’s been raised before, if other websites have similar, etc.

 

[43096]

No it doesn’t. I’m interested to know people’s experiences, whether they’ve had a similar situation happen, whether they’re aware of why the website is set up that way, if it’s been raised before, if other websites have similar, etc.

It’s all rather #firstworldproblems. Remember LNER is primarily a long distance operator so an hour “window” isn’t unreasonable - and their app gives 15min segments. It’s not an issue - and I book most of my tickets through LNER.

 

[LickeyIncliner]

Going back to your original point: I've just tried lner.co.uk and it's giving me half-hour options - which is better than the hour-long options you report, but still oddly inconsistent with the phone app that offers quarter-hour choices. And I agree with other posts above that the way it won't tell you about trains in the immediate future is very unhelpful if (for example) you already have an open ticket and just what to find the next train. I agree there is a potential issue about either the website or app selling tickets when it is too late for the purchaser to collect them from a machine, but that could be dealt with by an "are you sure you've got time to collect these tickets?" prompt if and only if the process gets to the point of selling a paper-only ticket.

See also my grumbles about the LNER app at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/improving-lner-app-notifications.257448/...

 

[800001]

Going back to your original point: I've just tried lner.co.uk and it's giving me half-hour options - which is better than the hour-long options you report, but still oddly inconsistent with the phone app that offers quarter-hour choices. And I agree with other posts above that the way it won't tell you about trains in the immediate future is very unhelpful if (for example) you already have an open ticket and just what to find the next train. I agree there is a potential issue about either the website or app selling tickets when it is too late for the purchaser to collect them from a machine, but that could be dealt with by an "are you sure you've got time to collect these tickets?" prompt if and only if the process gets to the point of selling a paper-only ticket.

See also my grumbles about the LNER app at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/improving-lner-app-notifications.257448/...

I’ve just used LNER app, under the plan and buy section, put a journey in, it’s states ‘today/now’ on the outbound section and it’s shown me the next available train which is in 3 minutes (for Info 2211 York to Harrogate)

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I’ve just used LNER app, under the plan and buy section, put a journey in, it’s states ‘today/now’ on the outbound section and it’s shown me the next available train which is in 3 minutes (for Info 2211 York to Harrogate)

It doesn't offer that on the website.

 

[800001]

It doesn't offer that on the website.

Also to note it showed train and showed anytime single but then displayed error if trying to purchase ticket.

 

[LickeyIncliner]

I’ve just used LNER app, under the plan and buy section, put a journey in, it’s states ‘today/now’ on the outbound section and it’s shown me the next available train which is in 3 minutes (for Info 2211 York to Harrogate)

Thanks, and fair enough - I have just been able to see a train leaving in a couple of minutes (CBG to KGX). Either the app has been improved recently in that respect, or the problem I had before in getting info about the very short term (on more than one occasion) was an intermittent one

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Also to note it showed train and showed anytime single but then displayed error if trying to purchase ticket.

Very bizarre. It also asks me regularly to pick whether or not I want reservations on trains I quite clearly can't have them on, like on the Valleys lines, where they've never been available.

 

[Travelmonkey]

Strange, personally I use the Londonnorthwesternrailway app and it seems to do the job alright it even offers me routings I can't buy on the website (underground specific zones) although if your leaving yourself close to the departure mark all apps seem to have a little wobbly,

 

[Sly Old Fox]

This is why ticket offices are better.

 

[markymark2000]

Just out of interest, why were you using LNER to book a journey in Wales, a country (yes, it's a country) which LNER doesn't serve?

The TFW app forces you to have M-tickets, LNER is E-tickets and you can save them to various formats and even add them to your phone wallet. That means for delay repay, you can screenshot your LNER ticket, you can't screenshot in the TFW app and so their delay repay has a hissy fit as it wants a photo but the app won't let you take a photo (see the issue?). LNER also has better rewards than TFW.

 

[Envoy]

The TfW website is just about the worst you can use. Goodness knows why it keeps displaying some trains as costing £0 when clearly they don’t? No other website does this.

I have just put in for a return journey from Cardiff to PAD today (Saturday) and TfW comes up with a Super off-peak return fares of £94.20. It also offer specific train advanced singles for £54 each way - which clearly only those going one way might purchase.

I then used https://www.traintickets.com/?/ - which is an excellent website and very clearly laid out. It told me that I could go from Cardiff to PAD today for £78.36 return providing I use any train that stops at Swindon & Didcot.

 

[jacksonbang]

I suspect they are sick of people trying to buy a ticket for a train departing in 5 minutes, and then having problems with the payment or ticket delivery or missing the train and then giving LNER a headache they don't need.

Whereas one would expect that is exactly what the system was developed to deal with. God forbid people need to get somewhere quickly.

 

[YorkRailFan]

The TFW app forces you to have M-tickets, LNER is E-tickets and you can save them to various formats and even add them to your phone wallet. That means for delay repay, you can screenshot your LNER ticket, you can't screenshot in the TFW app and so their delay repay has a hissy fit as it wants a photo but the app won't let you take a photo (see the issue?). LNER also has better rewards than TFW.

I am fully aware of LNER's app, I use it to book tickets when I travel with them or travel long distance, for short distance I use Northern or TPE.