Hi, I am planning to travel from London Euston to Fort William on (the night of) Thursday 29th of May, and return on Sunday 1st of June.
I have a Caledonian sleeper reservation for the outbound direct journey, but the return sleeper from Fort William was sold out, so I instead have a reservation for the return from Glasgow to Euston. Both of these are sleeper supplements so I need to buy an underlying NR ticket. I had assumed that an off-peak return from London to Fort William would be fine for both sleeper services and also cover the in-between return portion from Fort William to Glasgow on the normal Scotrail train, but I'm not sure how to verify that for certain.
It's a bit tricky to actually purchase the NR ticket through online booking engines. As the sleeper services I'm taking (already have reservations for) are now sold out, I can't actually select my specific trains / routes. I am therefore trying to select journeys that 'look like' my journey on the same dates, and trying to decipher the T&Cs and restrictions. My specific concern is that if I select a non-sleeper return on the Sunday (Fort William-Glasgow-Edinburgh-Kings Cross) then off-peak return tickets appear. However, if I choose a return journey that uses the sleeper (Fort William-Glasgow-Edinburgh-Euston is the only one that comes up), only anytime tickets appear. I don't understand why return routes using the sleeper seem to be blocking off-peak return tickets from being offered.
The off-peak ticket, when I can get it to be offered, is an off-peak return from London Terminals to Fort William and says: "Any permitted route", "Return any day within 1 month", "Restriction code 5F". The linked page from Restriction code 5F says: "Valid on all Caledonian Sleeper services (with supplement)", "Break of journey is not permitted on the Outward journey".
So I think my question boils down to: given those ticket conditions, is my return journey plan (1st June Scotrail from Fort William to Glasgow Queen St, then same evening sleeper from Glasgow Central to Euston) okay?
I have a Caledonian sleeper reservation for the outbound direct journey, but the return sleeper from Fort William was sold out, so I instead have a reservation for the return from Glasgow to Euston. Both of these are sleeper supplements so I need to buy an underlying NR ticket. I had assumed that an off-peak return from London to Fort William would be fine for both sleeper services and also cover the in-between return portion from Fort William to Glasgow on the normal Scotrail train, but I'm not sure how to verify that for certain.
It's a bit tricky to actually purchase the NR ticket through online booking engines. As the sleeper services I'm taking (already have reservations for) are now sold out, I can't actually select my specific trains / routes. I am therefore trying to select journeys that 'look like' my journey on the same dates, and trying to decipher the T&Cs and restrictions. My specific concern is that if I select a non-sleeper return on the Sunday (Fort William-Glasgow-Edinburgh-Kings Cross) then off-peak return tickets appear. However, if I choose a return journey that uses the sleeper (Fort William-Glasgow-Edinburgh-Euston is the only one that comes up), only anytime tickets appear. I don't understand why return routes using the sleeper seem to be blocking off-peak return tickets from being offered.
The off-peak ticket, when I can get it to be offered, is an off-peak return from London Terminals to Fort William and says: "Any permitted route", "Return any day within 1 month", "Restriction code 5F". The linked page from Restriction code 5F says: "Valid on all Caledonian Sleeper services (with supplement)", "Break of journey is not permitted on the Outward journey".
So I think my question boils down to: given those ticket conditions, is my return journey plan (1st June Scotrail from Fort William to Glasgow Queen St, then same evening sleeper from Glasgow Central to Euston) okay?