Manchester Airport TPE ticket + Split Ticket rules

[AlterEgo]

The protections the rail industry has to ensure passengers get home are actually very good. I don’t necessarily agree with the position that some people have, that the railway is some rapacious beast out to mug passengers at every turn (individual cases exist, and some TOCs are better than others, but I’m talking about a general principle).

I don’t agree the Airport Advance fundamentally extends the protections afforded to a passenger over subsequent tickets, beyond the terms and conditions their tickets offer.

I don’t agree that any potential test of this would be in the passenger interest either. It will either fail, and a court/RDG deem my position correct, or it’ll succeed and result in pressure for TPE to discontinue the ticket. The Virgin railcard easement was discontinued primarily due to internal and long term politicking within the industry in very similar circumstances, and ended up making many passengers worse off as a result.

I always try to look at the bigger picture.

 

[Deerfold]

I'm usually keen on the more passenger-friendly interpretation of any rules. However, here I don't think I can agree with them here.

When you buy the TPE Airport Advance you know it may be valid on a later service if your flight is delayed. So, presumably, if you want a connecting advance you have to ensure that you leave the minimum connection time from when the TPE train you are entitled to catch is due.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm usually keen on the more passenger-friendly interpretation of any rules. However, here I don't think I can agree with them here.

I wouldn't even say there was any interpretation possible. It is crystal clear that this flexibility is available on TransPennine Express services only, therefore there is no possible intepretation that suggests it to be valid on anyone else's services.

If the second Advance was a TPE Only Advance, I'd suggest they would be being a bit rude not honouring it. But it isn't, it's an Advance for a TOC that, per the Advance T&Cs, does not wish to honour that and I can see no reason, legal or moral, why they should be forced to do so.

The best solution for the OP in any case is to use West Midlands Trains via Crewe, using their highly competitively priced walk-up tickets.

And the only other solution to this, if people can't read a perfectly reasonable term and comply with it (which in this case involves a decision that the fare is not suitable for their needs), is that fares simplification is strict, i.e. TOCs are not allowed to deviate from the T&C of the three ticket types in any form whatsoever - so these tickets would have to be abolished.

 

[AM9]

I'm usually keen on the more passenger-friendly interpretation of any rules. However, here I don't think I can agree with them here.

When you buy the TPE Airport Advance you know it may be valid on a later service if your flight is delayed. So, presumably, if you want a connecting advance you have to ensure that you leave the minimum connection time from when the TPE train you are entitled to catch is due.

I agree. However, such a passenger misinterpretation of the conditions could be very useful if, say, I had those tickets and I really wanted to get a peak time VT service but wasn't prepared top pay Virgin's Anytime fares. Easy, just rock up late at the gateline at the airport at a suitable time, get TPE to sign the ticket and demand passage on the correct VT train at Piccadilly. I'm sure that VT could forsee such a scam that a few passengers might try on.

 

[Deerfold]

I agree. However, such a passenger misinterpretation of the conditions could be very useful if, say, I had those tickets and I really wanted to get a peak time VT service but wasn't prepared top pay Virgin's Anytime fares. Easy, just rock up late at the gateline at the airport at a suitable time, get TPE to sign the ticket and demand passage on the correct VT train at Piccadilly. I'm sure that VT could forsee such a scam that a few passengers might try on.

Although at the airport you do have to show that your flight was delayed such that you couldn't catch the original train.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Although at the airport you do have to show that your flight was delayed such that you couldn't catch the original train.

Do you have to show a boarding card or similar I guess?

 

[Deerfold]

Do you have to show a boarding card or similar I guess?

I think so - at the very least there'll need to be a flight that is sufficiently late. Airport station staff do have access to flight arrival times.

 

[robbeech]

Has anyone asked VT what they think?
Has anyone asked TPE what they think?

Has anyone been in this situation?

One thing we can be sure of is that this type of thread will ensure that the rules are tightened in the future to remove any ambiguity.

 

[maniacmartin]

I'm in total agreement with Bletchleyite on this.

 

[johnnychips]

I think so - at the very least there'll need to be a flight that is sufficiently late. Airport station staff do have access to flight arrival times.

I’ve had to catch a later TPE train than I booked on an airport advance three times because my flight was late. On none of the occasions was I asked where I had come from by the ticket clerk.