I'm told that National Express have been charging people £2.50 to make reservations on other TOCs trains when their website is used to book railway tickets. For example, somebody travelling from Newcastle-Manchester with a reservation from NCL-YRK on an XC service and a further reservation on a TPE service from YRK-MAN was still chinged £2.50 despite not using an NXEC train service at all!!! To me, this is outrageous and a nice little earner for a company on the brink of defaulting on its franchise.........
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National Express and a nice little earner...
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devon_metro
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It works both ways 
You don't get charged booked for NXEC tickets when using fgw or any other trainline based system.
You don't get charged booked for NXEC tickets when using fgw or any other trainline based system.
This is purely against plenty of rules, being as passengers travelling with other companies are told reservations are free on those trains. But, it surprises me little that they are, being as they deliberately under-bid for the franchise to get and our now complaining that it's cost them. Get them out and quickly and remove the other franchises from their control I say. They've been a woeful shower I'm afraid
First class
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Although I doubt it breaches rules- even NXEC aren't stupid enough for that- it is still unfair.
However, customers should be 'shopping around' with everything these days- including rail tickets. If you're stupid enough to pay a £2.50 "booking fee" then it's your own fault. If Marks & Spencers charged me £10 delivery and John Lewis only charged £5 for a product at the same price, then wouldn't you go to the cheaper one?
Why are people using NXEC to book journeys they don't have any intention of using NXEC for? Use NRES and it automatically goes to the most appropriate TOC.
However, customers should be 'shopping around' with everything these days- including rail tickets. If you're stupid enough to pay a £2.50 "booking fee" then it's your own fault. If Marks & Spencers charged me £10 delivery and John Lewis only charged £5 for a product at the same price, then wouldn't you go to the cheaper one?
Why are people using NXEC to book journeys they don't have any intention of using NXEC for? Use NRES and it automatically goes to the most appropriate TOC.
There are plenty of reasons for using that booking engine, as some fares are not otherwise available.
This isn't correct - I've just tried it.
The NXEC booking engine charges you £2.50 for a seat reservation if an NXEC train is used. I tested it by booking a seat reservation from King's Cross to York on a Super Off-Peak Single.
However when I tested it for reserving a seat on a Virgin train from Euston to Manchester it didn't charge me for reserving a seat.
£2.50 is way too excessive for reserving a seat (in my opinion) however, having said that, it is noticeable how many unused seat reservations there are these days. Maybe the charge is to prevent all those no-shows.
The NXEC booking engine charges you £2.50 for a seat reservation if an NXEC train is used. I tested it by booking a seat reservation from King's Cross to York on a Super Off-Peak Single.
However when I tested it for reserving a seat on a Virgin train from Euston to Manchester it didn't charge me for reserving a seat.
£2.50 is way too excessive for reserving a seat (in my opinion) however, having said that, it is noticeable how many unused seat reservations there are these days. Maybe the charge is to prevent all those no-shows.
F Great Eastern
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I've always used the FGW booking engine for everything for the last few years, it seems to have more advance seats on trains.
When NXEA were using The Trainline before they used the NXEC there was a marked increase in price on advance tickets, and lack of avaliablity on the NXEA site, I booked a advance through FGW for 9 quid First Class Ipswich to London where as NXEA showed me no advances.
When NXEA were using The Trainline before they used the NXEC there was a marked increase in price on advance tickets, and lack of avaliablity on the NXEA site, I booked a advance through FGW for 9 quid First Class Ipswich to London where as NXEA showed me no advances.
voyagerdude220
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I've come across very similar anomalies on the NXEC booking engine, with Virgin Trains First Class AP singles, but only against one particular type .
Especially on peak-time trains to/from Euston, Virgin Trains often offers AP singles at the "BHO" Advance First Class ticket level- one of the most expensive FC AP singles.
No problems with VT doing this, but NXEC does not show the BHO ticket types at all, and automatically jumps to the second most expensive AP FC single on VT services- The "BGO".
In many cases this around 35-50% more than the equivalent fare which trainline based search engines like First Great Western and Cross Country trains (if you've bookmarked the old link from XC).
Especially on peak-time trains to/from Euston, Virgin Trains often offers AP singles at the "BHO" Advance First Class ticket level- one of the most expensive FC AP singles.
No problems with VT doing this, but NXEC does not show the BHO ticket types at all, and automatically jumps to the second most expensive AP FC single on VT services- The "BGO".
In many cases this around 35-50% more than the equivalent fare which trainline based search engines like First Great Western and Cross Country trains (if you've bookmarked the old link from XC).
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