Refund for abandoned journey using split tickets purchased from multiple retailers

[Mainline421]

Last week I attempted a journey using several different tickets, some of which were purchased in advance through Skyscanner for their offer, another through Greater Anglia for the cashback, and the remainder at the station because there was no real advantage to purchasing in advance. I'll admit I did this under the assumption obtaining compensation would be virtually impossible but I did think I'd allowed plenty of time for any disruption on this occasion and didn't really consider refunds.

My planned itinerary met the minimum connection times and even shows on National Rail Enquiries if you just put in my origin to my destination without any via points, but begins with a one stop doubleback which is not a permitted route on through tickets. However I took this further by splitting several times and taking advantage of a "loophole" permitted by the routing guide at the Northern end of my trip. In theory the next direct service without double-backing should also make my connection but doesn't meet the time allowed to cross London and has actually only once arrived on time within the last 100 days!

Unfortunately in reality the first train I was supposed to take was 14 minutes late meaning it would miss the connection at the next stop and the following service was also delayed forcing me to abandon my journey as even if I had traveled later I would have arrived at my destination 4 hours later than planned and after the departure time on my advance home.

I sent the applicable tickets to Trip.com (retailer used Skyscanner) and have received this in response:

Dear Mainline421,

Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning your abandoned journey from Station A to Station B.

I have followed up your request with National Rail and they have informed me that as you purchased your tickets with different retailers and the first disrupted service originated between Station A and The Next Stop operated by (Outdated name for TOC), you should contact the retailer of that ticket concerning the compensation for all tickets purchased for your complete journey.

I will therefore post back the tickets to you in order that you can follow up with the relevant retailer directly.

If you would like to validate the information provided above, please call National Rail on 03457 48 49 50.

Thank you for choosing Trip.com

Surely this can't be right? I don't even have all the tickets anymore (though I have photos of most of them) and it has nothing to do with the retailer of the £2.80 single! Do I have a leg to stand on here?

EDIT: Sorry this is so long. Just to clarify The Cross-London tickets are from London Underground Zone 1 so there isn't any gap, and for obvious reasons I don't want to send the tickets that used the "loophole" in the routing guide together with my itinerary so I haven't requested a refund for it, all tickets were perfectly valid though.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Last week I attempted a journey using several different tickets, some of which were purchased in advance through Skyscanner for their offer, another through Greater Anglia for the cashback, and the remainder at the station because there was no real advantage to purchasing in advance. I'll admit I did this under the assumption obtaining compensation would be virtually impossible but I did think I'd allowed plenty of time for any disruption on this occasion and didn't really consider refunds.

My planned itinerary met the minimum connection times and even shows on National Rail Enquiries if you just put in my origin to my destination without any via points, but begins with a one stop doubleback which is not a permitted route on through tickets. However I took this further by splitting several times and taking advantage of a "loophole" permitted by the routing guide at the Northern end of my trip. In theory the next direct service without double-backing should also make my connection but doesn't meet the time allowed to cross London and has actually only once arrived on time within the last 100 days!

Unfortunately in reality the first train I was supposed to take was 14 minutes late meaning it would miss the connection at the next stop and the following service was also delayed forcing me to abandon my journey as even if I had traveled later I would have arrived at my destination 4 hours later than planned and after the departure time on my advance home.

I sent the applicable tickets to Trip.com (retailer used Skyscanner) and have received this in response:


Surely this can't be right? I don't even have all the tickets anymore (though I have photos of most of them) and it has nothing to do with the retailer of the £2.80 single! Do I have a leg to stand on here?

EDIT: Sorry this is so long. Just to clarify The Cross-London tickets are from London Underground Zone 1 so there isn't any gap, and for obvious reasons I don't want to send the tickets that used the "loophole" in the routing guide together with my itinerary so I haven't requested a refund for it, all tickets were perfectly valid though.

This is the downside associated with using "loophole" tickets. If you ever want to claim compensation or a refund for a journey that would only have been disrupted by using the ticket in a "loophole"-like manner, you are forced to 'give up' the game and risk the anomaly being discovered and fixed.

It's obviously your call whether you want to escalate the matter further, and you are clearly in the right as it doesn't matter how many different retailers you purchase your tickets from: they can still form one journey together and they can still all be eligible for a refund or compensation in the event of disruption leading to abandoning the journey, or being delayed, respectively.

If you want assistance in taking the matter further (at the possible risk of the loophole being fixed), feel free to say so and we can help you further.

 

[Mainline421]

This is the downside associated with using "loophole" tickets. If you ever want to claim compensation or a refund for a journey that would only have been disrupted by using the ticket in a "loophole"-like manner, you are forced to 'give up' the game and risk the anomaly being discovered and fixed.

It's obviously your call whether you want to escalate the matter further, and you are clearly in the right as it doesn't matter how many different retailers you purchase your tickets from: they can still form one journey together and they can still all be eligible for a refund or compensation in the event of disruption leading to abandoning the journey, or being delayed, respectively.

If you want assistance in taking the matter further (at the possible risk of the loophole being fixed), feel free to say so and we can help you further.

If you have any suggestions on how to take this further they would be very much appreciated. Loophole or no loophole I cancelled the purchasing of some of the tickets at the station once it became apparent there was no chance of making the connection and have sent the rest off already, so don't have them in my possession. It did occur to me afterwards that had I still kept them I may have been able to claim 100% Delay Repay, but since I didn't actually complete the journey I don't think I am technically entitled to that anyway.