Salisbury trains not eligible for “Sunday out return”?

[parallelepiped]

I noticed today that when planning a journey from Basingstoke or Woking to Waterloo the ticket price is around 50% more expensive if you select a train that has come from Salisbury. I have never noticed this before, and I checked with several different apps which reported the same.

Is it correct that a “Sunday out return” ticket cannot be used on Salisbury trains? If so, what is the reason for this? I can’t find any relevant information in the restrictions for this ticket type.

 

[JonathanH]

It is just a feature of the timetable today, where the trains on the Salisbury line have been set up as Reservations Compulsory, and a Sunday Out ticket can't be associated with a Reservations Compulsory train. Consequently, an off-peak day return, which is a more widespread ticket type, is "needed" for those trains.

In practice, a Sunday out return is a walk-up ticket, and the trains aren't actually Reservations Compulsory. It is seemingly just done for journey planners.

Back to normal next week.

 

[embers25]

Yet another example of SWR overcharging customers who are unaware of this quirk, which arises more often than you think.

 

[redreni]

It is just a feature of the timetable today, where the trains on the Salisbury line have been set up as Reservations Compulsory, and a Sunday Out ticket can't be associated with a Reservations Compulsory train. Consequently, an off-peak day return, which is a more widespread ticket type, is "needed" for those trains.

In practice, a Sunday out return is a walk-up ticket, and the trains aren't actually Reservations Compulsory. It is seemingly just done for journey planners.

Back to normal next week.

Yet another example of SWR overcharging customers who are unaware of this quirk, which arises more often than you think.

Hopefully all those who thought everyone who was caught out by the 16-25 Railcard minimum fare must have been dishonest, because they selected one train when they bought their ticket and then travelled on a different one, takes note of this.

The rail industry puts people in a position where they have to work around 'quirks' like this by selecting a train other than the one they wish to travel on. That may then potentially become relevant context where a passenger who doesn't have a valid ticket says they made an error.