Train Genius

[OwlMan]

Has anybody used this retailer to buy tickets? www.traingenius.com

 

[Agent_c]

The site seems a little muddled up:


From the front page:

We’re also accredited and licensed by the train operators. We’re not a reseller for another organisation

T&Cs

TrainGenius.com is only responsible for the supply of your ticket. For any matter relating to the journey, such as cancellations, closures, missed connections, delays, problems with luggage and refunds you must contact the relevant Train Company with whom you travel.

How are you not a reseller if you're not operating the train?

 

[LexyBoy]

I've not. Nor am I likely to opt to pay an extra quid for no added value as far as I can see.

The site seems a little muddled up:

I think what they're trying to say is that they sell directly on behalf of the TOCs rather than through some sort of intermediary... not that that makes any sense either.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....How are you not a reseller if you're not operating the train?

They are an agent for the railway, selling newly issued tickets for use on railway services. A reseller would be buying tickets from the railway (or one of it's agents) and selling them on.

Imagine your ticket is actually a "Teen sensation action figure with correctly proportioned microphone stand". The agent might be a shop like Argos, it's not the manufacturer, but it's as close to direct from them as you will probably get and probably at a price the manufacturer sets (if not cheaper). A reseller would buy the action figure from Argos and then sell it on to you.

 

[Sacro]

On their second picture with all the TOC's, I spot at least 4 outdated logos!

 

[RJ]

Has anybody used this retailer to buy tickets? www.traingenius.com

I did a few times, didn't have any issues with them.

 

[maniacmartin]

They're run by Assertis - the company that runs the booking engine used by Northern and has co-developed the map-based booking engine with Govia. I've not used them before, but I've used the Northern website which I imagine is pretty much the same but with a different colour scheme and no booking fees, and had no problems

By 'not a reseller' they mean that they aren't just an affiliate flogging a whitelabel service from Trainline or Atos or whoever.

TrainGenius can be useful if you're trying to reach a spending target on an American Express to trigger a bonus, as they give cashback through one of the cashback sites and accept American Express. For a minority of people that may be worth paying the booking fee for.

 

[SaveECRewards]

TrainGenius can be useful if you're trying to reach a spending target on an American Express to trigger a bonus, as they give cashback through one of the cashback sites and accept American Express. For a minority of people that may be worth paying the booking fee for.

Doesn't transpennine express and EMT give cash back and take AMEX with no booking fee?

 

[RJ]

Doesn't transpennine express and EMT give cash back and take AMEX with no booking fee?

Yes. Current rates on Topcashback are a blanket 2.1% for TrainGenius, 1.05 for EMT and TPE - though they offer 2.62% and 4.72% for their own tickets respectively.

 

[bengolding]

Yes. Current rates on Topcashback are a blanket 2.1% for TrainGenius, 1.05 for EMT and TPE - though they offer 2.62% and 4.72% for their own tickets respectively.

Virgin Trains are now on Topcashback, and for the next 3 days are offering 3.03% cash back on all online bookings, plus Nectar points on Virgin journeys.

 

[talldave]

They're run by Assertis - the company that runs the booking engine used by Northern and has co-developed the map-based booking engine with Govia. I've not used them before, but I've used the Northern website which I imagine is pretty much the same but with a different colour scheme and no booking fees, and had no problems

By 'not a reseller' they mean that they aren't just an affiliate flogging a whitelabel service from Trainline or Atos or whoever.

TrainGenius can be useful if you're trying to reach a spending target on an American Express to trigger a bonus, as they give cashback through one of the cashback sites and accept American Express. For a minority of people that may be worth paying the booking fee for.

Well that's a very good reason for steering clear. I wouldn't give a penny to the organisation responsible for that map-based garbage.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Fails at the first hurdle by not allowing you to search by CRS code...Mind you, neither does Raileasy nor Loco2.

One thing I did notice when doing a search is that it offers Carnet tickets (where available), which I don't think any of the other sites do.