Trainscanbecheaper website

[Welshman]

On the old Virgin West Coast website I could book an Advance Ticket for an outward journey, and for the return an off-peak single [online only], available on any off-peak train, provided it was booked at the same time and as part of the return journey. This was usually half the price of the off-peak return, and considerably cheaper than the normal off-peak single. Hence, although I was restricted to the chosen day, I had flexibility in my return journey.

I note I can also do this on the Avanti West Coast website, but can't find the way to do it on the Trainscanbecheaper site. All that seems to offer me is an Advanced ticket, restricted to a certain train, or an ordinary off-peak single.

Am I missing a trick here? Is there a way to purchase such tickets?

 

[AllenT]

On the old Virgin West Coast website I could book an Advance Ticket for an outward journey, and for the return an off-peak single [online only], available on any off-peak train, provided it was booked at the same time and as part of the return journey. This was usually half the price of the off-peak return, and considerably cheaper than the normal off-peak single. Hence, although I was restricted to the chosen day, I had flexibility in my return journey.

I note I can also do this on the Avanti West Coast website, but can't find the way to do it on the Trainscanbecheaper site. All that seems to offer me is an Advanced ticket, restricted to a certain train, or an ordinary off-peak single.

Am I missing a trick here? Is there a way to purchase such tickets?

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who is disappointed by this apparent limitation with the Trainscanbecheaper offering. Essentially TCBC appears only able to sell Fixed Time (out and return) or Flexible (out and return) but not a combination of the two. This is a problem for me as I routinely travel to London at fixed times but need flexibility for my return trip.

I've emailed, tweeted and phoned TCBC about this to see if I'm doing something wrong but I've not received any response. This is really disappointing as the TCBC seat selector is brilliant. Sadly this limitation forces me to book direct with Avanti and to put up with the rubbish seats they allocate.

 

[SickyNicky]

Hi there. We run that site. The site itself was designed to display split tickets, but you're not the only one that's asked about it, so I'll talk to the journey planner people.

 

[Welshman]

I'd be grateful if you could.
It does seem odd that you cannot/do not offer this useful ticket.

 

[AllenT]

Hi there. We run that site. The site itself was designed to display split tickets, but you're not the only one that's asked about it, so I'll talk to the journey planner people.

Thanks for responding to this thread. I’m sure this feature would be appreciated by many. You’d certainly get all my future Avanti custom if I could combine fixed and flexible journeys in a return trip. Thanks again for your help.