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Virgin Off Peak Single Cost

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dion belmont

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22 Mar 2012
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Hi,

It appears to me that Virgin have effectively doubled the cost of the Off Peak Single on the Manchester London route.
Previously I have paid about £37.10, now it only comes up as £73 as the single fare, but if I choose a return I get offered the £37.10 off peak option for both legs.

No big deal I suppose if you are doing a return, but it does rule out the attractive option I used to use of a First Class Advance outward where I was sure of being at Picc station for a fixed time, and then an off peak single back when there would be more issues for me getting to Euston for a fixed train time.

When did this change? I booked a £37.10 off peak single fine back in January?


Cheers
Dion
 
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tony_mac

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When did this change? I booked a £37.10 off peak single fine back in January?

It hasn't changed, but this was never a 'normal' single ticket; you need to buy it as part of a return.

It used to be called a 'half return' but after '''simplification''' it was renamed as a single, even though you can't buy them singly.

You could, maybe, look for the cheapest advance ticket you can find for the other part of the journey, and not actually use it.
 

John @ home

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Welcome to the forum, dion belmont!

There are two Off-Peak Single fares for journeys set by Virgin.

For Manchester - London, the £37.10 fare is available online only, and only when bought as part of a return journey. It needs to be combined in the same transaction with a single for the London - Manchester leg.

The £73.20 fare is available from all outlets and may be used for a single journey.
 

dion belmont

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22 Mar 2012
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It hasn't changed, but this was never a 'normal' single ticket; you need to buy it as part of a return.

It used to be called a 'half return' but after '''simplification''' it was renamed as a single, even though you can't buy them singly.

You could, maybe, look for the cheapest advance ticket you can find for the other part of the journey, and not actually use it.

Ah ok, sorry the penny has dropped, I booked the outward single transaction quickly as my options for a cheap first class advance were getting very scarce and I was short of time, if I had had the time to book it as a return transaction then I would have been offered the £37.10 off peak single back?

Many thanks that makes sense, I'll be more carefull next time.

Cheers
 

calc7

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8 Aug 2011
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Ah ok, sorry the penny has dropped, I booked the outward single transaction quickly as my options for a cheap first class advance were getting very scarce and I was short of time, if I had had the time to book it as a return transaction then I would have been offered the £37.10 off peak single back?

Many thanks that makes sense, I'll be more carefull next time.

Cheers

Possibly one of the problems of trainline-powered booking engines listing fares-by-train instead of trains-by-fare (like WebTIS).
A SVH (Off-Peak Single) should always be offered on the Virgin website for Virgin-priced flows to be either booked with another walk-up single or with an Advance ticket.
 

Ticket Man

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agreed,

the £37.10 fare is a Half Saver, which can be booked only in conjunction with an advance ticket in the opposite direction
 

island

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Ah ok, sorry the penny has dropped, I booked the outward single transaction quickly as my options for a cheap first class advance were getting very scarce and I was short of time, if I had had the time to book it as a return transaction then I would have been offered the £37.10 off peak single back?

Many thanks that makes sense, I'll be more carefull next time.

Cheers

And as mentioned, you may be able to save money on this journey by buying a low-price advance in the other direction and throwing it away.
 
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