Virgin are offering cut price open return tickets for a limited period for families of up to 4 (minimum 1 child/1 adult, max, 2children/2 adults) for journeys either starting or terminating from London Euston. There appears to be no restriction on any service so a family of 4 can choose to travel on a peak time service using one of these cut price offers.
For example, using the particular service I use, the 0514 peak time service departing Bangor Gwynedd to London Euston will cost a family of four £101 return. However, as a single passenger the cheapest restrictive ticket I can get for this service is £131 which involves returning on an off peak service on a specified date. An open return going out on the 0514 is £300+. I understand that the train operating companies are entitled to promote special offers for limited periods of time but personally I find this quite discriminatory. How can it be right that 4 passengers can travel for less cost than a single person. Surely there must be some form of legislation to prevent this?
It's actually a maximum of 2 adults and
4 children.
I agree that it's a joke for Virgin to scrap the Railcard easement (to which I say, fair enough) and then run offers such as these.
The 04:48 from Holyhead (05:41 from Bangor), 07:00 from Manchester and similar peak time trains are hardly quiet. They are close to standing room only by the time they reach Euston. To fill these trains with families bringing along noisy young children (even if just one such family takes the offer up per train) is a nuisance when almost every other passenger is on a business trip or commute and wants peace and quiet.
It's hardly a case of "if we let them try our peak time service, families will be impressed and be tempted to pay full fare next time", as full fare means, in the case of Manchester to London, £700 return (versus £90 return with the offer price).
Families don't need to arrive in London in the morning peak and leave during the afternoon peak. Off-peak travel is fine, and competitively priced when a Family Railcard is used.
In any case, the offer isn't just discriminatory against business travellers. It is also discriminatory against single parent families (1 adult and 1 child costs the same as 2 adults and 4 children) and, even more notably, families with children above the age of 15. Most families don't suddenly disband when the eldest child turns 16, but with Virgin's "family" offer, a family of two adults, one sixteen year old and one twelve year old travelling from Manchester to London must pay £420 return (whereas if the 16 year old was 15, the price would be £90 return).
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I don't think Virgin care about sticking two fingers up at their cash-cow peak fare passengers - they did something similar for years with their easement allowing Railcard-discounted Off-Peak tickets to be used on any train.
If I needed to arrive in London from Bangor before 9am, I would stick two fingers up to Virgin Trains by travelling to London the evening before and staying overnight in a hotel.
Unless you are able to travel on the last direct Virgin Trains service of the day (Bangor 14:25 to London 17:39), however, you will need to purchase separate tickets for the Bangor to Chester and Chester to London legs of the journeys, because Arriva Trains Wales are even worse than Virgin Trains in setting fares. For example:
Bangor 18:09 to Chester 19:11 [ATW -
no first class accommodation]
Chester 19:35 to London 21:43 [VT]
Through Advance fare (determined by ATW) is £38 standard class / £83 first class.
Bangor to Chester Advance fare (set by ATW) is £9 (standard class only service).
Chester to London Advance fare (set by VT) is £16 standard class / £43 first class.
Arriva have the cheek to attempt to charge an additional £30+ for booking a through fare, even though they don't offer any first class accommodation on their own services (except one train in each direction between Holyhead and Cardiff).
