Virgin Trains Ticketing getting validity dates wrong

[mikeg]

I've just booked an Anytime Return with Virgin Trains Ticketing, with the e-ticket fulfilment method and it shows the outward as only being valid for one day. Furthermore, it shows the return portion, booked for the day after starting on that date, rather than the date of the outward. Anyone know any reasons for this? I'll contact VTT but it just seems odd, and potentially could lead to passengers being wrongly denied travel. Another Silverrail bug perhaps? A shame as otherwise I really like Virgin Trains Ticketing.

 

[Adam Williams]

I can't reproduce this. I purchased an SOR from BHI -> COV.

It correctly shows VALID UNTIL: 07 Aug 2023 for an outward departure on 03 Aug 2023. The return coupon shows the ticket start date as also being 03 Aug 2023 and valid until 02 Sep 2023.

Which exact ticket did you buy, and on which flow?

 

[mikeg]

Hi, I bought a GC only Anytime Return from York to Thirsk. It seems upon further inspection, that a GC only Anytime Return is only valid for one day on the out. That doesn't explain the difference in return date, but yeah, GC should refer to their 'Anytime Return' as an 'Anytime Short Return'.

 

[Wallsendmag]

The restrictions seem fairly clear

 

[AlterEgo]

Hi, I bought a GC only Anytime Return from York to Thirsk. It seems upon further inspection, that a GC only Anytime Return is only valid for one day on the out. That doesn't explain the difference in return date, but yeah, GC should refer to their 'Anytime Return' as an 'Anytime Short Return'.

Agreed. This is likely an oversight on the fares setter's part by mislabelling the ticket. NRE says:

With Anytime Returns the outward part is valid for 5 days from the date shown on your ticket, and the return for 1 month.

The special GC restriction about it being valid for only one day on the outward is not shown prior to booking, at least when I check on Trainline, Avanti, and VTT.

 

[erk]

I recently booked of an off-peak return e-ticket, London to Manchester, from Avanti.

The outward is dated 21 Jul 2023, valid until 21 Jul 2023.
The return is dated 20 Jul 2023, valid until 19 Aug 2023.

Fortunately my return was within the reduced validity (and I didn't want to come back before I'd gone).