Why Can’t Booking Websites Have a Simple Tick Box for ‘Exclude Advance Tickets’.

[Envoy]

When trying to find out the fares and times of trains, I usually do not want to be tied down to Advance Specific Train tickets - I just want to know the price(s) of using particular trains. For example, if I want to get from a to b and back again, I would like to use the Off Peak and Super Off Peak Trains yet it seems to be very difficult to find these via the websites. So, a simple tick box for ‘Exclude Advance Tickets for Specific Trains’ would be most welcome.

 

[trainophile]

? Just pick Flexible instead of Fixed from the menu.

 

[30907]

Some sites have an Open Return option

 

[ainsworth74]

The Forum site can accommodate this request quite easily. Once you've searched and got your results you can use the filter to exclude advances and show flexible tickets only.

 

[Envoy]

The Forum site can accommodate this request quite easily. Once you've searched and got your results you can use the filter to exclude advances and show flexible tickets only.

Many thanks for your response. I tried the forum's new site for Tues 11 March CDF > PAD return at off peak times and selected ‘Open Return’ and it came up with a Super Off Peak return at £103.30. However, I happen to know that by buying CDF > SWI (£31.90) + SWI > DID (£17.90) + DID > PAD (£36.00) as Off Peak Day returns the total price comes down to £85.80. Obviously I would have to be on trains that stop at SWI + DID. The forum's site failed to tell me these cheaper ways of doing it.

 

[yorkie]

Many thanks for your response. I tried the forum's new site for Tues 11 March CDF > PAD return at off peak times and selected ‘Open Return’ and it came up with a Super Off Peak return at £103.30. However, I happen to know that by buying CDF > SWI (£31.90) + SWI > DID (£17.90) + DID > PAD (£36.00) as Off Peak Day returns the total price comes down to £85.80. Obviously I would have to be on trains that stop at SWI + DID. The forum's site failed to tell me these cheaper ways of doing it.

The forum's site did not fail.

If you specify the times you want in both directions, then we will offer split tickets. You can choose the flexible option.

However if you specifically choose an open return, that is a different concept and it won't do split ticketing.

Simply do the search again, selecting times for both directions, and you will get what you want.

 

[mdann52]

Did you select a train/itinerary not stopping at Didcot, by any chance? That matches the £103.30 fare you mention

If I force the forums site to stop at Didcot, it gives me a fare of £87.92 which includes the site fee for the split. But that involves a change at Swindon, which is probably why it doesn't offer it by default

If you select the "more intensive search", the £87.92 options also comes up

 

[yorkie]

Did you select a train/itinerary not stopping at Didcot, by any chance? That matches the £103.30 fare you mention

If I force the forums site to stop at Didcot, it gives me a fare of £87.92 which includes the site fee for the split. But that involves a change at Swindon, which is probably why it doesn't offer it by default

If you select the "more intensive search", the £87.92 options also comes up

You can restrict the search to itineraries that call at Didcot by specifying Didcot as a calling point. This is much better than using 'intensive search' (which will be doing things like looking at alternative geographic route restrictions and probably stepping back etc).

However, this doesn't change the fact that you do need to specify return search times if you want splits. It won't work in 'open return' mode.

 

[Envoy]

Well, I can’t get the forum’s website to come up with £87.92. I did get it to offer me a price of £104.60 with splits at Swindon & Reading - even though I specified a call at Didcot.

Goodness knows how any non rail geek would even think of having to put in split places into the search as they would surely assume that the site would work that out? The forum’s new site has that little cog symbol which does not make things clear that it must be clicked.

I don’t think that the forum’s site is very user friendly. I think that a clear tick box to exclude advances on these split ticket sites would make things much easier. The easiest and clearest of the split ticket sites that I have come across is:> https://www.traintickets.com/?/ and it is very good at finding multiple splits.

 

[island]

You can use www.brfares.com to find off peak and super off peak fares.

 

[redreni]

It's not clear to me what a tick box would do that clicking the "flexible" tab on the results page doesn't do? Both would exclude Advances.

Any other aspects of the search form or search results that a user might be dissatisfied with wouldn't change as a result of that particular proposed change.

It seems odd that Trainsplit wouldn't see a split at Didcot if a call at Didcot had been specified. Are you sure you selected "stop or change at" rather than "pass, stop or change at"? The latter would not exclude trains that pass through Didcot without stopping, and since those journeys are faster, they may be prioritised in the results even though they are more expensive.

 

[infobleep]

It's not clear to me what a tick box would do that clicking the "flexible" tab on the results page doesn't do? Both would exclude Advances.

Any other aspects of the search form or search results that a user might be dissatisfied with wouldn't change as a result of that particular proposed change.

It seems odd that Trainsplit wouldn't see a split at Didcot if a call at Didcot had been specified. Are you sure you selected "stop or change at" rather than "pass, stop or change at"? The latter would not exclude trains that pass through Didcot without stopping, and since those journeys are faster, they may be prioritised in the results even though they are more expensive.

If on the existing classic site someone selects flexible and cheapest, I would expect slower journeys, using the default connection times, to show up with no advances included.