Why do people still use Trainline.com?

[Ianno87]

Think about it.

Most of you take an enhanced level of interest in the railways, have a great deal of technical knowledge and understand how the ticketing system works. Most people don't however. So many people don't understand the concept of through tickets for example and genuinely believe they must buy a seperate ticket for each leg of their journey.

TOCs will struggle to complete with The Trainline, because their branding turns potential custom away. TOCs plaster their own name all over their websites, the URL and the result is that the many people who aren't technical experts on ticketing will only think to go to their website if they are making a journey involving one of their trains.

Now most people don't want to sign up to loads of different TOC websites. The Trainline is a household name without the branding stigma of being allied to just one TOC. People know they can buy tickets nationwide on that site and this will drive loyalty. People will pay the booking fee for the perceived convenience of being able to buy all their tickets in one place.

A die hard value seeker like me wouldn't touch that website with a ten foot bargepole, unless I got something out of it like enhanced levels of cashback or oodles of points...

Completely agree with this:
-Lots of people don't realise you can book any journey on any TOC's website
-They've got their brand name spot on. Easy to remember, and was one of the first brands put out in the late 90s when online booking first became a thing, and its been stuck in the public's consciousness ever since.
-They're the only one to advertise on TV nationally. Any TOC adverts tend to be regional only (possibly Virgin Trains excepted in years gone by).- for.example our local cinema shows Greater Anglia adverts before the trailers.

 

[Meole]

Easier to access and navigate for tickets in Europe than several national sites there.

 

[jumble]

Trainline will be cheaper on most tickets if one has the Amex 3% rebate offer on ones card

 

[Paul Kelly]

Claims like "buying from us can save you X % compared with buying at the station" should be replaced with Buying things like: "Buying an Advance ticket can be X % cheaper then buying an Anytime ticket."

Have you looked at the Trainline site recently? It doesn't say anything remotely close to the bit I've highlighted. The headline claim is actually fairly close to what you suggest:

(Image shows "Save an average of 51% when you book tickets in advance*").
The fairly prominent (in my opinion) asterisk leads to the following explanation further down:

* Average savings on all fares booked at least one week before day of travel on UK Advanced Fares vs Anytime fares purchased on day of travel. Subject to availability. Excludes coach.

with a fairly non-committal explanation above:

Cheap train tickets - buy in advance and save 51%*

We help you save on rail tickets by highlighting the cheapest prices for your next UK national rail booking. You can benefit from great savings when buying your train tickets in advance. If you are flexible with your time of travel, use our best fare finder to find cheap train tickets other customers have found. So, what are you waiting for? For simple, hassle-free booking you can find all the prices and timetables for trains and buses using our simple booking platform. We’ll automatically compare the prices of different tickets across all operators, so you don’t have to.

All that reads to me as if they're being very careful indeed not to say they're cheaper; in fact the language is so woolly that it might raise questions for someone reading it who didn't know Trainline were more expensive but had a cynical and enquiring mind...

 

[ashkeba]

More generally, I don't know why people get upset about others using Trainline - it is their money and their choice ...

The popularity of Trainline gives ordinary people a bad impression that the railways are more expensive than they are, plus many railway supporters are fine public-spirited people who don't like seeing other passengers gouged.

It's also a defective booking engine, leading ordinary people to believe they have to mess around with phone calls while in the middle of the online booking process to add some types of reservation! TOCs should be banned from using it until it offers the full range of tickets available at stations.

 

[jon0844]

Yes, it is amazing how many otherwise sensible people completely fall for Trainline's marketing and believe that they are getting a better deal booking through then.

Being a cynical sod, I'm teaching my seven year old to not believe everything he sees on adverts - but there are plenty of people considerably older that get taken in by marketing.

It's like people who tell you how great a BMW or Audi is because BMW or Audi talked about the quality German engineering. By all means listen to a proper journalist saying that, but not the company itself!

The same goes for the Trainline. It cleverly implies that it can offer cheaper tickets than anyone else, but doesn't actually say that. It can offer cheaper tickets than you might otherwise buy (e.g. a walk-up ticket over an advance) but it relies on ignorance to 'fill in the blanks' incorrectly.

[Edit: I see from a post above that they've scaled back this somewhat, perhaps having fallen foul of the ASA? Fair enough if that's the current message - but I still think people are believers that they offer cheaper tickets than the greedy private operators would]

 

[mirodo]

I use the Trainline because:
* The app is easy to use
* I don't have to have multiple apps for different TOCs
* I can add my etickets to Apple Wallet, so I can access them directly from the lock screen
* I can use Apple Pay
* I can add any tickets bought by my work, who use Trainline for any corporate bookings

 

[alistairlees]

The popularity of Trainline gives ordinary people a bad impression that the railways are more expensive than they are, plus many railway supporters are fine public-spirited people who don't like seeing other passengers gouged.

It's also a defective booking engine, leading ordinary people to believe they have to mess around with phone calls while in the middle of the online booking process to add some types of reservation! TOCs should be banned from using it until it offers the full range of tickets available at stations.

What a silly post. Bike reservations are hardly the end of the world. In any case it sells the tickets that are priced by the operators. I don’t see how that is gouging.

 

[ashkeba]

What a silly post. Bike reservations are hardly the end of the world. In any case it sells the tickets that are priced by the operators. I don’t see how that is gouging.

What a silly post. No one said bike reservations or the others trainline don't offer are the end of the world, just that it's another defect which misleads people into thinking railways are worse than they are.

For gouging, see "booking fee". They are not clear which are real bookimg fees (operator fees being passed on) and which are their agent fees and they should be.

 

[AM9]

I've never found the need to use the Trainline to book tickets but have noted the regular warnings here that they make charges over and above the base prices of tickets purchased whereas TOCs and others don't. I'm aware of friends who are quite happy with buying tickets through the Trainline but am unaware of the add-on costs. Can anybody here say just what those costs typically are?

 

[70014IronDuke]

Interesting thread that I'd even thought of asking myself.

Whateve the pros and cons of Trainline, someone ought to tell them that - unless global warming has somehow crumpled up a few mountains - London KX to Edinburgh Waverly is not 330 miles

https://www.thetrainline.com/train-times/london-kings-cross-to-edinburgh-waverley

 

[dcsprior]

Booking fees are extremely common in the travel trade, eg EasyJet charges nominally £15 per booking (not per person/flight).

EasyJet's fees are included in the price displayed for the first journey you add to the booking (i.e. if I book a return for one person, each leg will have £7.50 included in the price for the booking fee, unless I have something else in my basket.

I wonder if thetrainline had to do the same whether that'd influence some customers' perception of how good value they were?

 

[AM9]

EasyJet's fees are included in the price displayed for the first journey you add to the booking (i.e. if I book a return for one person, each leg will have £7.50 included in the price for the booking fee, unless I have something else in my basket.

I wonder if thetrainline had to do the same whether that'd influence some customers' perception of how good value they were?

Well do you know how much they charge, either as a percentage or as a fixed charge? It may be one percent of the total or one pound or some other figure which not everybody minds paying.

 

[PeterC]

Just searched "train tickets" on Google. Trainline was the top organic result.

People go where the big G tells them to go.

 

[alistairlees]

What a silly post. No one said bike reservations or the others trainline don't offer are the end of the world, just that it's another defect which misleads people into thinking railways are worse than they are.

For gouging, see "booking fee". They are not clear which are real bookimg fees (operator fees being passed on) and which are their agent fees and they should be.

Very few people want to book bike reservations, so I doubt that has anything more than a negligible negative effect.

On the other hand they do a pretty good job of finding fares and journeys. And that is a positive for everyone who books train tickets, somewhat outweighing the lack of bike reservations.

And, because of the trusted brand, people are prepared to part with a booking fee which is relatively small in the scheme of things. That’s the power of a brand. The booking fee is not charged on every transaction anyway.

Certainly none of this a reason to “ban TOCs from using it” as you suggest (TOCs could pay for bike reservations to be added if they wanted). That’s why I said it’s a silly post.

I do agree that knowledgeable people can and will use other sites that don’t charge a fee. But for many people it does a perfectly good job and has probably increased train travel.

Oh, and it’s not just about booking; the Trainline apps that help you as you travel are no doubt valued by customers too.

 

[tbtc]

It's always amusing to see the kind of snooty responses some people have to The Train Line - it's a relatively popular website that has become/remained relatively popular by being relatively simple to use and by promoting train travel - it seems good enough for a large chunk of the population, and if they are happy to pay for that service then fair enough.

It's a bit like seeing IT people arguing that everyone should use Linux rather than the more expensive alternatives out there - I'm not saying that The Train Line is perfect (or the most suitable to every combination of journeys) but it fills a purpose - if they didn't advertise their service so heavily then maybe some people would gravitate towards TOC websites (or specialist "splitting" sites etc) but a number of them wouldn't bother with trains (if things became more complicated as a result) - in my mind TTL are a positive as they encourage more train travel than would otherwise happen.

There's nothing stopping other websites from advertising their services - if the market for bike reservations is so big that people think a specialist site could compete - but if you remove the booking fee aspect them there's a good chance that fewer people will bother trying to sell railway tickets (= fewer tickets sold). I know we don't like paying fees but this isn't the kind of rip-off market that you encounter when booking for gigs etc.

 

[TUC]

I think there are a number of misleading claims that are used in marketing by trainline, train companies with regards to booking on their own websites and independent online retailer of national rail tickets. In short, buying an Advance ticket (which is also available in advance from a booking office) rather then a walk up ticket on the day. However in the marketing this translates to buying your ticket in advance from us rather then at the station on the day.

I believe this is very misleading and a total lie. It gives people the impression, wrongly, that trainline (or whichever online retailer) can sell fares that booking offices can't and that they can get some special deal purely by booking online. The end result, people don't know the full details of ticketing (e.g. Advance tickets vs Walk Ups and where/when they can be sold) and booking at trainline just becomes their default and they do so without questioning. Thus, they pay booking fees and more for their tickets.

Claims like "buying from us can save you X % compared with buying at the station" should be replaced with Buying things like: "Buying an Advance ticket can be X % cheaper then buying an Anytime ticket."

But you seem to be assuming that instead of using the Trainline people would use a booking office. Surely the preferable option in terms of customer convenience is to use a different online retailer who doesn’t charge fees?

 

[Bletchleyite]

But you seem to be assuming that instead of using the Trainline people would use a booking office. Surely the preferable option in terms of customer convenience is to use a different online retailer who doesn’t charge fees?

They can if they want even use one based on Trainline so a similar UI etc.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

On Sunday 14th July a friend was trying to arrange a last minute Nottingham to Skegness trip for Monday 15th returning Friday 19th July. There were NO cheap advance fares available on the East Midlands Trains Website. Trainline were able to provide him with cheap advances on the Monday from 1445 onwards and on the Friday on the 9am ish & 1611 trains from Skegness. I presume all EMTs advance allowance were used up, but the trainline still had availability, so despite the fees it was cheaper booking with trainline than paying full fare on EMT.

 

[Bletchleyite]

On Sunday 14th July a friend was trying to arrange a last minute Nottingham to Skegness trip for Monday 15th returning Friday 19th July. There were NO cheap advance fares available on the East Midlands Trains Website. Trainline were able to provide him with cheap advances on the Monday from 1445 onwards and on the Friday on the 9am ish & 1611 trains from Skegness. I presume all EMTs advance allowance were used up, but the trainline still had availability, so despite the fees it was cheaper booking with trainline than paying full fare on EMT.

There aren't separate quotas (they all come from the NRS) so this is completely impossible and cannot have happened precisely as described.

It can very occasionally happen the other way round because TOCs can have short term special offer ticket types that are available only through their site, but this is not very common. Hence why I usually advise people to book through the "main" TOC for their journey.

What might have happened is something like one of:
- Trainline was showing different trains, particularly if there was a connection - or giving a different change point or similar
- There was an IT outage causing the EMT site to be unable to see the Advances at the time he booked

 

[mawallace]

My issue with Trainline is that the charges are not easy to work out, depend on if you are using the app or website, advance or turn up and go.

I use Greater Anglia's app - and also XC now you can amend tickets free of charge

 

[ooo]

There website is also available in lots of different languages so for foreign visitors it's a lot easier.

 

[Solent&Wessex]

The vast majority of people I see every day think TheTrainLine IS National Rail and IS run by the train companies.

The most annoying thing with online and Advance bookings for me is this myth that has developed - not helped by Trainline or some TOC advertising either - that buying singles each way is always cheaper than a return. So so often I see people pay far more than they need to because they've got Advance singles each way when an ordinary walk up return would have been cheaper. Even worse, they always think they've got a good deal because the website said they've saved money.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

There aren't separate quotas (they all come from the NRS) so this is completely impossible and cannot have happened precisely as described.

It can very occasionally happen the other way round because TOCs can have short term special offer ticket types that are available only through their site, but this is not very common. Hence why I usually advise people to book through the "main" TOC for their journey.

What might have happened is something like one of:
- Trainline was showing different trains, particularly if there was a connection - or giving a different change point or similar
- There was an IT outage causing the EMT site to be unable to see the Advances at the time he booked

I must admit I was surprised. He had booked the outward for the Monday and I had a look for the Friday for him to find NO advances available on the EMT site. Trainline only had cheap fares on the 9.06am & 16.11 - and yes they were the normal through trains - nothing unusual - and he booked on the 1611 on that basis for £16 each - the cheapest EMT fare was £25.60 each. I certainly have never looked at the trainline for fares and always use operator sites - I will of course be checking the trainline in future if I can't find advances on EMT!

 

[Bletchleyite]

The vast majority of people I see every day think TheTrainLine IS National Rail and IS run by the train companies.

Possibly influenced by the fact that it was set up by Virgin Trains (as "The Virgin Train Line" - originally just telephone sales but later online), who later sold it off. It now appears to be a "plc" in its own right.

There's a bit of history on Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trainline
...though it's a bit lacking, most notably it refers to Qjump as a Trainline brand, but that was set up by someone else (NatEx?) and later sold to them.

 

[jamiearmley]

I must admit I was surprised. He had booked the outward for the Monday and I had a look for the Friday for him to find NO advances available on the EMT site. Trainline only had cheap fares on the 9.06am & 16.11 - and yes they were the normal through trains - nothing unusual - and he booked on the 1611 on that basis for £16 each - the cheapest EMT fare was £25.60 each. I certainly have never looked at the trainline for fares and always use operator sites - I will of course be checking the trainline in future if I can't find advances on EMT!

So a total of £32 for highly restricted advance singles when a saver return valid on any train is £32.50? Each to their own, but personally I would have paid the extra 50p and given myself freedom to travel on any train and remove the risk that i could miss my booked train and have to pay for a new ticket...

 

[Mitch in Notts]

So a total of £32 for highly restricted advance singles when a saver return valid on any train is £32.50? Each to their own, but personally I would have paid the extra 50p and given myself freedom to travel on any train and remove the risk that i could miss my booked train and have to pay for a new ticket...

I had told him to buy off peak returns on the day of travel as advances weren't worthwhile for the journey they were making. Unfortunately his Missus panicked when looking at fares and seeing only '5 tickets left' and bought them - for the wrong day - with the trainline - my mate managed to get a small refund by transferring them to another ticket - again singles. They actually spent £97 on tickets (lost £15) including fees when an off peak return for two Ilkeston to Skegness would have cost £79.40. Sadly people unfamiliar with the rail ticketing system often get ripped off.

 

[mmh]

Sadly people unfamiliar with the rail ticketing system often get ripped off.

My current annoyance on that front is people not being prompted to consider buying a railcard if the saving will more than cover the cost of the railcard.

All on-line retailers are guilty of not promoting railcards as well as they could.

I was surprised to find out that my parents were sold tickets totalling about 240quid for a journey they needed to make on the spur of the moment recently at Llandudno Junction ticket office without railcards being suggested - they are both visibly over 60, and if they weren't a Two Together card would have been appropriate.

That disappointed me - when I was a child they had a family railcard because it'd been sold to them on the basis of saving money on a single trip.

 

[urpert]

I’d be happy to switch as soon as someone else produces an app of similar quality, which supports both Apple Pay and Apple Wallet for e-tix. As far as I can tell nobody has yet managed.

 

[route:oxford]

In my opinion, it makes absolutely no sense! If I ever need to buy online, e.g. for advance fares, I will use the TOC that the majority of my journey takes place on. My partner still uses the Trainline for all tickets and it drives me insane. Do you think people are aware you can book tickets through the TOC?

Why do people buy direct from the TOC when you can often get between 10-15% cashback at LOCO2?

Why do people buy direct from the TOC when you can often get between 5%-10% cashback by using your Visa or Amex Card at Trainline?

The only one I'd buy direct from is probably Virgin Advance tickets. There's always 20% off them one way or another.