Changing Advance tickets

[CallySleeper]

Just a standard advance ticket, albeit not for EC. Travel date is 2+ weeks away.

 

[yorkie]

In that case I'd visit a ticket office.

 

[island]

If you've picked up the ticket it won't let you amend online as the excess ticket needs to be marked with the ticket number of the original ticket, and they won't know what that is.

 

[Romilly]

If you've picked up the ticket it won't let you amend online

I am not sure that this is quite right. I quite often buy advance tickets from East Coast, for travel wholly on East Coast, some 11 to 12 weeks ahead of my travel date and then collect the tickets from a ticket machine within a few days of purchase. I have never had a problem subsequently amending the tickets on-line, sometimes very close to the date (or even time) of the booked journey. For late changes, it is not possible to opt for the supplementary tickets to be sent out by post, so one has to opt for print@home. Here, perhaps, is a possible source of the problem: my understanding is that print@home is only available for advance tickets and only then if the journey is wholly on East Coast.

the excess ticket needs to be marked with the ticket number of the original ticket

In the cases I have just described, the excess ticket cross-refers to the booking reference for the original ticket.

 

[yorkie]

Here, perhaps, is a possible source of the problem: my understanding is that print@home is only available for advance tickets and only then if the journey is wholly on East Coast..

That could indeed be the problem! We don't have enough info from the OP to say either way at present.

 

[Deerfold]

That could indeed be the problem! We don't have enough info from the OP to say hieither way at present.

Post #31 says the journey is not with EC.

 

[CallySleeper]

That could indeed be the problem! We don't have enough info from the OP to say either way at present.

Advance tickets bought from EC but not for travel on EC. ToD (already collected) so I'm not sure what P@H has to do with it? I was under the impression that you could amend a ticket online and then still collect the new one by ToD?

 

[Romilly]

If you purchase advance tickets from East Coast for travel on East Coast services, and select TOD for the original tickets then, if you amend the tickets via the East Coast website, the delivery options for the excess tickets will be: despatch by post/special delivery (if the amendment is not too close to the time of travel); or print@home.

But if you have purchased tickets for which print@home is never available (i.e. journeys not on East Coast, or journeys on East Coast not with advance tickets), then the only delivery option for the excess tickets will be post/special delivery. And if you are too late for post/special delivery, you will have to make the change at a ticket office. See the following from the East Coast website which is about the terms and conditions for advance tickets:

Changes to travel plans:
a. These are permitted up until the time of departure of the first reserved train shown on your ticket(s). After this time, your ticket has no value and a new ticket must be purchased. Please note: If you have chosen Print@ Home as your delivery method, then your ticket(s) can only be changed online via your East Coast account, up until 18.00 the day before the date of departure of the first reserved train shown on your ticket(s). You cannot amend Print@Home tickets at a station. If you have chosen any other delivery method, then your ticket(s) can be changed online via your East Coast account, up until 17.00 the day before the date of departure of the first reserved train shown on your ticket(s), or at the station up until the time of departure of the first reserved train shown on your ticket(s). Note that when making amendments online Tickets on Departure (TOD) is not available as a delivery method for your new tickets. Print@Home (where applicable) and postal options are available. If there is not enough time for your amended tickets to reach you in time for your new journey date / time, then no delivery options will be available online and you will need to amend your ticket(s) at an East Coast station, up until the time of departure of the first reserved train shown on your ticket(s).

Despite what it says about 17.00 the day before travel as a deadline for on-line changes, I am fairly sure that the website has sometimes allowed me to make later changes.

 

[Haywain]

The reason you can't collect the change of ticket is because it is an excess fare, and these cannot be made available by TOD.

 

[yorkie]

Post #31 says the journey is not with EC.

Advance tickets bought from EC but not for travel on EC. ToD (already collected) so I'm not sure what P@H has to do with it? I was under the impression that you could amend a ticket online and then still collect the new one by ToD?

As the journey is not with East Coast, you cannot amend the tickets on the EC website, as the method used is the Print@Home method.

Therefore, a visit to a ticket office is required.

 

[CallySleeper]

As the journey is not with East Coast, you cannot amend the tickets on the EC website, as the method used is the Print@Home method.

Therefore, a visit to a ticket office is required.

Thanks folks.