Spilt Ticketing Anomaly

I have been checking fares and times for a potential journey from High Wycombe to Crewe and return, leaving midday on Friday 28th June and returning on the evening of Sunday 30th June.

Using the splitticketing.com site and specifying a Senior railcard with flexible fares it offers as a possible outward journey the 12.05 departure from High Wyconbe arriving at Birmingham Moor Street at 13.38. It then suggests a walk to New Street in time for the 13.07 Avanti service which takes an hour to Crewe at 1407. Tickets are High Wycombe to Birmingham stations Super Off Peak and Birmingham stations to Crewe Off Peak with a quoted cost of £ 46.90.

If I were to travel one hour later on the 13.05 departure from High Wycombe, it suggests a route of taking the Chiltern train as far as Banbury, then Cross Country to Coventry, changing onto an Avanti service arriving at Crewe at 15.07. The train stops at New Street on the way. For this it quotes a High Wycombe to Crewe Off Peak return at £ 62.75

Surely the High Wycombe to Birmingham stations and Birmingham stations to Crewe tickets are just as valid on this route via Coventry as changing at Birmingham?

Restriction codes on the split are PU and CS.

When asking about search results returned back from TrainSplit retail sites (or branded partners/whitelabels) it's really helpful if you can paste a link to the https://book.splitticketing.com/results?.... URL to make it easier for forum members to look at the tickets offered.

You can click the link icon to copy the website address with one-click:

Adam Williams said:

When asking about search results returned back from TrainSplit retail sites (or branded partners/whitelabels) it's really helpful if you can paste a link to the https://book.splitticketing.com/results?.... URL to make it easier for forum members to look at the tickets offered.

You can click the link icon to copy the website address with one-click:

View attachment 156603

Click to expand...

MarlowDonkey said:

Using the splitticketing.com site and specifying a Senior railcard with flexible fares it offers as a possible outward journey the 12.05 departure from High Wyconbe arriving at Birmingham Moor Street at 13.38. It then suggests a walk to New Street in time for the 13.07 Avanti service which takes an hour to Crewe at 1407.

Click to expand...

That first suggested split doesn't seem to make sense. Won't you miss your intended train connection at Birmingham New Street by quite a considerable amount?

Fixed search link (RailUK Forums Tickets link)

Mcr Warrior said:

That first suggested split doesn't seem to make sense. Won't you miss your intended train connection at Birmingham New Street by quite a considerable amount?

Click to expand...

Having dug through the search logs, this is what was suggested:



So the question is:

With the following two tickets:


High Wycombe to Birmingham Stations £21.35
Super Off-Peak Return
(1x Senior Railcard)

Birmingham Stations to Crewe £22.75
Off-Peak Return
(1x Senior Railcard)


Why is the 13:05 not available w/ this £44.10 (£46.90) fare? Answer: it is valid and is available (e.g. 13:05 out, 18:33 in), but there is a £62.75 fare offered for some return itineraries.

MarlowDonkey said:

If I were to travel one hour later on the 13.05 departure from High Wycombe, it suggests a route of taking the Chiltern train as far as Banbury, then Cross Country to Coventry, changing onto an Avanti service arriving at Crewe at 15.07. The train stops at New Street on the way. For this it quotes a High Wycombe to Crewe Off Peak return at £ 62.75

Click to expand...

Which return itinerary did you want to travel on?

Adam Williams said:

Which return itinerary did you want to travel on?

Click to expand...

Should it matter? They all go via Birmingham and I don't have an exact time for the return anyway. Crewe to Birmingham is almost a metro frequency albeit on several routes. Hence the attraction of a split just at Birmingham rather than somewhere between Birmingham and Crew as well.

The question really is whether using a split return ticket Wycombe to Birmingham and Birmingham to Crewe is valid via Coventry. If it is, then ticket searchs which don't offer it look bugged.

MarlowDonkey said:

The question really is whether using a split return ticket Wycombe to Birmingham and Birmingham to Crewe is valid via Coventry

Click to expand...

Yes - you can see it validate the outward changing at BAN and COV. The outward journey is not the problem here, it's completely valid with the split discussed above.

MarlowDonkey said:

Should it matter? They all go via Birmingham

Click to expand...

Yes, it does matter. Some of the return itineraries avoid Birmingham completely, for example this very long one (!):



Some return itineraries go from Crewe to Nuneaton and then change onto NUCKLE to get to Leamington - again, avoiding Birmingham.

It's the choice of return that's causing the £62.75 fare to be surfaced, so it's important to know which one you are looking at in order to investigate, because that's what is influencing the price.

@MarlowDonkey if you want to only include results via Birmingham, and exclude all other possible fares, you can go into advanced options and specify via somewhere like Wolverhampton (you could specify Birmingham New Street, but I suppose there could be some itineraries that change at Smethwick, avoiding the walk, which may be useful).

And yes the return itinerary matters; not only does it affect the validity, but we also need all the information we can possibly get, to be able to diagnose reported problems.

Adam Williams said:

It's the choice of return that's causing the £62.75 fare to be surfaced, so it's important to know which one you are looking at in order to investigate, because that's what is influencing the price.

Click to expand...

Try this

There's a choice of returns with the 13.05 departure from Wycombe
Leave Crewe at 18.19, arrive Wycombe at 22.16 - price £ 62.75
Leave Crewe at 18.33 arrive Wycombe at 22.16 - price £ 46.90
Leave Crewe at 18.33 arrive Wycombe at 21.55 - price £ 46.90

First listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to New Street, Chiltern Moor Street to Wycombe
Second listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to Stoke , Cross Country Stoke to Banbury, Chiltern Banbury to Wycombe
Third listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to Stoke , Cross Country Stoke to Banbury, Chiltern Banbury to Haddenham, Chiltern Haddenham to Wycombe.

So why no split ticket offered for the first listed choice? You even have to break your journey by walking from New Street to Moor Street

MarlowDonkey said:

Try this

High Wycombe > Crewe - Search Results

The Split Ticketing Champions - Compare fares and get the best value for money through split tickets and booking cheap train tickets online and on our mobile app, E-Tickets to your phone, no booking fee, save up to 90%

book.splitticketing.com

There's a choice of returns with the 13.05 departure from Wycombe
Leave Crewe at 18.19, arrive Wycombe at 22.16 - price £ 62.75
Leave Crewe at 18.33 arrive Wycombe at 22.16 - price £ 46.90
Leave Crewe at 18.33 arrive Wycombe at 21.55 - price £ 46.90

First listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to New Street, Chiltern Moor Street to Wycombe
Second listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to Stoke , Cross Country Stoke to Banbury, Chiltern Banbury to Wycombe
Third listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to Stoke , Cross Country Stoke to Banbury, Chiltern Banbury to Haddenham, Chiltern Haddenham to Wycombe.

So why no split ticket offered for the first listed choice? You even have to break your journey by walking from New Street to Moor Street

Click to expand...

Aha, I know what this bug is.

It occurs when there is a mismatch, at the point where you change tickets, between the arriving/departing stations between the itineraries, e.g. in this case you arrive at & depart from BHM (without changing), whereas in the return direction you arrive at BHM but depart from BMO.

I came across it a few weeks ago when doing a cross-Manchester journey.

It will be fixed in due course.

yorkie said:

Aha, I know what this bug is.

It occurs when there is a mismatch, at the point where you change tickets, between the arriving/departing stations between the itineraries, e.g. in this case you arrive at & depart from BHM (without changing), whereas in the return direction you arrive at BHM but depart from BMO.

I came across it a few weeks ago when doing a cross-Manchester journey.

It will be fixed in due course.

Click to expand...

Makes sense. The "obvious" route from High Wycombe to WCML destinations and vice versa is via the Moor Street to New Street walk. The trick of changing at Banbury or Leamington to or from a Cross Country service has the merit of avoiding this when the timings work.

MarlowDonkey said:

Try this

High Wycombe > Crewe - Search Results

The Split Ticketing Champions - Compare fares and get the best value for money through split tickets and booking cheap train tickets online and on our mobile app, E-Tickets to your phone, no booking fee, save up to 90%

book.splitticketing.com

There's a choice of returns with the 13.05 departure from Wycombe
Leave Crewe at 18.19, arrive Wycombe at 22.16 - price £ 62.75
Leave Crewe at 18.33 arrive Wycombe at 22.16 - price £ 46.90
Leave Crewe at 18.33 arrive Wycombe at 21.55 - price £ 46.90

First listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to New Street, Chiltern Moor Street to Wycombe
Second listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to Stoke , Cross Country Stoke to Banbury, Chiltern Banbury to Wycombe
Third listed choice, route is West Midlands Crewe to Stoke , Cross Country Stoke to Banbury, Chiltern Banbury to Haddenham, Chiltern Haddenham to Wycombe.

So why no split ticket offered for the first listed choice? You even have to break your journey by walking from New Street to Moor Street

Click to expand...

Ta, this is exactly what I was after.

This is very similar to a bug (internal ref #40653) that I encountered and reported in Jan 2023, which I suspect was not fixed comprehensively.

Adam Williams said:

Ta, this is exactly what I was after.

This is very similar to a bug that I encountered and reported in Jan 2023 which I suspect was not fixed comprehensively.

Click to expand...

Yes, it needs a proper fix. I understand the relevant person has a few other things to get sorted first though