Advance split tickets - are they changeable?

[skyetraveller]

Hi, I hope someone on here can help with a query I have regarding split ticketing. My partner and I travel a lot by train and I thought I knew my way around the ticketing maze, until now!

My partner needed to travel from Inverness to Kings Cross on the LNER “Highland Chieftain” and when I came to book the ticket for her, the LNER site only had an anytime single at £220 (first class, with railcard). The ScotRail site had a split advance ticket (splitting at Haymarket) for just over £100, also first class, so I went for that and opted for paper tickets as my partner prefers them to the electronic version, which I know does sometimes complicate matters.

To cut a long story short, due to a death in the family my partner found out a couple of days beforehand that she would not be able to travel so asked me to change the tickets for a date later in the month when she needed to go south again. I couldn’t change them on the ScotRail website which directed me to call customer services. When I did so, the agent told me that I couldn’t change the date as they were split tickets and there had been manual intervention, whatever that means.

Not satisfied with the response, I emailed ScotRail and asked if that was really the case as I have not been able to find any information anywhere to say that split tickets cannot be changed. I didn’t get a response by the date of travel so chased it and eventually received a reply apologising for the delay but not answering my query.

My questions are (1) is it really the case that split tickets cannot be changed and (2) if I was given incorrect information, is it worth pursuing ScotRail for a refund of the original ticket, even though the date of travel has passed? I obviously cannot prove that we didn’t use the paper tickets.

Any advice will be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If both the Inverness->Haymarket and Haymarket->London Kings Cross tickets were issued as Advance Singles, don't see why you shouldn't have been able to change them, before the date of travel, for travel on a future date, albeit you might have been liable for two lots of admin fees, plus any adverse ticket price differential.

 

[Bletchleyite]

All Advances are changeable, though depending on how they were purchased it may mean two (or more as per the number of tickets) £10 admin fees. A split is nothing special, it's just several tickets.

If you change them on "proper" Trainline or on Trainsplit etc, usually only one fee is charged. The retailer is entitled to charge one fee per ticket, but are also entitled to waive part or all of it if they wish, and "proper" split ticket retailers generally do.

With paper tickets there are two approaches that vary between retailers - either the change will be issued as an excess, or they will issue a new ticket and ask you to return (or sometimes deface and send a photo of) the old ones for a refund.

What you wouldn't strictly be entitled to do is to change a Kings X-Haymarket and Haymarket-Inverness split to a different split or a through ticket - you could just change the date and time of each. However because of how some split ticket retailers do things (e.g. Trainsplit, for certain), you may still be able to do this.

 

[Watershed]

ScotRail (actually Trainline, who run their ticketing site and app) are/were wrong - the underlying ticket conditions don't change just because they are bought as part of a set of split tickets. Advance tickets are changeable prior to the booked departure time, subject to payment of the fare difference and an admin fee of up to £10 per ticket.

Walk-up tickets (i.e. Off-Peak or Anytime) can't easily be changed when issued by online retailers, though they can be excessed at ticket offices. In practical terms they are often said to be non-changeable - but in any event they are refundable subject to an admin fee of up to £5 per ticket, until 28 days after the last day of validity.

I would complain to ScotRail asking them to make the changes retrospectively, or refund you the amount you have lost out on as a result. Given the circumstances of a bereavement it's the least they can do.

In future, I'd suggest using a retailer that accommodates split ticket changes better. TrainSplit and Railsmartr are certainly two I could recommend from personal experience - and the latter doesn't charge admin fees for changes or refunds. Others may have further recommendations.

 

[skyetraveller]

ScotRail (actually Trainline, who run their ticketing site and app) are/were wrong - the underlying ticket conditions don't change just because they are bought as part of a set of split tickets. Advance tickets are changeable prior to the booked departure time, subject to payment of the fare difference and an admin fee of up to £10 per ticket.

Walk-up tickets (i.e. Off-Peak or Anytime) can't easily be changed when issued by online retailers, though they can be excessed at ticket offices. In practical terms they are often said to be non-changeable - but in any event they are refundable subject to an admin fee of up to £5 per ticket, until 28 days after the last day of validity.

I would complain to ScotRail asking them to make the changes retrospectively, or refund you the amount you have lost out on as a result. Given the circumstances of a bereavement it's the least they can do.

In future, I'd suggest using a retailer that accommodates split ticket changes better. TrainSplit and Railsmartr are certainly two I could recommend from personal experience - and the latter doesn't charge admin fees for changes or refunds. Others may have further recommendations.

Thanks to you and to everyone else who has replied with some really useful information that backs up what I thought was the case. Armed with all your advice, I will fire off an email complaint to ScotRail asking them to look at the case and hopefully refund the unused tickets that they told me couldn't be changed. Fingers crossed!

 

[skyetraveller]

Just to update tis thread, thanks again for all the advice which has helped me to obtain a full refund from ScotRail for the tickets which they (or more likely Trainline acting on their behalf) claimed couldn't be changed. But as a warning to anyone else - keep at them as it took me three attempts to get anywhere. The first two emails received bland responses totally missing the point but the third (full of advice gleaned from this forum) finally got me somewhere! But in future I will do as Watershed suggests and use a different retailer!

 

[Watershed]

Just to update tis thread, thanks again for all the advice which has helped me to obtain a full refund from ScotRail for the tickets which they (or more likely Trainline acting on their behalf) claimed couldn't be changed. But as a warning to anyone else - keep at them as it took me three attempts to get anywhere. The first two emails received bland responses totally missing the point but the third (full of advice gleaned from this forum) finally got me somewhere! But in future I will do as Watershed suggests and use a different retailer!

Glad to hear you had a good outcome in the end!