Impact of LNER single ticket only policy and any thoughts

[mike57]

We visit family in Peterborough maybe 4 times a year, travelling by train from Bempton. We are going again in a couple of weeks, Saturday 19th for the day, and there are no advance tickets available for Bempton - Peterborough that day. I am not totally surprised, middle of August, weekend etc and its only 2 weeks off. Route will be Bempton - change Doncaster - Peterborough, which is staightforwards.

So normally next choice would be off peak return, however LNER no longer offer returns, so its two singles. Problem is as a result they have gone up from ~£90 for the return to ~£106 for two singles. A bit more digging and its apparent that I am not getting value for money on the Northern part of the journey. A Bempton - Doncaster Off peak single is £31.40 whilst the off peak day return is only 10p more.

So the answer is to split the tickets at Doncaster which brings the cost down to £92.50. I may be able to bring the cost down by a few more pounds by using an advance on the return leg from Peterborough to Doncaster. (I have quoted full price but we have 2 together railcard, which on a Saturday doesn't introduce any restrictions)

So a question, am I missing anything, whilst keeping to the basic Bempton - Doncaster - Peterborough route (Its a leisure journey with SWMBO so nothing complex via strange routes)

A comment/moan, how the hell is someone who is not a regular rail user and a reader of forums such as here expected to get good value? It feels like an unexpected and unwanted outcome of LNER abolishing returns, the booking engines can then only offer two singles for the whole journey, even although this then shows as a significant increase in the return fare compared with the fare offered before LNER abandonded return fares

And a final question, when splitting tickets what are the rules regarding delay repay and completing journey in the event of severe disruption?

TIA

 

[OscarH]

It feels like an unexpected and unwanted outcome of LNER abolishing returns, the booking engines can then only offer two singles for the whole journey

I don't think it was unwanted by the DfT or probably LNER either, but yes there has been a few threads about the ridiculous underhanded price rises

And a final question, when splitting tickets what are the rules regarding delay repay and completing journey in the event of severe disruption?

Provided your journey meets all the correct connection times, and your tickets cover the whole journey then your rights are unaffected. Sometimes it helps to buy from a split ticketing website like the forums so you get an itinerary for the whole thing to show staff

 

[Bletchleyite]

The best way to get good value is to use a site like Trainsplit or the Forum branded version to see if splits save money and if so which ones. They do (not unreasonably) charge a fee for that, but if you really don't want to pay it you can add the individual tickets to the basket yourself.

Having said that, single-fare pricing has advantages, I used it to my advantage last week when Advances were useful for my outward journey (as I was definitely going to use a specific train) but I wanted flexibility for the return, and it was a complex journey so the old "half returns" would have been difficult to book. Could have done without the sneaky increase though!

 

[ainsworth74]

They do (not unreasonably) charge a fee for that, but if you really don't want to pay it you can add the individual tickets to the basket yourself.

Though only based on a percentage of the saving so even after fee you'll still be quids in

 

[Bletchleyite]

Though only based on a percentage of the saving so even after fee you'll still be quids in

True. I normally pay it (unless it works out silly-high as it very occasionally does if for example an Avanti penalty-priced Anytime Return would otherwise be involved), I don't think it's an unreasonable idea to pay for the extra service offered.