Interavailability rules

[oddlegs]

I occasionally have to travel from Sandy to London Paddington weekdays during the morning and evening peak periods. My preferred route for doing so is to change onto the Elizabeth line at Farringdon. Getting a return to Farringdon and then using contactless from there comes to about £50. Buying split tickets from SDY-FPK and then FPK-ZFD brings that down to about £44.

I've just noticed that trainsplit will sell me a ticket from Sandy to "London Underground and DLR Zones 1-2" for only just over £37 with the route indicating a change at Farringdon onto the Elizabeth line. The description of the ticket states "Ticket valid for this journey under London Underground interavailability rules". Is this really a valid fare? Am I likely to have any trouble with the ticket opening the barriers at Paddington? I've done some searching on the forum and while there are a few mentions of interavailability on Thameslink routes they only mention it when travelling between Finsbury Park, Kings Cross and Moorgate.

 

[Watershed]

I occasionally have to travel from Sandy to London Paddington weekdays during the morning and evening peak periods. My preferred route for doing so is to change onto the Elizabeth line at Farringdon. Getting a return to Farringdon and then using contactless from there comes to about £50. Buying split tickets from SDY-FPK and then FPK-ZFD brings that down to about £44.

I've just noticed that trainsplit will sell me a ticket from Sandy to "London Underground and DLR Zones 1-2" for only just over £37 with the route indicating a change at Farringdon onto the Elizabeth line. The description of the ticket states "Ticket valid for this journey under London Underground interavailability rules". Is this really a valid fare? Am I likely to have any trouble with the ticket opening the barriers at Paddington? I've done some searching on the forum and while there are a few mentions of interavailability on Thameslink routes they only mention it when travelling between Finsbury Park, Kings Cross and Moorgate.

There won't be any issues with that. Underground tickets are accepted (indeed, TfL claims they are required) for travel on the "core" section of the Elizabeth line between Paddington and Abbey Wood.

It's not 100% clear which section of the journey the statement on interavailability is referring to. It could be the above (technically speaking, I would regard the Elizabeth line as interavailable in the "core") but it could also be the section of the journey from Finsbury Park to Farringdon, where National Rail services also count as interavailable.

 

[oddlegs]

Thank you. £37 seems remarkably good value considering a Thameslink return to Farringdon alone is £44.50. As the name suggests would this ticket be valid to any station in zones 1-2 north or south of London?

 

[Haywain]

It's not 100% clear which section of the journey the statement on interavailability is refering to.

I expect it's a Finsbury Park ticket with an underground add-on and the stement refers to the section from Finsbury Park to Farringdon.

 

[MrJeeves]

I expect it's a Finsbury Park ticket with an underground add-on and the stement refers to the section from Finsbury Park to Farringdon.

I expect the statement is actually referring to both the Finsbury Park to Farringdon and the Farringdon to Paddington sections.

A journey from south of the Thames to Paddington via Farringdon sold to Z1-2 will also show the same message (but I suppose that could just be referring to interavailability on Thameslink vs Tube).

Edit: it is referring to both. A constructed fare to London Thameslink + LU Zonal validity to Paddington will also show the interavailable message.