Missing the advance ticket train; how much extra do you pay?

[Howardh]

Thinking of a day return on specific trains Bolton > Windermere (12.80 with railcard); which ties me down to the 1150 outbound and the 1856 return. Happy with that, but what happens if I miss the 1856 (maybe the 555 or 599 runs late?) - what is the protocol? Do I have to buy a single for the next service, or simply pay the difference between the advanced and ordinary day return?

Thanks!!

 

[_toommm_]

Once you miss the train on your advance ticket, it's as good as a bookmark. You'd need to book a new ticket; although there may still be advances left on the day. If this does happen, I'd recommend using Trainsplit to try to keep the cost of the new ticket as low as possible.

 

[Howardh]

Once you miss the train on your advance ticket, it's as good as a bookmark. You'd need to book a new ticket; although there may still be advances left on the day. If this does happen, I'd recommend using Trainsplit to try to keep the cost of the new ticket as low as possible.

Thanks. For slightly more I could buy the Northern 55+ explorer (if it's still available) but it's no use as I can't use it on a TPE from Oxenholme to Preston/Bolton or Avanti which I would have to on later trains; so basically I'm stuck with the 1856 or pay the ordinary day return! Think £17.35 is the day return (with railcard) so a fiver more!

I'll get the advance and make sure I wobble on to the 516 at Elterwater leaving two connections at Ambleside (and hope the 516 turns up!!)

 

[Watershed]

Thinking of a day return on specific trains Bolton > Windermere (12.80 with railcard); which ties me down to the 1150 outbound and the 1856 return. Happy with that, but what happens if I miss the 1856 (maybe the 555 or 599 runs late?) - what is the protocol? Do I have to buy a single for the next service, or simply pay the difference between the advanced and ordinary day return?

Thanks!!

If you miss your train on an Advance through no fault of the railway, you're SOL unfortunately.

However, provided you do so before departure (it can be just a couple of minutes beforehand if you like), you can change your Advance to a flexible ticket. If you book using the XC website or app, there is no fee for doing so - you just pay the difference (albeit it's processed as a refund and repurchase).

Note that you must select an e-ticket, or not have collected the ticket, to get an instant refund of the original Advance (otherwise you have to post it back and only get the refund when they receive it). Also I don't think it's possible to change an Advance single into a walk-up return, but I may be mistaken there as it's been a while since I did this through XC.

 

[NeilWatson]

If you miss your train on an Advance through no fault of the railway, you're SOL unfortunately.

However, provided you do so before departure (it can be just a couple of minutes beforehand if you like), you can change your Advance to a flexible ticket. If you book using the XC website or app, there is no fee for doing so - you just pay the difference (albeit it's processed as a refund and repurchase).

Note that you must select an e-ticket, or not have collected the ticket, to get an instant refund of the original Advance (otherwise you have to post it back and only get the refund when they receive it). Also I don't think it's possible to change an Advance single into a walk-up return, but I may be mistaken there as it's been a while since I did this through XC.

SOL ?

 

[Merseysider]

SOL ?

That stands for **** outta luck.

 

[michael74]

If you miss your train on an Advance through no fault of the railway, you're SOL unfortunately.

However, provided you do so before departure (it can be just a couple of minutes beforehand if you like), you can change your Advance to a flexible ticket. If you book using the XC website or app, there is no fee for doing so - you just pay the difference (albeit it's processed as a refund and repurchase).

Note that you must select an e-ticket, or not have collected the ticket, to get an instant refund of the original Advance (otherwise you have to post it back and only get the refund when they receive it). Also I don't think it's possible to change an Advance single into a walk-up return, but I may be mistaken there as it's been a while since I did this through XC.

Earlier this year I was in the position where I knew I was going to miss my XC journey, booked on an Advance (and on an e-ticket), with about ½ hour to go rang XC, it took the nice chap in the overseas call centre at least 2 attempts to understand my situation and in the end told me to speak to the local ticket office (GWR....) at that point I hung up and went on trainsplit and swore under my breath....

 

[Trainbike46]

Thinking of a day return on specific trains Bolton > Windermere (12.80 with railcard); which ties me down to the 1150 outbound and the 1856 return. Happy with that, but what happens if I miss the 1856 (maybe the 555 or 599 runs late?) - what is the protocol? Do I have to buy a single for the next service, or simply pay the difference between the advanced and ordinary day return?

Thanks!!

I once missed the avanti service my advance ticket was for, and the staff at the ticket office excessed it to an off-peak (with me obviously paying the difference - that hurt). But I think that was just the member of staff being very nice, and not a right you can count on

 

[Bletchleyite]

I once missed the avanti service my advance ticket was for, and the staff at the ticket office excessed it to an off-peak (with me obviously paying the difference - that hurt). But I think that was just the member of staff being very nice, and not a right you can count on

Worth noting that an excess isn't very useful in this case, or not unless you like sitting around for about 3 hours for the next Northern through train. Excessing an Advance does not remove the TOC restriction. Some sales sites do it as refund-and-reissue which unofficially works around this, but it will likely be against an admin fee (the "travel with confidence" thing only waives it up until the day before).

 

[Trainbike46]

Worth noting that an excess isn't very useful in this case, or not unless you like sitting around for about 3 hours for the next Northern through train. Excessing an Advance does not remove the TOC restriction. Some sales sites do it as refund-and-reissue which unofficially works around this, but it will likely be against an admin fee (the "travel with confidence" thing only waives it up until the day before).

Good point!

If the difference is only a fiver, it might be best to just buy an off-peak day return from the outset: easier, no need to worry about missing your train and if you do get a different train it's probably cheaper.

All depends on how likely you are to miss the train though

 

[Howardh]

Good point!

If the difference is only a fiver, it might be best to just buy an off-peak day return from the outset: easier, no need to worry about missing your train and if you do get a different train it's probably cheaper.

All depends on how likely you are to miss the train though

Yeah, it's not so much the money...more a "what happens if...?"

Usually my advances relate to Piccadilly/London/Brighton etc, and I would suggest 95% of the time, if I arrive late for my selected train it's because of a late-running connection (and not a fault of mine or a bus company) so I'm covered.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yeah, it's not so much the money...more a "what happens if...?"

Usually my advances relate to Piccadilly/London/Brighton etc, and I would suggest 95% of the time, if I arrive late for my selected train it's because of a late-running connection (and not a fault of mine or a bus company) so I'm covered.

If you think there's a reasonable chance of this, given that the Off Peak Day Return is about £25, is it worth looking for a "backup" Advance for your return journey on a later train?

 

[Haywain]

Worth noting that an excess isn't very useful in this case, or not unless you like sitting around for about 3 hours for the next Northern through train. Excessing an Advance does not remove the TOC restriction. Some sales sites do it as refund-and-reissue which unofficially works around this, but it will likely be against an admin fee (the "travel with confidence" thing only waives it up until the day before).

However, @Trainbike46 was probably charged rather less than the price of the completely new ticket that the rules say should have been sold. When I worked on counters, I quite often showed an element of discretion by giving the customer a better financial deal in these circumstances than they had a right to.

 

[Trainbike46]

However, @Trainbike46 was probably charged rather less than the price of the completely new ticket that the rules say should have been sold.

Absolutely. The total I spent, so the cost of the advance plus the excess, was exactly the cost of an off-peak single for the route. As I said, the member of staff was very nice!

It still was an expensive excess though, as off-peak tickets on avanti are still quite expensive

 

[edwin_m]

A couple of years ago I missed my scheduled train from Nottingham to Norwich due to a combination of my bus being a bit late, about 75% of the ticket on departure machines being out of order, people queuing at the working ones, and the typical Nottingham practice of putting the train down the C end of the platform so I had a chance to view it from a distance before it left. I explained this to the ticket office, emphasising the second of these reasons, and they endorsed my Advance for the next train. Sometimes flexibility can be shown if you ask nicely!