National Express fare madness

[cuccir]

I thought that the railway companies could be bad for complex/unjustifiable fares, but it seems national express coaches are just as useless (or worse?).

I just booked a ticket from London to Newcastle for the 23:30 departure on June 30th. It cost me just £7, which is a great deal. The only thing is that I am actually travelling to Durham, the stop before Newcastle, for which the displayed fare was £29.60. My experience on the railways gave me the idea of doing a search for Newcastle just before I bought the £29.60 fare, and I'm glad I did. What is ridiculous is that the terms and conditions for the £7 fare state that:

"You can get off the coach at a location earlier than the one on your ticket (with the exception of airports), providing you tell the driver when you get on, prior to putting your luggage in the hold."

So a search for Durham brings up a £29.60 fare when they have valid fares at just £7! How do they get away with this?

 

[142094]

How do they get away with this?

Probably the same was as on the railways. They think most people won't have the gumption to check other fares for the jounrey, which could be cheaper. And they're right as well. Most people will not do what you did, so spend money unnecessarily.

I guess it is within the law, but it would be nice for the law to state that the lowest fare (even if this includes splitting/stopping short) has to be sold.

 

[Old Timer]

How do they get away with this?

Get away with what exactly ?

They obviously have a special offer available on a ticket to Newcastle.

As far as fares are concerned they can charge what they wish, you are not compelled to travel with them if you don't like it.

Here is a copy of the wording you referred to, except that you missed out a little bit that may not be to your liking. I have highlighted in red.

Can I get off the coach at a different stop to the one on my ticket?
Yes, you can get off a National Express coach at a location earlier than the one on your ticket, with the exception of airports, providing you tell the driver when you get on, before your luggage is put in the hold.


Please remember; your seat is only guaranteed to and from the locations shown on your ticket and in all cases, you must travel on the timed journey shown on your ticket.


To guarantee your seat to a particular stop an amendment will need to be made to your ticket. This can be done by calling 08717 818178 (+44 8717 818178 from overseas) or visiting one of our offices in person.


An amendment fee will apply so please have your credit/debit card details to hand. Please note that an excess fare will also be charged, where a higher fare category applies.

 

[cuccir]

Get away with what exactly ?

They obviously have a special offer available on a ticket to Newcastle.

Get away with not offering their cheapest available product when I search 'London to Durham' on their website. This is misleading.

I agree that I am not obliged to travel with them, no-one is obliged to take any service, but there are rules as regarding advertising and offering of prices. I'd have thought that this must at best run them close.

Here is a copy of the wording you referred to, except that you missed out a little bit that may not be to your liking. I have highlighted in red.

That is under the amending of times, not amending of stops. At least, this is what I read on the information for the fare (http://www.nationalexpress.com/utilities/help_fares.cfm?farecode=FF)

"UK funfares only: You can get off the coach at a location earlier than the one on your ticket (with the exception of airports - apart from the 767 service only for travel between Stansted-Nottingham/Leicester and Luton Airport-Nottingham/Leicester), providing you tell the driver when you get on, prior to putting your luggage in the hold."

...then later...

"UK funfares: You must travel on the timed journey you are booked on; if you want to travel at another time you will need to amend your ticket (by calling the National Express Contact Centre or visiting a National Express ticket office) before the departure time shown on your ticket. Please note that if you amend your ticket, you will be upgrading to a new fare category, so the difference between the two fares will be charged and an amendment fee will apply"

So you need to amend your ticket if changing service, but there is no need to amend your ticket if stopping short, though understandably you need to inform the driver if you have luggage.

 

[Old Timer]

Get away with not offering their cheapest available product when I search 'London to Durham' on their website. This is misleading.

I agree that I am not obliged to travel with them, no-one is obliged to take any service, but there are rules as regarding advertising and offering of prices. I'd have thought that this must at best run them close..

What is misleading ????

There is a fare to Durham.

The fact that a fare is cheaper to Necastle is irrelevant as far as you are concerned, surely. You are not travelling to Newcastle you are travelling to Durham, therefore the fare that comes up is the fare that National Express intend to charge for that particular journey. The fare thus does not apply to someone travelling to Durham. It could well be that someone has used up the Durham cheap ticket allocation to travel to somewhere like Doncaster or York.

On the basis that you argue that they should be giving YOU a cheap fare to Durham, THEY could argue that you are defrauding them of revenue for the journey you are making, which is not to Newcastle where the fare is valid to.

So you need to amend your ticket if changing service, but there is no need to amend your ticket if stopping short, though understandably you need to inform the driver if you have luggage.

No it does not say that. It answers a specific question, i.e. can you get off earlier. The answer is yes...but a higher fare may be necessary. The third and fourth paragraphs are in my interpetation allied to the change of destination. You are after all guaranteed a seat between your origin and destination so why would you need to change it ???

I would say that they wording is, at best, poor because proper wording removes any debate.

 

[ChrisCooper]

Like OT said, it could be an offer on London to Newcastle tickets that isn't available to Durham. It sucks if your journey isn't covered by an offer, but it's no different to a shop having offers on some products but not on what you want to buy.

When it comes to buying tickets for different destinations and leaving short, it's not unfair if you can't do it. Try going into a shop that has a 3 for 1 offer and demanding that you should be able to buy 2 and only pay for one and see how far you get. Either that or if a more expensive brand that you don't like is on offer so is cheaper than your usual brand, try saying you should be able to pay the offer price for the expensive brand whilst buying your usual. Again, not going to happen.

There is a big difference between something being annoying and something being against the law.

 

[142094]

I think we've had this discussion before, and someone used the analogy of buying a chocolate bar in a shop. IMO, if you buy a ticket and get off short of the destination (unless there is a specific regulation saying you can't) then I don't see how this could be defrauding a company.

All this shows is that ticketing should be less complex.

 

[cuccir]

My argument in regards to law is that when I searched for a ticket to Durham, it advertised a certain price. There is a cheaper fare available, advertised to Newcastle, and one for which, in my original post, I had read the T&Cs as saying that I could definitely get off early - my complaint was that I had asked the company for a fare to Durham and had not been offered the opportunity to purchase the cheapest. I'm not saying that this is illegal (I've no idea), but I imagine that it at best contravenes standard practice.

Now it might be that I mis-read the T&C's. If that is the case, then my original complaint doesn't stand as such and I accept that. However, the section on getting out early it says nothing on amending tickets or extra charges - those are covered in a separate bullet point as a condition on changing travel time, not destination.

Old Timer - I think we might be looking at different pages? It looks like you're reading this http://help.nationalexpress.com/help/fares-discounts/funfare_alight, I'm reading this http://www.nationalexpress.com/utilities/help_fares.cfm?farecode=FF. The way in which the points are bulleted on the page I was reading changes how I read them. I think the extra charges on the page you are reading refer to extending your ticket - "To guarantee your seat to a particular stop" is what suggests that. The fact that the two pages appear to contradict one another speaks volumes.

I appreciate the arguments surrounding offers, deals to locations and getting off early. The inherent problem is that attempts to price in this way on something such as a public transport ticket are flawed, as 142094 says. I just didn't realise it extended beyond the rail companies.

The relation to the three for two offer doesn't stack up. The offer there is 'on the condition of buying two products, you will receive a third'. The ticket offer to Newcastle contains no such condition and indeed - on the page I read - there is an explicit suggestion that you can get off early with no extra cost.

 

[gordonthemoron]

in 2008 I got a a eurolines coach from London to Brussels, hoping to catch an onward ICE to Cologne. Due to ferry problems, I missed the connection in Brussels and just stayed on the coach to cologne. The driver didn't have a clue who was supposed to be onboard

 

[ivanhoe]

I thought that the railway companies could be bad for complex/unjustifiable fares, but it seems national express coaches are just as useless (or worse?

You have got a good deal. Be grateful! If you are travelling light, then you can probably just get off anyway! I'm sure the driver will not want the hastle of charging you the difference.

 

[amn140174]

cuccir - The reason the £7 fare only shows for Newcastle is because the competition i.e. megabus dose not stop at Durham. You can use the Newcastle ticket to Durham as long as you tell the driver you intend to get off at Durham, two reasons for this are if the service has no pickup or drop-offs booked for Durham they might bypass it and also so you luggage is not in a place that the other Newcastle luggage would be blocking the off load of you luggage.
You would only be charged an excess amount if you travelled further than your destination booking and not short of it.

It makes no difference what t&c say of what people convert them into that’s officially how it works and always has.