Via Aviemore Question

[Ben.A.98]

Hi,

My dad purchased a trip away down to Edinburgh this weekend, booked through SuperBreak for the rail journey from Elgin, and a hotel in Edinburgh.

When booking the tickets for the outward journey we selected the 1509 service which goes via Aberdeen arriving in Edinburgh at 1934. Today the tickets and itinerary arrived.

The itinerary has seat reservations for the train via Aberdeen, but the tickets say "Via Aviemore". Does this mean we will have to get a different train?

The return journey doesn't seem a problem as we do go back via Aviemore.

Thanks for any help,

Ben A

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I'm not sure what tickets you have as, as far as I am aware, all tickets from Elgin to Edinburgh are routed 'Any Permitted' or 'AP Scotrail Only'

 

[yorkie]

If you were issued, as part of your booking, with an itinerary showing, and reservations for, a train then you may take that train.

 

[Ben.A.98]

The ticket type is "ITX High" if that helps.

 

[30907]

IT for inclusive tour or suchlike, which doesn't appear on brfares.com.
ISTR Superbreak have a zonal fares system rather like Sailrail.

 

[Ben.A.98]

Thanks for the advice guys, just off the phone with them and they say it will be ok.

They claim the guard won't look at the tickets so everything will be fine.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for the advice guys, just off the phone with them and they say it will be ok.

They claim the guard won't look at the tickets so everything will be fine.

The guard will probably look at the tickets, but I agree it is likely the tickets will be accepted.

But if the guard isn't happy, the correct procedure is to issue you with free of charge replacement tickets routed 'Any Permitted' and hand you the replacement tickets in exchange for the tickets routed via Aviemore and report it as a potential issuing error.

Eventually the message might get back to whoever is responsible for these fares and they might change the route to 'Any Permitted' as it should be.

It is very unlikely that the Guard would attempt to ask you to pay more money, though it is a slim possibility. About a year and a half ago, a Guard on this line did not follow the correct procedure when handed a ticket by ModernRailways which was being used on the booked train in accordance with the itinerary provided, and asked ModernRailways to buy a new ticket. As a result, I'm informed the Guard was reminded of the correct procedure and ModernRailways was more than compensated for the cost of the replacement tickets he was incorrectly requested to purchase.

 

[greatkingrat]

Just had a look at the Quickbreaks site and it seems in some cases it can actually be cheaper than a rail ticket.

Manchester - London is £120 return, travelling peak both ways, with a night in a hostel thrown in. The ticket is only valid on booked trains, but the cheapest normal advances are £105 each way.