Will book with confidence be extended/made permanent (Ended 30th November)

[Sleepy]

I'm sure some TOC'S found dirt cheap Advance fares a good thing - last minute plans change, either uplift to walk up fares or those that hedge their bets and buy more than one Advance ticket for the return leg - used to see no end of no shows on board.

 

[Haywain]

I'm sure some TOC'S found dirt cheap Advance fares a good thing - last minute plans change, either uplift to walk up fares or those that hedge their bets and buy more than one Advance ticket for the return leg - used to see no end of no shows on board.

That’s how things work, if you can get people to commit to the spend it doesn’t matter whether they show up or not. It’s certainly not exclusive to the rail industry.

An informed source has indicated to me today that a briefing has been circulated recently that says that Book With Confidence is not being extended any further but will apply to any journeys booked before then.

We have not seen any brief saying this, and have actually been verbally briefed that BwC is ending completely tomorrow night, as scheduled. So, your informed source may be wrong - although with SWR suggesting otherwise, who knows?

 

[Adam Williams]

That’s how things work, if you can get people to commit to the spend it doesn’t matter whether they show up or not. It’s certainly not exclusive to the rail industry.


We have not seen any brief saying this, and have actually been verbally briefed that BwC is ending completely tomorrow night, as scheduled. So, your informed source may be wrong - although with SWR suggesting otherwise, who knows?

@js517 quoted the brief here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...-now-ending-30th-november.236984/post-5947905

 

[Haywain]

@js517 quoted the brief here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...-now-ending-30th-november.236984/post-5947905

It wasn't clear where that quote came from but I have now seen the brief thanks to this forum. I appear to be the first person in LNER to have seen it, or to have been made aware of the contents. And not through the expected official sources!

 

[Adam Williams]

It wasn't clear where that quote came from but I have now seen the brief thanks to this forum. I appear to be the first person in LNER to have seen it, or to have been made aware of the contents. And not through the expected official sources!

Gotta love the rail industry

Normally it's Laetitia filling us in on stuff that nobody thought to tell us lot about, so very much the other way around for once..

Presumably some TOCs got to know about it, though?

 

[ainsworth74]

I have now seen the brief thanks to this forum.

We just like to be helpful

Can we also quote you in our marketing materials?

 

[alistairlees]

SWR's website (https://www.southwesternrailway.com/book-with-confidence) states the following:

• You may change the date, or time of travel before the train you originally booked to travel on is due to depart
• You’ll will need to pay any difference in fare for the new journey and a £10 admin fee
• Advance tickets are non-refundable unless the booked service has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled by the train operator for reasons such as disruption or strikes

I was wondering if any website does not charge an admin fee for ticket changes?

There are no after sales fees on railsmartr.co.uk (plugging my own site there). You can change Advance tickets, or refund other tickets, without paying anything extra at all. As it should be.

 

[Adam Williams]

As it should be.

And how profitable would it be on its own as a financially independent B2C company, if it employed all of its own customer service and technical staff and paid the going rate for Assertis' whitelabel API? :P

 

[Af317]

I notice Greater Anglia are claiming it's only for tickets purchased before 6pm on 30th November. Doesn't seem to be on any other operators websites, Is this wrong? Got some tickets purchased a few hours after that I want to change if possible

 

[Adam Williams]

Is this wrong?

No. I think so

Doesn't seem to be on any other operators websites

Book with Confidence

Advance ticket bookings can be exchanged for a different journey by rebooking or tickets deferred until 30th November 2022, as long as the changes are made before 6pm the day before travel.

www.trainsplit.com

Got some tickets purchased a few hours after that I want to change if possible

Worth preparing for an admin fee to be levied. Consider purchasing from a retailer that doesn't charge one if this is important to you.

 

[Af317]

No.

Book with Confidence

Advance ticket bookings can be exchanged for a different journey by rebooking or tickets deferred until 30th November 2022, as long as the changes are made before 6pm the day before travel.

www.trainsplit.com

Worth preparing for an admin fee to be levied. Consider purchasing from a retailer that doesn't charge one if this is important to you.

These are tickets for next week, the website seems to suggest just because I purchased them after 6pm today they are suddenly not included in the scheme

 

[Adam Williams]

These are tickets for next week, the website seems to suggest just because I purchased them after 6pm today they are suddenly not included in the scheme

Oh, I see what you mean.

My interpretation was that purchasing between 18:00 and 23:59:59.999 was fine. Tickets after this point would be no longer eligible.

 

[janb]

Presumably some TOCs got to know about it, though?

Yes, it made its way to my TOC at least. All RDG briefs are posted on the internal Knowledgebase as well for those that have access.

 

[Af317]

Oh, I see what you mean.

My interpretation was that purchasing between 18:00 and 23:59:59.999 was fine. Tickets after this point would be no longer eligible.

Thanks for the info

 

[Haywain]

Can we also quote you in our marketing materials?

I'll give that a miss, thanks!

 

[ainsworth74]

I'll give that a miss, thanks!

Shucks

 

[westv]

It's very disappointing that the £10 "fee" has returned

 

[Kite159]

It's very disappointing that the £10 "fee" has returned

Agreed

Keep the fee for paper tickets, but waive the fee if someone needs to change an e-ticket as the true cost will be minimal in most cases. It will only come back to bite if the ORR conclude that £10 is excessive and the media go down the "rip off" railways again.

 

[yorksrob]

One would have thought that the rail industry would be crying out for a good news story to promote in these times, but clearly not.

 

[Haywain]

One would have thought that the rail industry would be crying out for a good news story to promote in these times, but clearly not.

The industry might have been but the paymasters at DfT decreed otherwise.

 

[yorksrob]

The industry might have been but the paymasters at DfT decreed otherwise.

Good point to be fair.

 

[STINT47]

Is the £10 fee likely to be charged if I need to amend a future ticket due to industrial action?

I will be buying advances for the new year but they could be impacted by as yet unannounced strikes. If they are I would want to be zble to amend or cancel them without a fee.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is the £10 fee likely to be charged if I need to amend a future ticket due to industrial action?

I will be buying advances for the new year but they could be impacted by as yet unannounced strikes. If they are I would want to be zble to amend or cancel them without a fee.

If your train is cancelled due to a strike (or indeed for any reason whatsoever) you are entitled to a full fee-free refund.

 

[Trainbike46]

If your train is cancelled due to a strike (or indeed for any reason whatsoever) you are entitled to a full fee-free refund.

But if your specific train isn't cancelled, while the industry puts out a "DO NOT TRAVEL" warning, you will not be allowed to refund your ticket.

Though in practice so far, any ticket dated for a strike date was usually accepted the day before and after the strike at the very least

 

[Bletchleyite]

But if your specific train isn't cancelled, while the industry puts out a "DO NOT TRAVEL" warning, you will not be allowed to refund your ticket.

Though in practice so far, any ticket dated for a strike date was usually accepted the day before and after the strike at the very least

If neither of your outward nor return train was cancelled (two Advances on the same booking are treated as a return in this regard, it's not Ryanair) why would you *not* want to travel?

 

[Trainbike46]

That is for the question asker to decide, it seemed like a relevant exception to what you said.

The main reason I can think of is if you think it will be very busy on the strike day due to way fewer services running, though in my experience that isn't usually true.

 

[Watershed]

There is no strict legal entitlement to a fee-free refund in the event of a strike, or "Do Not Travel" advice, being announced. The entitlement only arises when one of your booked/intended services is cancelled or delayed.

This being said, most retailers apply industry policy, which has uniformly be to offer fee-free refunds when strikes/"Do Not Travel" has been announced. Fee-free changes are a different matter, with most retailers not proactively offering this (even though there are certainly circumstances in which they are obliged to do so).

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is no strict legal entitlement to a fee-free refund in the event of a strike, or "Do Not Travel" advice, being announced. The entitlement only arises when one of your booked/intended services is cancelled or delayed.

This being said, most retailers apply industry policy, which has uniformly be to offer fee-free refunds when strikes/"Do Not Travel" has been announced. Fee-free changes are a different matter, with most retailers not proactively offering this (even though there are certainly circumstances in which they are obliged to do so).

Unless one's finances are very tight, a fee-free refund and a fee-free change are the same thing.

What usually isn't offered is the ability to change to a different day entirely (rather than the day before/after) without paying any increase in fare, unlike even easyJet/Ryanair where a cancellation entitles you to change for totally different dates at no uplift at all.

 

[Watershed]

Unless one's finances are very tight, a fee-free refund and a fee-free change are the same thing.

Not necessarily. If you bagged a cheap Advance and all that's left 1 or 2 weeks out is expensive Advances or walk-up fares, you could be left seriously out of pocket.

What usually isn't offered is the ability to change to a different day entirely (rather than the day before/after) without paying any increase in fare, unlike even easyJet/Ryanair where a cancellation entitles you to change for totally different dates at no uplift at all.

It's certainly not proactively offered (or even suggested that people might have an entitlement to it). But on most strike days, there will be the right to a completely free change of journey date.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not necessarily. If you bagged a cheap Advance and all that's left 1 or 2 weeks out is expensive Advances or walk-up fares, you could be left seriously out of pocket

Fee free means not charging the £10 change fee. The question of fare uplift is separate.