On 8 Sep, 12:48, Mr Thant
wrote:
Yeah, but GNER do have a rule to that effect, and the other companies
doing advance tickets don't, so it's something to look out for.

People have quoted experiences of GNER staff stating that a ticket is
invalid if you're not in your reserved seat, and not for the entire
journey. This means you can't join the train later on, or leave before
the destination. I can see this being likely because of the time our
TM spent checking our tickets and his list, because I'd removed the
reserved tags (to read them because of the whole Airline/Aisle/Window
confusion) and left them on the table - albeit in clear view of him.

Obviously, they're going to struggle to do anything if you leave early
as we did on the way back, getting off at Stevenage when our ticket
was to King's Cross!!

I must say that, while I am always ready for any impending battle or
argument with a gripper that is trying it on, the fact that people can
be treated like this (or believe that they might) would put many
people off travelling in the first place. I know that the staff are
stuck a little, because nobody (especially myself) want to see people
getting away without buying a ticket, but there are different ways to
treat people.

Jonathan

On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:56:55 -0700,
wrote:
But while TheTrainline.com has a de-facto monopoly (it seems all the
others license their system), nothing will happen. Particularly now
Trainline is owned by some venture capital firm or other - they have
absolutely no interest in spending money improving a product which has
the market by the balls, since they get little benefit out of
passenger satisfaction, while the TOCs get the bad publicity if
Trainline's crap web-app is unable to perform such basic tasks.

As far as I know, Trainline has many improvements on the way.

It has to be said, I don't know how much the underlying reservation
system can store - I know it was replaced a few years back, so one
would hope there are some custom fields available, but if ATOC
specified a like-for-like replacement....

It isn't like-for-like at all, luckily! Thinking back a few years...
if I remember correctly, the new reservation system has "attributes"
that can be set up for a seat, and the system can be queried about
which attributes are supported for a particular journey and then a web
app (or human) could offer those to the customer. Obvious examples
are window, aisle, quiet, wheelchair... It could be that the TOCs
could set up their reservation data better, rather than being a
feature of the web sites.

Richard.

On 8 Sep, 01:56, wrote:
But while TheTrainline.com has a de-facto monopoly (it seems all the
others license their system), nothing will happen. Particularly now
Trainline is owned by some venture capital firm or other - they have
absolutely no interest in spending money improving a product which has
the market by the balls, since they get little benefit out of
passenger satisfaction, while the TOCs get the bad publicity if
Trainline's crap web-app is unable to perform such basic tasks.

Virgin now have their own non-trainline booking system (though the
Virgin-branded trainline is still around). It has options for Quiet
Zone, Power Socket, Table Seat and Window or Aisle (but not Facing or
Backwards) for any train, including non-Virgin.

https://www.buytickets.virgintrains.co.uk/

U

--
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/
A blog about transport projects in London

Today at 07:21, jonmorris wrote:
Obviously, they're going to struggle to do anything if you leave early
as we did on the way back, getting off at Stevenage when our ticket
was to King's Cross!!

Am I not right in saying that if you join or leave a service not at the
stated places on any single ticket, the ticket is effectively invalid?

--
Kirk

Kirk Northrop wrote:
Today at 07:21, jonmorris wrote:
Obviously, they're going to struggle to do anything if you leave early
as we did on the way back, getting off at Stevenage when our ticket
was to King's Cross!!

Am I not right in saying that if you join or leave a service not at the
stated places on any single ticket, the ticket is effectively invalid?

You're not right, unless it's some special advance purchase ticket with
special conditions.

--
Jeremy Double jmd.nospam@btinternet
German steam photos at: http://tinyurl.com/frrx8

Today at 18:12, Jeremy Double wrote:
You're not right, unless it's some special advance purchase ticket with
special conditions.

I thought you couldn't break journey on a single ticket?

--
Kirk

On 8 Sep, 18:12, Jeremy Double wrote:
You're not right, unless it's some special advance purchase ticket with
special conditions.

These were First Advance tickets, but nobody chased after us when we
alighted!!

In the incident that was publicised, a woman had boarded further down
the line and GNER stated (on the train) that her ticket was invalid
the second the train started its journey without her on it.

Jonathan

Kirk Northrop wrote:
I thought you couldn't break journey on a single ticket?

No, you can:
http://ukrailwayfaq.wikispaces.com/Ticket+Validity


Neil Sunderland
--
Braunton, Devon
Please observe the Reply-To address.

NP: Blues Traveler - Hook (from the album 'Four')

In article . com,
says...
On 8 Sep, 01:56, wrote:
But while TheTrainline.com has a de-facto monopoly (it seems all the
others license their system), nothing will happen. Particularly now
Trainline is owned by some venture capital firm or other - they have
absolutely no interest in spending money improving a product which has
the market by the balls, since they get little benefit out of
passenger satisfaction, while the TOCs get the bad publicity if
Trainline's crap web-app is unable to perform such basic tasks.

Virgin now have their own non-trainline booking system (though the
Virgin-branded trainline is still around). It has options for Quiet
Zone, Power Socket, Table Seat and Window or Aisle (but not Facing or
Backwards) for any train, including non-Virgin.

https://www.buytickets.virgintrains.co.uk/

U

However they don't sell tickets for children, only young goats!

Kirk Northrop wrote:
Today at 18:12, Jeremy Double wrote:
You're not right, unless it's some special advance purchase ticket
with special conditions.

I thought you couldn't break journey on a single ticket?

Finishing a journey short is not the same as breaking journey (which
involves continuing the journey later).

--
Jeremy Double jmd.nospam@btinternet
German steam photos at: http://tinyurl.com/frrx8