It can drive you up the wall. Individual tickets were half the price of through tickets for me this weekend, but also planning my own route was quicker as well as cheaper. The train websites seem to try and plan journeys with the aim of getting connections around around 10 minutes. But they’ll take you out of your way – longer routes or slower trains – to achieve that 10 mins, when a shorter route with longer changers is quicker overall. On QJump the suggested route from Birmingham to Selby was to change at York – half an hour past Selby, change trains and travel half an hour back.
Booking individual tickets I was able to go to Sheffield, stop, have enough time to go for a pint and a chorizo burger at the Rutland, get back back for my connecting train and still arrive at Selby earlier and £25 cheaper