My lad’s coming up for Crimbo & was due to come from Kings Cross to York next Thursday, we’ve had a bereavement in the family & the funeral’s next Tuesday so rather than do 2 journeys he’s coming up on Monday evening. East Coast trains have told him It’ll be £106 just to change the ticket!
It would be cheaper for me to go & pick him up FFS.

East coast trains is actually owned by us the tax payer after National express handed back the fat controlers hat back.

So Dear Mr Cameroon, why is the train fare so blody expensive then.

tell me about it!

I travelled back from a meeting in London to Leeds yesterday with an advanced ticket booked on the 17.03; the meeting finished early so went to King Cross and asked the guard on the 15.03 if I could get that that one, quite literally empty carriages along the length of the train…..NO, I’d have to buy a new ticket, absolute robbing barstewards

Megabus sell seats on some of the trains running out of St Pancras. Not sure how far north they run direct but a much cheaper option especially as fairly last minute.

Megabus, coach from london to york, 9 quid single.

but 4 and a half hours.

Very rarely do I buy train tickets, but in less time than it took to type this post I found a ticket for KX-York, next Mon evening departing 19.18, a direct train taking less than two hours for £45 (single). Doesn’t need to be booked in advance, and you could even go first class for another £20.

If I can find that then surely others can?

NO, I’d have to buy a new ticket, absolute robbing barstewards

If you thought you’d have to change why buy an advance ticket? The whole point is that it’s only valid on one train. Always has been, that’s nothing to do with the TOCs. If you want flexibility you buy an open ticket…

trainline in google

If you thought you’d have to change why buy an advance ticket? The whole point is that it’s only valid on one train. Always has been, that’s nothing to do with the TOCs. If you want flexibility you buy an open ticket…

That would be because an an ‘any time’ return from the East Coast site is £239, booking in advance it was £90.

I’m happy to pay an appropriate fee to change the ticket but wanting the price of a whole ticket or paying an extra £149 for flexibility with no guarantee of a seat on one of the busiest rush hour trains out of King Cross, like I say THIEVES

If you thought you’d have to change why buy an advance ticket? The whole point is that it’s only valid on one train. Always has been, that’s nothing to do with the TOCs. If you want flexibility you buy an open ticket…

Yeah true but on some companies you can only get cheaper tickets for certain journeys and what ends up happening is the train is riduclously packed and the others are half empty.

I know (in the past at least) with virgin if you have a young persons rail card its not just you get 1/3 off you can get a train any time of the day for the cheaper price.

Sometimes I used to get something like 5:15 from London to Manchester and got off at Lichfield to visit my folks. I almost had a carriage to myself on this train. Then my young persons ran out and I had to get the 6:06 or something like that to get the cheap fair and the train was rammed people standing the whole way.

So really it should of been in everyones interest to swap this fella to the more empty train.

At least he’s paying for his ticket, unlike in Scotland…..

At least he’s paying for his ticket, unlike in Scotland….

But he had paid for a ticket one way which was only 70p cheaper or something.

Why he did buy a return I’ll never know. But why is a return only 20p more sometimes ?

That would be because an an ‘any time’ return from the East Coast site is £239, booking in advance it was £90.

Yep, and the trade off for that is that you have to go on that booked train!

I suspect it’s often the case on flights as well, but if I booked a bargain fair with EasyJet I’d not expect them to transfer me to another flight just because I turned up earlier (when that’s specifically in the T&Cs that they won’t).

Just saying like, why should they bend the rules for you?

But yes, DOR who run East Coast are making a bigger hash of it than NX did, which is slightly ironic. Who wants BR back!?

goodman245 – Member
trainline in google

Not recommended, better off using one of the TOCs’ own (any TOC, doesn’t have to be the one you’re travelling with) booking systems, much simpler and easier to work out things like split ticketing and other bodges.

National Rail enquiries is better than TheTrainSwindle too, as that just directs you to a TOC, rather than trying to charge you a gazillion pounds for daring to use a credit card.