Topic: Train Refunds

[Tommypig]

Does anybody know if Train companies are refunding advance bookings cant seem to find anything online from Avanti

[swoopy]

Does anybody know if Train companies are refunding advance bookings cant seem to find anything online from Avanti

There are currently no rules in place by network rail for offering refunds for CV.

https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/ticket-and-discounts/ticket-changes-and-refunds#Change%20Advance%20tickets

They say you can't refund advance tickets

[RSoares21]

"Currently, train operators across the UK are running as normal. Standard refund rules apply for customers wishing not to travel."

Doesn't look like they are giving out refunds yet.

[Tommypig]

Its a joke they should at least issue credits if they don't want to issue full refunds!!

[MKB]

By not introducing a waiver to allow cancellations with full refunds, the signal the train companies are sending is that it's ok to travel.  Government needs to intervene if that's not the message they want.

[Matthew57]

By not introducing a waiver to allow cancellations with full refunds, the signal the train companies are sending is that it's ok to travel.  Government needs to intervene if that's not the message they want.

It is ok to travel - who said it wasn't?

[matt_lfc]

https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/coronavirus-travel-information/#Bookwithconfidencerefundpolicy

[Dan The Man 28373]

https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/coronavirus-travel-information/#Bookwithconfidencerefundpolicy

That's only 1 train operating company, hopefully this will become an industry wide inititative.  I have booked tickets on the GWR website (as I can get Nectar points) for tickets to travel on CrossCountry & West Midland/London North Western.

[Campioni 84]

How ironic that the first railway company to offer refunds on Advance tickets because of Coronavirus is LNER which is Public owned! Come on Avanti & the rest do the same.

[Eeyore]

How ironic that the first railway company to offer refunds on Advance tickets because of Coronavirus is LNER which is Public owned! Come on Avanti & the rest do the same.

It kind of makes sense. If the Government makes refunds compulsory then the companies would look to the government for financial help. LNER gets that anyway.

[MKB]

Avanti are now offering refunds without the usual £10/ticket admin fee except on Advance tickets where you can change for just any fare difference.

I'm booking all my trips through LNER now to get full protection.

[Alf]

Avanti are now offering refunds without the usual £10/ticket admin fee except on Advance tickets where you can change for just any fare difference.

I'm booking all my trips through LNER now to get full protection.

They're only doing that by phone, you can't do it online. Read loads of stories online of people getting through to them only to be told they're still charging an admin fee or can't get through. Have sent an e-mail to their CEO as would have changed 2 journeys with them.

[lfc79]

The question is when can you change the journey times for? No good changing them if you don't know when the games are going to be rescheduled for.

[Tommypig]

The question is when can you change the journey times for? No good changing them if you don't know when the games are going to be rescheduled for.

Which is why they should be offereing credits to be used within 12 months - I can't beleive that would be so hard to do

[Barneylfc∗]

Anyone know what the craic is with flights? Someone mentioned EasyJet are offering free reschedules, you only need to pay the difference in cost if the flight is more expensive.
Does this apply to all flights, or only ones to restricted areas? What if you have no idea when you will need the rescheduled flight for?
I've flights booked for Chelsea game on 10th May. Obviously it looks unlikely we'll play on that date.

[lfc79]

Pretty rubbish from the train companies, you can change your advance journey with the admin fee but they have not released any advance tickets for many future bookings

[Campioni 84]

It's abysmal to be honest, to my knowledge LNER are the only rail company offering full refunds on Advance tickets I've got 2 advance returns pending payment with them whilst I've lost my advance return for what would have been Palace at home today with Avanti travelling from Edinburgh.

[Craig S]

It's abysmal to be honest, to my knowledge LNER are the only rail company offering full refunds on Advance tickets I've got 2 advance returns pending payment with them whilst I've lost my advance return for what would have been Palace at home today with Avanti travelling from Edinburgh.

You can change your advance to a different ticket without any admin fee.
So change your advance to an open off peak, on any date. You will get the refund for the advance, but have to pay for the off peak.
Then login in and do a full refund on the off peak.

You do need to pay out more and wait for a refund, but you will get everything back

[bradders1011]

You can change your advance to a different ticket without any admin fee.
So change your advance to an open off peak, on any date. You will get the refund for the advance, but have to pay for the off peak.
Then login in and do a full refund on the off peak.

You do need to pay out more and wait for a refund, but you will get everything back

That officially work?

Hoping they'll start cancelling services soon so there's a lottery chance of getting my money back for a return to Norwich next month.

[Campioni 84]

It did sound an overly complicated way of getting a train refund, if it works great but why they can't do the decent thing in a straightforward  manner is beyond me, pure greed I guess! Sobering thought is we could've been officially crowned Champions today & instead of wondering about rail refunds (& Coronavirus) be getting Rat Arsed celebrating! Our day will come

[Craig S]

That officially work?

Hoping they'll start cancelling services soon so there's a lottery chance of getting my money back for a return to Norwich next month.

Yes. I did it on Trainline for some advance I had.

For the Burnley game I had 3 sets of advance for £90 ish.
I did change ticket and selected a random date in the future. I chose any trains going up and back. Its hard to see which ones are apen or advance on this view, but it doesn't matter yet.
Now when they are in your basket, before you pay there's a small link that says "other types of tickets are available" or similar. Click that and it has open off peak returns.

Mine came to £210 for 3 people. So it refunded the £90, which you need to wait for, and I had to pay the full £210. I had not yet collected my tickets, so it was easier. But if you have collected then you need to post them back

I then went back into bookings and did a full refund on the new off peak journey

[ScottishKopite]

You can change your advance to a different ticket without any admin fee.
So change your advance to an open off peak, on any date. You will get the refund for the advance, but have to pay for the off peak.
Then login in and do a full refund on the off peak.

You do need to pay out more and wait for a refund, but you will get everything back

I was thinking about doing this myself but I think they will be keeping a close eye on this and preventing it to be refunded then could end up even more out of pocket and train tickets you don't actually need.

[Dan The Man 28373]

Looks like the government have stepped in & will refund in full advance tickets without the £10 admin fee (says for next 6 months). Link below:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/03/all-train-tickets-to-be-refundable-as-government-offers-to-tempo/?utm_content=1584954340&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook,twitter&fbclid=IwAR2V5V4Q4Pv9Ajnv7k04thBzuINr4c0Kq6s_aeumss7DtelI7fcjv3YdUJ8

[Barneylfc∗]

Looks like the government have stepped in & will refund in full advance tickets without the £10 admin fee (says for next 6 months). Link below:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/03/all-train-tickets-to-be-refundable-as-government-offers-to-tempo/?utm_content=1584954340&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook,twitter&fbclid=IwAR2V5V4Q4Pv9Ajnv7k04thBzuINr4c0Kq6s_aeumss7DtelI7fcjv3YdUJ8

Hopefully this extends to flights. Unless Easyjet offer a voucher to the value of my flight to be used with no expiry date, then they have £400 from me for nothing.
There's literally no point to them offering to change my flight to another time when I have no idea when I will use another flight.

[ScottishKopite]

Got email about refund on advance rail fares will be getting money back for tickets for Saturday thank fuck.

[Barneylfc∗]

Got email from easyjet today. Rearrange a flight before the end of March up to the end of Feb next year. No cancellations. Get to fuck.

[ScottishKopite]

Got email from easyjet today. Rearrange a flight before the end of March up to the end of Feb next year. No cancellations. Get to fuck.

That's shocking like.

[SP]

Got email from easyjet today. Rearrange a flight before the end of March up to the end of Feb next year. No cancellations. Get to fuck.

Check what EU provisions are in place. I would be very wary changing dates to beyond the end of the year as you be relying on Johnson keeping EU protections in place.

[Barneylfc∗]

Check what EU provisions are in place. I would be very wary changing dates to beyond the end of the year as you be relying on Johnson keeping EU protections in place.

It's only for the Chelsea game in May. Pointless even picking a random date to reschedule. I'll email my credit card company to see if they can do anything.

[Philipm20]

Was able to request refund on Trainline website for advanced tickets, can take up to 28 days to be refunded.

[ScottishKopite]

Was able to request refund on Trainline website for advanced tickets, can take up to 28 days to be refunded.

yeah me too glad to be getting refund.

[Alf]

Got all my refunds in one go from the Trainline today, requested cancellations between 15 March - 19 April through Avanti.

[Craig67]

Got all my refunds in one go from the Trainline today, requested cancellations between 15 March - 19 April through Avanti.

Thats good news.

Can I ask if you had to post any physical tickets back for any of the refunds, and if so, when you posted them?
Reason I ask is, I posted a couple back to claim a refund and thought I'd check the status, did an online chat with Avanti, who said there's no-one in the office to deal with posted back tickets at present..... which is fair enough I think.
Cheers.

[Alf]

Thats good news.

Can I ask if you had to post any physical tickets back for any of the refunds, and if so, when you posted them?
Reason I ask is, I posted a couple back to claim a refund and thought I'd check the status, did an online chat with Avanti, who said there's no-one in the office to deal with posted back tickets at present..... which is fair enough I think.
Cheers.

They are all e-tickets. I’ve had refunds for paper tickets before without posting them back, generally depends on who processes the refund.

[Dan The Man 28373]

Received my refund emails for travel to the Burnley home game (booked with GWR), submitted on 24 March & tickets hadn't been collected.  So took between 5-6 weeks to get it processed, so slightly longer than their 28 day deadline, but overall process was smooth.

[Philipm20]

I got my etickets refunded for Newcastle away, posted a claim on the 25th March and got back on the 10th April which was good of them.

[Craig67]

They are all e-tickets. I’ve had refunds for paper tickets before without posting them back, generally depends on who processes the refund.

Cheers Alf

[Craig67]

Just got a refund off Avanti, so shows they must be working through the refunds. Strangely, only got half back, which is a bit odd seeing as I sent both tickets back in the same envelope. Not much money to be honest, just seems odd.