Redeem Virgin Points for 0.5p via Virgin Trains Ticketing

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• Lemeng says:

  14 Jul14 July 07:16

  London-Manchester with two tickets splitting at Nuneaton would be a better split ticket example. There aren’t any London-Birmingham trains via Nuneaton! The VTT split ticketing works well and the app – unlike rip-off Trainline – generally doesn’t charge booking fees.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    14 Jul14 July 09:27

    I did a dummy booking BTN-MAN and the split ticket option was on advanced trains only from EUS-MAN and vv legs.

    For a tenner more I get off peak fares and able to get any train in the off peek hours which is a massive benefit.

• CamFlyer says:

  14 Jul14 July 07:40

  Virgin Trains ticketing is my go to when there is no LNER option. I tried Uber for the cash back offer, but discovered that it does not always show railcard discounts.

• TimM says:

  14 Jul14 July 08:01

  Virgin Trains Ticketing offering split tickets is evidence that the establishment recognises how bonkers train ticket pricing is.

  Why can’t there be a simple formula like start and end cost, depending on the cost of running the stations and actually stopping at them, then so much per mile? This would also create the viability formulas for re-opening stations and lines long-since closed and for electrification – something we are sadly lacking though most (of what is left) of the Northern rail network.

  As is, my nearest station is on the most expensive line per mile in Europe (Marsden-Greenfield on the Huddersfield line), and to get anywhere at a sensible price splitting tickets is simply routine.

  • Lemeng says:

    14 Jul14 July 08:16

    It would certainly be simpler to have distance-based ticket prices. But then you’d have lots of empty seats at off-peak times, packed trains at peak times, higher prices for long journeys. If a 30-mile journey was priced at say £10, London-Edinburgh would be around £110 each way, which is rather higher than what most passengers pay right now. The current system is complex and should be easier and simpler to use, but over-simplification won’t works as it means either some higher fares (and fester customers) or higher subsidies. Which would you vote for?

  • John says:

    14 Jul14 July 09:09

    If you are seriously interested in debating this go to railforums.co.uk and start posting.

• Will says:

  14 Jul14 July 08:27

  Split tickets are great until you want to claim for a delay. Also you could miss your connection to an advance ticket.

  Our experience over the last two years London to Exeter (uni) is that 100% of the trains were over 20 mins late. Having reclaimed a decent amount I wonder how we would have done with split tickets

  • TimM says:

    14 Jul14 July 08:35

    Given that you don’t actually get off the train on a split ticket, claiming compensation is just two forms instead of one.

    • CamFlyer says:

      14 Jul14 July 08:47

      Except that one may only be able to claim for part, if eg the delay crosses the repayment threshold on only the second portion.

      • John says:

        14 Jul14 July 09:12

        Incorrect, as per the National Rail Conditions of travel you may use multiple tickets for one journey and delay repay is due on the total price of all tickets for the delay to your overall journey.

        Just like BA denies valid EC/UK261 claims, the train operators, under pressure from the government to save money, also deny valid claims.

    • TimM says:

      14 Jul14 July 09:00

      Hardly a great loss – you arrive at the same time as you would have done without a split ticket but gain from a lower ticket price. You could always take out UK travel insurance with zero excess.

  • John says:

    14 Jul14 July 09:17

    If you have a valid itinerary including an advance ticket on a later leg, and you miss the booked train due to an earlier delay, you may travel on the next train as long as you adhere to the route restrictions, unless it’s the last train of the deay in which case there is an overriding obligation to not leave you stranded, furthermore, a delay or anticipated delay exceeding 60 minutes means that any train operator who can help must do under the Passenger Rights and Obligations regulation, which many staff have never heard of and will deny exists.

  • MKB says:

    14 Jul14 July 10:23

    Split ticketing has no effect on Delay Repay claims or your rights when connections are missed.

    I wish people wouldn’t post misinformation.

• mark2 says:

  14 Jul14 July 09:57

  This sounds great, but when I downloaded the app and tried to connect to Virgin Red it is still hanging after two hours (I have trried multiple times).

  • Rob says:

    14 Jul14 July 10:21

    You can do it via the website I think, which would just then require you to log in to the app.

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  14 Jul14 July 11:25

  I hate advance tickets unless it saves me a lot of money, so I virtually never split ticket. Plus Club avanti gives you free train tickets every now and again which are very valuable

• JohnTh says:

  14 Jul14 July 17:09

  Watch out for the small fee if they can’t offer digital tickets, and shows Station Collection – fee only shows at final payment page.

  • Ambient says:

    15 Jul15 July 09:16

    If you meant this with respect to VTT, there was an email recently that explained that all booking fees have been scrapped.

• PH says:

  14 Jul14 July 22:58

  An MO south of the river, well I never!

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