In message , at 16:09:59 on Sun, 26 Feb
2012, tim.... remarked:

An out boundary travelcard is really two products in one. A ODTC and a
return to London.

That's where you are wrong. It's a return to BZ6 (or a closer BZ if the
train service never stops further out), plus an ODTC.

So the ODTC part of the ticket isn't valid on HS1 but the return ticket is.

This is a "special case" for HS1.

So there isn't really any exceptions, except when someone tries to invoke
the same rules on out bounday TC as in-boundary ones (as you seem to be
trying)

These +HS1 Travelcards are the exception.

A sense of frustration that having got all the way to Stratford on HS1
(from Ashford or wherever), they are mean spirited enough to say I can't
have multiple trips from there to St Pancras. How many people would want
to do that,

so how many are inconvenienced?

Lots of them, if getting your head round the Byzantine rules counts as
inconvenience.

and how much money are they saving by having this silly rule

Perhaps they see it as a simpler rule.

It would be if (like Heathrow Express) the train didn't stop within the
Zones. Unfortunately Stratford International is in Zone 3. One solution
would be to make Stratford International HS1 "outside" the zones, in the
same sense that HEx T123 and T5 are outside the zones (but the same
named Piccadilly stations are inside). But for some reason they have
chosen not to (literally) draw the map like that.

If they said that "Any permitted" out boundary TC were valid for unlimited
trips on HS1 you would get people who interpreted that as meaning that one
from Guildford was valid.

I'm not asking for all "Any Permitted" Travelcards to be valid for
multiple journeys (although that might be my next request). Only
Travelcards marked "+HS1".

So to avoid having to explain "exactly" what they mean, they just say than
none are valid.

And then shoot themselves in the foot by annotating the Travelcard as
"+HS1".

Few (who would qualify) are going to be inconvenienced

I expect most Travelcard users are actually using them for a very
limited number of point-to-point journeys. But the Travelcard is sold as
an "unlimited rover" within the zones, and they should not start making
these special exemptions.
--
Roland Perry