Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is £15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10. Why
such the difference in price?

Marcus

"Marcus Fox" wrote in
message ...
Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the
cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is £15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10. Why
such the difference in price?

Shows that you can't trust the answer given by the staff in a station (I
presume it was at HH ticket office that you asked for the cheapest fare).
Given a question like "what is the cheapest fare from HH to Newark", the
ticket office should have searched for the cheapest combination of tickets
(not beyond the wit of a computer) and sold you the two tickets that you
mention.

I bet you're well ****ed-off that they sold you a more expensive ticket...

"Martin Underwood" wrote in message
...
"Marcus Fox" wrote in
message ...
Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the
cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is
£15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10.
Why
such the difference in price?

Shows that you can't trust the answer given by the staff in a station (I
presume it was at HH ticket office that you asked for the cheapest fare).
Given a question like "what is the cheapest fare from HH to Newark", the
ticket office should have searched for the cheapest combination of tickets
(not beyond the wit of a computer) and sold you the two tickets that you
mention.

I bet you're well ****ed-off that they sold you a more expensive ticket...


Doesn't that rather depend on the instructions given to the booking office
staff and also exactly how the intending purchaser phrases the question?.

[uk.railway added for expertise]

"Marcus Fox" wrote in message ...
Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is £15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10. Why
such the difference in price?

Because it's not a rational system. For another example, there are
plenty of places where A B and C are in that order along a line, but a
ticket A-B costs more than a ticket A-C.

A conspiracist might suggest that guarding against the exposure of
examples such as yours is one of the reasons the useful part of the
National Fares Manual (viz, the bit *with the fares*) is not available
in 'electronic form'...

--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please

"Marcus Fox" wrote in
message ...
Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the
cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is £15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10. Why
such the difference in price?

The reason for the difference is that the £54 is for a Standard Open Single
while the £30.40 KX-Newark fare is for a Cheap Day Single so you are not
comparing like with like.

Peter Smyth

In message , at 17:24:39 on Thu, 26 Aug
2004, Peter Smyth remarked:
Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the
cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is £15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10. Why
such the difference in price?

The reason for the difference is that the £54 is for a Standard Open Single
while the £30.40 KX-Newark fare is for a Cheap Day Single so you are not
comparing like with like.

Is there not a Cheap Day Single from HH to Newark, then?

If not, then perhaps this establishes some kind of "rule": never buy an
Open Single if your journey spans two TOCs, always buy two Cheap Day
Singles.
--
Roland Perry

"Piccadilly Pilot" wrote in message
...

"Martin Underwood" wrote in message
...
"Marcus Fox" wrote in
message ...
Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the
cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked
prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is
£15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10.
Why
such the difference in price?

Shows that you can't trust the answer given by the staff in a station (I
presume it was at HH ticket office that you asked for the cheapest
fare).
Given a question like "what is the cheapest fare from HH to Newark", the
ticket office should have searched for the cheapest combination of
tickets
(not beyond the wit of a computer) and sold you the two tickets that you
mention.

I bet you're well ****ed-off that they sold you a more expensive
ticket...


Doesn't that rather depend on the instructions given to the booking office
staff and also exactly how the intending purchaser phrases the question?.

It does: but I think "what is the cheapest fare from HH to Newark?" should
elicit the cheapest possible fare even if that involves multiple tickets.
But then of course it is not in the *railway's* best interests to tell you
this, only in the *passenger's" best interests. Where there is a conflict of
interest, who *can* you trust to give you information about the cheapest
ticket?

"Peter Smyth" wrote in message
...

"Marcus Fox" wrote in
message ...
Travelled from Haywards Heath to Newark last Sunday. Asked for the
cheapest
way, and was told it would be £54. But when I got home, I checked prices
online and found that a single From HH to Kings Cross Thameslink is
£15.70
and a single from Kings Cross to Newark is £30.40. Total price £46.10.
Why
such the difference in price?

The reason for the difference is that the £54 is for a Standard Open
Single
while the £30.40 KX-Newark fare is for a Cheap Day Single so you are not
comparing like with like.

So what exactly is the difference? Do I get, for example, unlimited free
coffee with the former? It was on a Sunday, so the whole day is off peak,
and standard class is standard class.

Marcus

In message , at
20:05:08 on Thu, 26 Aug 2004, Martin Underwood
remarked:
I think "what is the cheapest fare from HH to Newark?" should
elicit the cheapest possible fare even if that involves multiple tickets.

I think this is explicitly excluded from the equation.

Although some "cheaper" combinations of ticket are easy to predict, it
would be difficult to train people to investigate all possibilities,
given that (a) the railways don't have this computerised and (b) most
employees have trouble selling simple one-leg tickets.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 19:43:11 on
Thu, 26 Aug 2004, Marcus Fox
remarked:
So what exactly is the difference?

You can use the more expensive one any day (perhaps within the next 30
days) at any time of day, and probably with any breaks of journey.

Others can confirm the exact parameters.
--
Roland Perry