When can train tickets booked through CrossCountry be amended free of charge?
CrossCountry trains on Advance Tickets notes:
Print your own tickets and m-tickets (via our Train tickets app) cannot be changed. Tickets collected from the station, a ticket machine, or sent by post can be changed with no administration fee. Sign into your account and select 'View my Bookings' and follow the steps to amend your journey.
This is different from the conditions for other TOCs, for example, GWR:
Advance tickets can be changed to a different time or date only - for a charge of £10 a ticket, plus any difference in the fare; if you choose a cheaper fare, the difference will not be refunded
The CrossCountry wording seems to suggest it applies to any train, not only trains operated by CrossCountry. However, Simon Calder writes in The Independent:
Rail passengers from Aberdeen to Penzance are set to benefit from the abolition of fees for amending Advance tickets.
…which suggests the rule only applies tickets that are (1) Advance, and (2) for journeys on CrossCountry trains.
Under what conditions can train tickets booked through CrossCountry be changed without paying an administration fee?
Must the travel be on CrossCountry trains, or does it apply anywhere in the country?
Best Answer
From a little research, I cannot find any stipulation restricting the offer to CrossCountry's own tickets. It does indeed sound like any non-(mobile/print at home) ticket priced by any operator bought through the CrossCountry website is subject to these waived fees, if amended within the time limit given. It's certainly surprising if true, and it's worth pointing out that I have not found positive confirmation of this; perhaps later I'll buy some advances I needed anyway and then see if it'll let me amend them.
Sources I found besides yours:
https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/media/1454/customerreport16102016.pdf
https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/customer-service/no-admin-fee
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Can you change pre booked train tickets?
Advance tickets This isn't strictly the case \u2013 you can usually transfer the ticket to another date and time. You can change an advance ticket if: You stick to the same route. You make the changes before the departure time of travel on any reservation on the ticket.Can I break my journey on an advance ticket?
If you have an Advance ticket, you may not start, break and resume, or end your journey at any intermediate station except to change to/from connecting trains as shown on the ticket or your travel itinerary. The terms and conditions of each ticket type can be viewed when making a booking.Can I change to an earlier train?
You can only take the train that you have reserved i.e. the one which you have been issued a ticket for. If you wish to depart earlier or later, you can exchange your ticket or cancel it and re-book it, depending on the fare conditions. Once you have done this, you can then choose a new departure time for your ticket.Can you reuse train tickets on the same day?
You may need to travel by a specific route or train company but the Ticket will state this. You are allowed to break your journey at any point, or more than once if you wish. This means that you do not have to make the whole of your journey at the same time or, where allowed, on the same day.Train ticket types explained | CrossCountry
More answers regarding when can train tickets booked through CrossCountry be amended free of charge?
Answer 2
I, too, found CrossCountry's website and FAQs equivocal, so I asked CrossCountry about this in June 2019, and they told me that there is a charge if you are amending a specified train with a different operator.
So, it seems that the "no admin fee" rule applies only if the reserved train is a CrossCountry train and the amendment is made via the website (i.e.: not by telephone). Presumably, there would also be "no admin fee" for amending a journey involving multiple operators where the specified train is CrossCountry and the other operator(s) is/are merely for unspecified connecting trains. However, I do not have experience in amending a CrossCountry booking, so I do not know for sure.
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Images: mas_hha, Sinitta Leunen, Ylanite Koppens, Ylanite Koppens