The mainline to cutting fares (thetrainline.com)

Name: plipplop

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Product:	thetrainline.com
Date:	07.06.01 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, Can save costs

Disadvantages: Site support not so good

I’m a big fan of purchasing things online – I can’t think of any activity I’d rather do less than trawl around busy shops on my days off from work. I’ve become quite used to ordering all sort of things online, but one thing I’ve never really seen the point of is ordering train tickets online. Given that you have to actually get on the train when you make the journey, I can’t understand what gain there is to be had in ordering tickets online.

Having experimented with thetrainline.com over the last few weeks I can conclude that there are two main advantages to using the site. Firstly, for the off-peak traveller, there are considerable savings to be made on fares. Secondly, when ordering tickets in this way you combine ticket purchase, with seat reservation and journey information all in one swoop.

The layout and design of the website is rather uninteresting. The home page combines a plain background with a few rather uninteresting graphics. There is nothing that grabs your attention – a visit to thetrainline.com is definitely a functional task. The advantage of this, of course, is that the site tends to load very quickly on the browser and is very easy to navigate – even Grandma would be able to use this. In order to actually purchase tickets you are required to register your details – nothing particularly complicated, just simple name and email address. Once registered, it is then a simple process to obtain journey information and to book tickets.

You are presented with a number of fields of information that need to be completed in order to search for available seats on the journey you require. One thing I’m not keen on here is that the required information is spread across two screens. This means that the whole process takes a bit longer than it really needs to, and it also means that if you want to check something you’ve entered previously you may have to go backwards
and forwards on the browser. Given the amount and nature of information required, I fail to see why the information cannot be located on one screen.

You can be very specific about your journey requirements and you are prompted for the following details:

Leaving From/Going To
Via/Avoid (e.g. if you don’t want to travel across London)
Avoid changes (yes/no)
Allow extra time for changes
Type of Journey (e.g. Single/Return)
Date of Travel
Time of Travel
Number of passengers and bicycles
Any railcard details
Whether you want the cheapest or the fastest fare

Next to the station field is a look-up box, which gives the opportunity to search for a station by name or browse an alphabetical list. Personally, I can’t really see the point of a search function, as most travellers would probably know the stations they require anyway. As a test, I thought I’d do a search on a city with lots of stations (London) to see if the search provided details of which station you might require for a specific journey. There was no such information, only a list of stations, so I still don’t really see the point.

Once you have entered in all the relevant information, the system then searches for an available fare/journey. The search takes a relatively short time, although at different times of day I have found that the website runs faster and slower. Once complete, you are then presented with three or four potential journeys (according to availability) that meet your requirements. The information is presented in a tabular format, with the departure and arrival times indicated along the top of the table, with rows of ticket information presented below. For instance, on any journey, there will be a number of fare choices, such as First Class, Standard Class, Open Returns and so on. When presented with fare information in this format you can clearly identify the savings that can be made by pre-booking.
Most of the rail companies seem to offer massive reductions on fares, providing you order your ticket plenty of time in advance of travel (and you travel off-peak). A single standard fare that I searched for was priced at £32.50 – purchased in advance through thetrainline.com the fare decreased to £13 – a saving of 60%. Clearly the advice here is that if you know you are going to travel in advance, then you should try and book tickets as early as possible – there are big savings to be made. Bear in mind that your ticket will apply to a specific journey though – you won’t be able to travel earlier or later if you change your mind.

Once you have located a journey time on the date of travel that suits your requirements you can select one of the individual fares listed, and then proceed with the booking. You will be prompted for the name and address where the ticket should be sent, although you may also have the option to collect the tickets from the departure station if you prefer. Ticket collection appears to be a bit of a hit and miss affair. I was able to arrange collection of tickets from my local station (relatively small in a semi-rural location) but was not able to arrange collection from Bristol Temple Meads – work that one out! You are then asked to give your credit/debit card details via secure online connection. I couldn’t find a means of storing credit card details within my account, which means that each time I place an order I have to key them all in again.

All through the reservation process you are reminded that thetrainline.com charge £5.00 administration to refund tickets that are not required, once you have confirmed an order. This is the only potential disadvantage through booking so far in advance, as travel arrangements will often change, so cancellations may occur fairly often. Whilst I appreciate there are some administration costs incurred, I can’t help but think that the £5 fe
e is a bit high. I reserved tickets for a journey in advance that was then subsequently cancelled. In order to obtain a refund, I was advised to return the tickets to a specified returns department, who would then refund the cost (minus £5) to the card account used to place the order. I did this (although it occurred to me that I should have used recorded post, in the event that they got lost) and the money was refunded about a week later.

On all the occasions that I have ordered tickets I can confirm that the tickets arrived within two working days of them being ordered. (If you try and order tickets without allowing two working days the system will not accept the order). On one occasion the tickets had not arrived by 10 a.m., so I contacted the Customer Service Centre. The advisor to whom I spoke then arranged for the tickets to be made available at my departure station, and seemed genuinely concerned that the tickets hadn’t arrived. In actual fact, it turned out that the post was late, and the tickets did arrive at home. I must say that all contact that I’ve had with the Customer Service centre has been excellent, as I have spoken to courteous, helpful advisor, and haven’t had to wait ages to get through. My only criticisms would be that the centre is not open 24 hours, so you cannot always call them up, and there is no apparent email contact address.

The website has a couple of additional features. There is a shopping basket facility for ordering a quantity of tickets, and you can also record a journey as a “Favourite” so that you don’t have to keep repeating the details when ordering tickets. Both features are potentially useful, although I doubt I would use them all that often.

When the tickets arrive they contain the departure and arrival times for your journey, as well as the details of any seats that have been reserved. The tickets show all the journeys that you have to make – i.e. if you
have to change, what time the second/third trains arrive and leave. The tickets are huge – but the print on them is really small, and when you’ve got your arms full of luggage finding your seat numbers is a bit of a nightmare – I can’t see why the print can’t be much clearer and larger.

In summary, I have very few criticisms of this site, with regards service and usefulness. As a business traveller on the whole, I have not benefited from big discounts because I travel before 9 a.m., but there are savings to be made even for peak travellers. Support from the site has been excellent, and I have been extremely impressed with customer service. The site is a bit dull, but it is very efficient which is the most important thing for me.

Highly recommended.

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