| Advance fares - hardly the most robust offering Posted by grahame at 11:39, 5th May 2026 |     |
Later this week ... my trip ...
Departs Melksham at 16:39 and arrives in Swindon (Wilts) at 17:06.
Departs Swindon (Wilts) at 18:04 and arrives in London Paddington at 19:01.
Departs London Paddington at 19:18 and arrives in Stratford (London) at 19:36.
Departs Stratford (London) at 19:43 and arrives in Harwich International at 21:00.
Good price - but - WHY sell me a ticket that has me waiting nearly an hour at Swindon, then is followed by tight changes at Paddington and Stratford? Would it not be logical to offer an earlier train into Paddington, with more leeway in crossing London?
| Re: Advance fares - hardly the most robust offering Posted by Ralph Ayres at 23:38, 5th May 2026 | |
I suspect the answer is that all the interchanges meet the minimum time laid down so if you do miss a connection you can use the next train at no extra cost. There is an "add extra time" option on the NRE website and possibly others, but it only allows time bands to be selected rather than going in to each step yourself and manually tweaking it, say to one train later. I'd hope it wouldn't add extra time to that Swindon change but I wouldn't bank on it!
| Re: Advance fares - hardly the most robust offering Posted by grahame at 07:05, 6th May 2026 | |
I suspect the answer is that all the interchanges meet the minimum time laid down so if you do miss a connection you can use the next train at no extra cost. There is an "add extra time" option on the NRE website and possibly others, but it only allows time bands to be selected rather than going in to each step yourself and manually tweaking it, say to one train later. I'd hope it wouldn't add extra time to that Swindon change but I wouldn't bank on it!
I suspect you are right - but it would be more robust for them to front load it ... also less concerning for me (the customer) making a final public transport transfer onto the 23:00 ferry at Harwich International
