Strange Train Pricing

Can't really help without knowing the route.

Please state where you are going to/from and whether it is a 1 way trip or return and the date? Then we can try & figure out what is going on.

One way from Conwy to Bath. Change in Newport. 22 June.

It is all in the permitted routing on the ticket. £110.40 for any permitted route, Normally change at Wolverhampton (west of Birmingham) and Bristol Temple Meads. Or £56.20 for route via Hereford, changing at Newport. Total elapsed time nearly identical for both possibilities.

Both are legitimate - you pays your money and takes your choice. What train branding do you want on the outside of your train and where do you want to change trains?

Note that the any permitted would also be valid for changing at Newport - just overpaying when a cheaper ticket for that specific route is available.

The Arriva app and mobile website wanted to sell the route from Conwy to Bath via Newport for £110. The full Arriva website offered it for £56. Same train, same routing. That's what I don't understand. I was buying from the same company just using different portals.

I didn't encounter anything that extreme, but in both France and England last year I found a number of non-trivial fare differences between the rail companies' websites and what I could buy at the station. I wasn't looking at internet-special fares. I learned to check both places (time permitting). The sales agents several times found me cost-saving options I couldn't dig out on my own, but sometimes they couldn't match the fare on the website, so I returned to my hotel to book online. I was not buying more than 4 or 5 days in advance.

Part of Seat 61's invaluable train information is his fondness for gaming the rail system. Maybe "gaming" is a strong word, since he does not advise cheating. But there is a certain relish in untangling the mesh of train operators, discounts and routes to find a satisfying bargain.

www.seat61.com

Apps and websites should show all publicly available fares as it doesn't know the degree of flexibility etc you want.

The best interface for fares was the so-called 'mixing-desk' where all the fares were displayed at the top and after selecting the fare you could see what trains you could use at that price. However, this has faded from use, as most people wanted to pick by time first.

The easiest way to find times & fares is at www.nationalrail.co.uk (If you pre-book, it will usually switch you through to the train company on whose trains you will mostly be).

Now, I have just put in for your journey & I do indeed see the fares that you have quoted. When I click ‘details’ - it then tells me the routing and the train company. The dearer £110.40 fare applies to the route via Crewe and Birmingham before going down to Bristol & then to Bath. The cheaper one - which you have selected, applies to the route down through the Welsh borderlands (with England) to Newport where you change for another train to Bath. However, I note that we have a problem in that the Severn & Patchway tunnels are closed for electrification work. Not to worry as you will be bussed from Newport to the English side of the Severn estuary where they will put you on another train.

Had you not wanted this hassle, then had we known your journey, it would have been possible to buy a ticket (with Arriva Trains Wales) from Conwy to Birmingham VIA Wrexham & Shrewsbury for around £26. You could then have pre-purchased another ticket from Birmingham (New Street) to Bath for around £25 = cheaper than buy one through ticket.

Routing, speed of train service, and time of day will play a factor into many train fares. Avoiding larger areas is cheaper (people traveling near London that have a route that avoids the London terminii instead of passing through and using a connecting tube journey can attest to this), avoiding the rush hour counts for a lot of the country, and taking a local train instead of a faster InterCity type service could save you money.

Could it also be that the mobile app / site defaults to the Return (round trip) ticket option?

The electrical work will not affect me as it is not taking place that day. They are taking a break until 25 June.

It has nothing to do with routing. I will try once more....

I first tried to book the 9:19 train on the Arriva app. It gave me a price of £110.

I then tried to book the exact same train, same routing, same everything on the Arriva mobile website. It showed me a fare of £110.

I then tried to book the same train, same time, same routing on the full Arriva website. It gave me a fare of £56.

Same train, same time, same routing, same type of ticket. Different prices.

I have taken more UK trains than I can remember but have never seen this.

Bizarre!! That sounds like something the company needs to get fixed. Or I guess maybe they're hoping people won't check both portals, and just buy whichever (hopefully for the company the most expensive) they find on the one portal they check !?!