53 beginners guide 30/1/09 18:06 Page 53
beginners’ guide 53
beginners’guide...
...to rail travel: in the first of a series of guides, Capita Business Travel’s head of sales, Raj Sachdave,
explains those savvy rail-booking techniques to ensure you get the best value for your clients
Nowadays, rail travel
Top tips
is out-performing every
other mode of corporate
Here’s a round up of cost
transport, both
saving techniques for
booking rail travel
commercially and socially.
L55473 Split tickets – buy two
As it stands, every rail
single fares for a return
ticket earns Association
journey. By clicking on the
of Train Operating
‘show singles’ box when the
Companies commission (it return fares are displayed
was 9% but fell to 5% in
after an enquiry on Railooto,
January) when sold via a
this shows the availability of
third party. This is one of
capacity controlled fares by
the core reasons why so
the visual indicator of a
many third-party retailers
radio button alongside the
appropriate fare and time.
are taking up the
opportunity to offer rail
L55474 Buy early: capacity
alongside other modes of for is if a trip falls into commuter territory or if it’s an
controlled tickets, ie fixed
travel. With market intercity journey, which normally dictates the number
single fares, are usually
conditions moving of advanced or off-peak fares.
released for sale about 12
towards a more socially IF YOU SEARCH With more customers asking for more than just a
weeks in advance. Therefore
if you can commit to
responsible customer,
FOR A TICKET
ticket, some third-party retailers go a step further by
booking early with as
many corporates like the
FROM THE
splitting the ticket so the traveller has two separate
definite intention to travel
idea of travelling by train, tickets for the same journey. It’s possible to stay on the
cutting carbon emissions
POINT-TO-POINT
as possible, this increases
same train and in the same seat, depending on seat the chances of a cheaper
and getting staff to be STATIONS, YOU reservations. As far as the industry is concerned, this fare being available.
more productive by
ONLY SEE A
practice isn’t the preferred way of booking, but it
L55475 Split journey – because
working on the train
– not to mention the
FRACTION
requires experience and judgment. Granted there would
of the idiosyncrasies of rail
be two sets of fees by the third party retailer, but the
cost savings involved.
OF WHAT
fare distribution, it is
potential savings are substantial.
sometimes possible to split a
Train operating
IS TRULY
Another common scenario is cross-ticketing from one journey at an intermediate
companies have started to
AVAILABLE
train company to another. For example, Leeds to Milton point in order to obtain two
manage revenue by using Keynes: if you search for a ticket from the point-to-
cheaper combined fares than
sophisticated systems to control the tickets you can point stations you only see a fraction of what’s truly
one through ticket.
access, whether its advanced, off-peak or open-ended. available. The best way is to buy one whole ticket from
You’ll notice there’s a stark similarity with air, for Leeds to Manchester, where the operating company
L55476 Travel off-peak: as a
general rule, travelling after
example, as often it’s cheaper to buy two singles rather changes, then a second ticket from Manchester to
9.30am and avoiding travel
than a return. This method of booking is probably the Milton Keynes. This allows you to separately evaluate
between 4.30pm and 7.30pm
best and most efficient way of saving, on average, what ticket options are available. L52159
increases the chances of
28%-32% off an intercity open ticket. Booking in
securing a more cost
advance obviously helps. The key thing to watch out Raj Sachdave, head of sales, Capita Business Travel effective ticket.
ttgbusiness.com ❖ february/march 2009
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