Selling a ticket impossible to use fully on the train for which its offered

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Why is the booking engine offering me a day return (Melksham to Swansea) when there's no suitable train back later in the day?



By the way - love the first class fare.  On this service, first is only available for the last 80 minutes ... the final leg of 4. What a bargain - NOT!

[ChrisB]

Coz pax^▸ (passengers) have insisted that all fares are shown for any journey requested?
Can't have it being intelligent, can we?

[Puffing Billy]

Perhaps the thinking is that, for a small difference, you may wish to buy the flexibility of traveling on an earlier outward train, in which case a return journey may be possible. Whether that is a sensible option depends on the likelihood of you changing your plans, and a comparison of the single, day-return and period-return fares. An algorithm for computing this would be so complicated that it is probably best to just offer all the fares and let the customer decide. 

[Trowres]

Why is the booking engine offering me a day return (Melksham to Swansea) when there's no suitable train back later in the day?

So that passengers from Trowbridge can travel for less than the £51.40 open return that is the only option offered from TRO^▸ (Trowbridge stationnext trains)?*

*actually, there are some advance fares routed "XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and connections"

[grahame]

So that passengers from Trowbridge can travel for less than the £51.40 open return that is the only option offered from TRO^▸ (Trowbridge stationnext trains)?

Interestingly, the service I quoted is £46.30 open return and runs via Trowbridge.   The "Melksham Special" ticket lives on!

Service is so c**p on Saturday night that I've pulled my Swansea plans as impractical.   Don't fancy three trains and a bus increasing what was a 95 minute journey (1 change) when I came back on Wednesday evening to a 234 minute journey on Saturday evening, including 3 changes.