TRAVELLERS have been warned about a trick at checkout that could see you spending more – but there are ways to avoid it.
Online train ticket retailers are using so-called drip pricing with booking fees of up to £6.45 per transaction, a regulator has found.
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said the companies must ensure their booking or finder’s fees are included within upfront prices.
Drip pricing sees a retailer lead with a headline price but at checkout, the final price is higher after any necessary additional charges are applied.
This makes it harder for consumers to compare prices across retailers.
The ORR reviewed the websites and apps of 19 third-party train ticket retailers.
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The ORR reviewed the websites and apps of 19 third-party train ticket retailers.
Twelve were found to charge booking fees, and seven of these did not include this amount in the upfront price.
The ORR’s review found that booking fees ranged from 45p per ticket to £6.45 per transaction.
Finder’s fees were 10-15% of the saving made on split tickets, which involve purchasing multiple tickets for single journeys to cut the overall price.
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Stephanie Tobyn, ORR director of strategy, policy and reform, said: “Consumers can now purchase rail tickets from a wide variety of websites and apps.
“This report highlights that some online retailers are not as transparent as they need to be when it comes to how they display or provide information on additional fees.
“We want to ensure consumers are provided with timely and relevant information when making purchase decisions and that drip pricing does not undermine consumer confidence when purchasing rail tickets online.”
The 12 retailers found to charge booking and/or finder’s fees were MyTrainTicket, Omio, Rail Europe, Railboard, Raileasy, Sojo, Split my fare, Train Hugger, Trainline, Trainpal, Trainsplit and TrainTickets.com.
Alex Robertson, chief executive at watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Passengers should not be left in the dark about the cost of their ticket.
“Online retailers must provide passengers with clear, accurate information upfront so they can make an informed choice.”
It comes after a Department for Business and Trade consultation into price transparency, including drip pricing, closed in October.
How else can I cut the cost of train tickets?
If you’re taking a lengthy train journey then you could save hundreds of pounds by splitting your tickets.
You won’t need to change trains and National Rail lets you split your ticket as long as the train calls at the station you buy the tickets for.
One site that works this out for you is Splitticketing.co.uk.
Regular travellers should be able to save by purchasing either a seven day, monthly or annual season ticket, which will allow them to make the journey an unlimited number of times as long as it’s valid.
If you’re making the same journey on three or more days a week, then a seven-day season ticket is likely to save you money, compared to buying a new one every day.
You can check to see if a season ticket will save you money on your trip with National Rail’s season ticket calculator.
Network Rail releases its timetable 12 weeks in advance, so ticket firms usually make their fares available at this time.
Just like plane tickets, the earlier you book the lower the price you’ll pay for your seat.
You can sign up to the Trainline’s ticket alert service and it will tell you when cheap advance tickets go on sale for a particular journey.
Also, the National Rail’s future travel chart shows the furthest advance date that you can buy tickets.
If you’re a regular traveller then a railcard should shave a third off the price of your ticket.
Just make sure you’ll make more in savings over a year than the price of the Railcard.
See Railcard.co.uk for more information.
Booking directly through the train company you’re travelling with could save you a bit of cash.
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While it may only be a couple of quid each time – which usually counts towards a booking fee on sites like Trainline – it will add up if you travel a lot.
Look up the trains on other websites first and then head to the company to book the train directly.
