Confusion: Can I get to Ennis with a Limerick ticket?

[insidiari]

Dear all,

First of all, this website is fantastic.

I read the sections entitled "Intercity Tickets are valid for more than the printed destination!" and "Break of journey is allowed on Intercity tickets" hoping to find an answer to my question but I'm afraid I'll have to impose my ignorance on you here.

I bought (online) a return Dublin-Limerick ticket and subsequently realized I should have bought a Dublin-Ennis return ticket. Both tickets are exactly the same price.

Is it possible to buy an "extension" ticket in this case? Shouldn't this be free since the ticket price is the same?

If not, how much is a separate ticket between Limerick and Ennis? Since there is absolutely to sign of fare information for this journey on the website.

I'm posting this generally rather than in the Dublin-Limerick forum as it is really more an intercity ticketing question than one related specifically to that line.

Many thanks,
joanne

[Mark Gleeson]

Sadly no clear answer, tickets sold online do not fall under the intercity extension scheme as they are not 'ordinary tickets' and are issued subject to totally different terms and conditions. If you paid the full standard fare of 52.50 online then things might be different. Normally with reserved tickets you have selected your journey on specific trains so the extension option never comes into play.

The intercity extension ticket is priced on the basis of the difference in price between the ticket you have and the ticket you need. If you book online a return could be only 26 euro but the normal face value of Dublin Ennis return is 52.50. The whole intercity extension ticket is a very grey area unknown to many ticket checkers and booking office staff.

Despite the same price you must have a ticket valid for the destination of your journey, traveling beyond the destination on your ticket even if the price is the same is an offense.

If you opted to collect the tickets at the station and have not collected them yet, you could ring Irish Rail at the number given with the booking confirmation email and they may be able to change the ticket there and then at no cost.

Day return Limerick Ennis is 10.80, or 15.70 monthly return. And can be issued by any booking office or intercity on train ticket checker. Whatever you do sort it out before leaving Heuston to avoid missing a train later. Sadly our fares calculator can't cope with the really weird fare structures in the Limerick area (Dublin Ennis should be 56.00 euro by the book).

Given the total grey area with the extension ticket it all depends on the staff you meet on the day. However if you get an extension ticket any further members of staff will not challenge its validity

[insidiari]

Thanks for your reply.

I think for the sake of an easy journey on the day (it's for a friend's wedding so I'm going to put prompt and presentable arrival over value for money) I think the best option is to cancel my reservation (even only with an 80% refund) and start from scratch.

In searching for the best alternative booking, however, I have come across something odd. My original booking was 2 return tickets at 26 euros each from Heuston to Limerick. Tickets for Heuston-Ennis were exactly the same price. But, when I tried to implement a gem of info I found on your site by booking from the "Dublin City Centre" instead of Heuston the price jumped to 42.60 per adult. In all respects the journeys are identical apart from the bus/luas connection to Heuston.

It seems it's worth comparing the price of your ticket with and without bus/luas in case they're charging you an extra 16.60 per person for a 5 minute connection.

[Mark Gleeson]

The best thing is to ring them and see if the booking can be changed, thats the best option. If you cancel don't bet on a quick refund

From Dublin City Centre the fare should be 28.60 anything else is wrong if the fare from Heuston was 26.00. You have a case for 100% refund not the 80% crap if you booked that option

There is a problem with Irish Rail and the Luas add on, sometimes its calculated correctly sometimes not, we do check up on it and they have fixed a large number of the problems. In fact I think I was the (or one of the) first to ever book a ticket to Dublin City Centre, we got a tip off from inside IE that it was going to be possible

[insidiari]

Thanks for all your advice.

I'll be on to them first thing in the morning (well...10am anyway) and try to stick to my guns as far as changing my booking. I'll post back about how I get on.

I shall not attempt to book irish rail again without consulting your website!

Thanks again,
joanne

[Thomas Ralph]

Are tickets booked online to Dublin City Centre [a] readable by BÁC ticket readers [b] marked IFS or Luas?

[Mark Gleeson]

They are not readable since the mag stripe is never encoded

Those collected at the booking office are clearly marked valid on bus/luas

[bearded]

Speaking of Ennis, I recently got a Dublin-Ennis return ticket from the ticket office in Heuston, but after a few days in west Clare I travelled to Galway by bus. I then used my Ennis ticket to return on the Galway-Heuston train. The checker told me that my ticket 'was not valid' but that he would let me away with it, I insisted that it was valid, that I had returned from Claremorris with a Dublin-Galway return in the past, and that a Dublin-Galway ticket is cheaper than a Dublin-Ennis ticket. However he insisted I was in the wrong, that he was doing me a favour, and that I would not be allowed to do so in the future. He also said something about him having no way of knoing if I had used the ticket as Ennis tickets are not always checked at Limerick or something? I said that wasn't my problem...
Felt embarrassed as the conversation was repeated during the secondary ticket check and a nice crowd gathered to listen in.

I was under the impression that such a journey was within the rules though?

[Mark Gleeson]

That was perfectly valid if the ticket was a ordinary ticket, day return, 5 day return, monthly return etc

http://www.railusers.ie/resources/IE...riage_2004.pdf

Last page

[bearded]

Thanks for that, I've printed it and will bring it with me next time I take such a journey.

[clockwork orange]

No problem with that journey obviously and the checker would have known that if he'd looked it up. So i'd say stick it to him the next time. People like that deserve to be taken down a peg or two.

[Mark Gleeson]

That kind of attitude is unhelpful

Regardless of the situation everyone should remain calm and courteous, getting aggressive destroys what little chance you have of a complaint sticking later.

In this case its very simple, its in the terms and conditions.

[Jferb]

Are extension tickets only for changing the origin/destination of one's original ticket or can they be used to make other changes? I.e., could, say, a 5-day return be extended to a monthly return after the outward part of the original ticket had been used??

[Mark Gleeson]

Its a destination alteration, not a change of ticket type

[Thomas Ralph]

I have a friend who has purchased extensions of a 5-day return to monthly. Don't know if it has to be purchased within the validity of the original ticket, though. I'll ask him if he has any of the tickets.