Southeastern are running an offer of 25% off “Weekender” tickets purchased online until 27 May for travel up to 3 July. Weekender fares are a good, but little-known, fare option. But the fare rules are complex and different from Day Returns, so it’s easy to be caught out.

The Southeastern “Weekender” is a return fare, essentially available after 0930 on Friday for return on Saturday or Sunday, or at any time on Saturday for return on Sunday. It’s an excellent option if you want to stay away on Friday and/or Saturday night, as otherwise (from Sevenoaks to London) you would have to buy two single fares, normally saving £11 (2 x £11.60 – £12.20). For other destinations (for example Sevenoaks to Margate) the relative saving is smaller but the Weekender is still cheaper than the Off-Peak Period Return with the return portion valid for a month. It’s only available on Southeastern services; it’s not available for weekends in Brighton for instance.

Southeastern are currently running a promotion of 25% off these Weekender tickets. You have to buy them online (and apparently only on the Southeastern website – they are not offered on the Southern website for instance) by Friday 27 May for travel by Sunday 3 July. Although the offer has been open since 29 April, Southeastern only sent out promotional emails to their mailing list yesterday (that’s how we heard about it).

There are some “gotchas”, perhaps to generate business for Revenue Protection Officers:

• unlike Off-Peak Day Return tickets they are only valid for travel “after 0930” on Friday. That means that you cannot use them on the 0929 Sevenoaks to London service.
• although the Southeastern publicity says that “for your return travel, your ticket is valid on any train on Saturdays or Sundays”, that’s not true. According to Southeastern’s ticket site. the last train from London to Sevenoaks on Sunday that can be used is the 2340 – although a Sunday-dated Day Return is valid on the 2352 and on the 0050 on Monday morning. The Weekend is also not valid on the 0015 from Charing Cross on Saturday since that’s still Friday in railway-world.
• The Southeastern terms and conditions say that outward travel is valid Fridays or Saturday. But the National Rail restriction codes for these tickets (SF and SG) say that the outward portion is valid only on the date shown on the ticket – so if you have bought a ticket dated for Friday you cannot use it for outward travel on the Saturday, and vice versa.
• The Southeastern terms and conditions do not mention a requirement to spend a night away, and imply that you could use the ticket for a day trip on Saturday. Normally a Weekender is more expensive than a Day Return, but with the 25% discount that would mean that travelling from Sevenoaks to London would cost £9.10 rather than the usual £11.70. However if you tell that Southeastern website that you want to go and return on the Saturday then it will not offer you the discounted Weekender, and if you buy a ticket telling the computer that you are returning on the Sunday and check the fine print you’ll find that the ticket has a SG restriction code that says “Valid for return travel on Sundays on any train”. If your plans change and you have to return the same day you’d have to buy another single ticket for the return. That’s different from the Off-Peak Period Return, which allows return on the day of outward travel or any other day within a month.

Like some other railway fares, the rules are complex, illogical and appear designed to catch people out. Passengers might want to pack a lawyer just in case!

In our view the Weekender ticket is a good idea in principle and the 25% discount offer is very welcome. However we consider that Southeastern should:

• ensure that the terms and conditions on its website are accurate and properly drafted, and in line with the terms and conditions and restriction codes in the fares manual that actually define ticket validity.
• allow Weekenders to have the same return validity start rules as Period Off-Peak returns – where the return portion can be used on the same day as the outward travel.
• allow Weekenders to be used on trains at times where Off Peak Day Returns are also valid – such as the 0929 from Sevenoaks to London on Fridays or the 2352 and 0050 from Charing Cross to Sevenoaks on Sundays.

Of course, all this assumes that there are trains to use at the weekend. With the London Bridge engineering works and the work on the Sevenoaks tunnel that can be a rash assumption these days.

Archived links: Southeastern’s offer and Terms and Conditions, SF code and SG code