Just trying to buy tickets for Bristol -> Paddington for next weekend. Go onto the National Rail website and it'll show a lovely £9.90 outward and £6.60 return fare..so you click buy, get redirected to First Great Western, go through the pages, then BAM! "Unable to make reservation". That's it, no reasons, no alternatives, just can't. Spoke to several very efficient people at FGW and NR call centres to try and book it through them, they also quote those fares, then say "Ah no sorry sir this fare isn't availabe any more". I mean, wtf, if it's sold out, why show it on the websites?! This isn't the first time I've found this. Interestingly, the website will then try and make you pay the full fare (under the "other fares" option), but phoning up they'll give you the next fare class (still <full fare). I don't mind paying for a full fare, but why advertise the discounted fares and even let you try to book them for it only to error at the payment screen?! I had a good rant to the lady who promised to flag it to her supervisor, so lets see if anything actually changes The solution was to book another train....which was ALSO mis-priced (next cheapest fare), then found the 3rd cheapest fare had something available. They're worse than airlines!
