Irish Rail Family Fare €46 to Galway not availiable on Fri or Sun - Watch Out!

Hi All,

Please don't get caught out like I was.

Having previously checked on-line, I phoned Irish Rail centrally AND phoned the station directly the day before, I arrived at the station fully expecting to pay €46 for a family day trip to Galway.

We were in a bit of a rush at the ticket office, as were the folks behind me, and the guy charged me €77. I told him that I had rung the station the day before (Saturday) to say we would be traveling the following day (Sunday) and was told it was €46. Then he looked at his screen again and said "Oh yeah, that fare is not available on Fridays or Sundays "

I couldn't really turn around to the kids and say well we're not going, so I had to swallow it.

You can imagine how much satisfaction I have received from Irish Rail since.

Pretty much ruined the day out for me from the start, but I didn't let on to herself.

Anyway, you have been warned.

Look up Family tickets on line and see for yourself how STUPIDLY this is "stated" .

You'd almost think the deception was deliberate!


Rant over.

vague title edited : 'Irish Rail Family Tickets - Watch Out!' to "Irish Rail Family Fare €46 to Galway not available on Fri or Sun - Watch Out!" to more fully reflect the content of the OP's post.

I feel obliged to report that Iarnrod Eireann accepted my case, and refunded me the 31 Euro difference in rail vouchers.

As my ticket had not been stamped on the return journey I couldn't prove that we had returned that day (as opposed to later in the month), so they couldn't refund the money for the family day ticket, but they gave me the vouchers as a "good will gesture" ...

Credit where it's due

Edit: Just to clarify, the ticket office had made a mistake. The family day ticket was valid on any day of the week.
I had asked for a day return ticket for 46 Euro, and he sold me a monthly return ticket for 77.

I feel your pain.

Any on line offers like that, I always try to get a print out, or if not I take a screen shot and print that off.

I'm always wary of arguments down the line, (no pun intended)
so to speak.

Manuel said:

[Edit] Just to clarify, the ticket office had made a mistake. The family day ticket was valid on any day of the week.
I had asked for a day return ticket for 46 Euro, and he sold me a monthly return ticket for 77.

Click to expand...

You should edit the title of the thread to reflect this as its very confusing what your actual grievance was until reading this part.

Not wanting to be too sensitive about it, but in my defence, ajapale saw fit to mangle my original post title after I posted it.

Anyway, moral of the story is: it's worth complaining - even to Irish Rail.
In fairness to them, they would have been within their rights to politely reject my case on account of the fact that my ticket hadn't been clipped on the return leg of the day-trip ....

Manuel said:

Look up Family tickets on line and see for yourself how STUPIDLY this is "stated" .

You'd almost think the deception was deliberate!

Click to expand...

Do you still think that information regarding Irish Rail Family ticked is stupidly stated on their website?

The particular page I was complaining about is not there any more. Yes, it was very badly laid out. For example , it had notes at the bottom, like:

* Not applicable on Fridays/Sundays
** Dublin-Belfast only

But nowhere on the body of the page was there any single asterisk, and therefore no indication of where this note was supposed to apply.


Anyway, the Family Travel page looks ok now I guess, a bit short on information, such as the cost from any starting point other than Dublin, but I guess you'd ring the station itself for that info.

I have to say in praise of Irish Rail, that a "family" comprises up to 2 adults and 4 children, which is more than most companies allow for a "family" ticket.

Great! and on that positive not Ill close the thread.