On the gravy Trainline – how the ticket retailer rips off passengers and taxpayers
Last year, RMT published research1 showing how the UK’s largest third-party online ticket retailer, Trainline, was profiteering at the expense of passengers and taxpayers. The report highlighted how the company not only charges booking fees on transactions which do not attract fees when purchased direct from the train operator, but it also takes a commission on sales made through its platforms, set at 5% for return and single tickets. It is therefore in Trainline’s interest to not promote the cheapest fares – the more expensive the tickets it sells, the more commission it generates.
Trainline’s third-party retailing model means that it is draining money out of the railway, which could be reinvested if the revenue was going straight to the train operators. Trainline has also been criticised, including by MPs, for using an algorithm that fails to show passengers all the ticket options for their journey.
Trainline is a private company whose largest shareholders are the private equity firms Invesco Ltd, Baillie Gifford, JP Morgan, BlackRock and FIL Ltd. The company’s trading statement2 for 2024/25 reports that nearly £2bn ticket sales were made through its platform in the first half of the year, and it generated £106m revenue from this, an increase of 17% from the same period last year.
This means that by the end of the year, the company is on track to have made nearly £1 billion in revenue from UK rail ticket sales since 2019/20 – this is money taken directly from passengers and taxpayers. In a Trainline presentation for investors, a slide entitled ‘How do we make money’ boasts that the company’s ‘revenue take rate’ is equivalent to 6.1% of total ticket sales made through its platform.
Via its ‘Trainline solutions’ arm of the business, the company also runs the online retail platforms for a number of Train Operating Companies’ (TOCs), referred to as ‘white label’ platforms. In 2021, it reported that it offered this white label service to seven TOCs3 including Greater Anglia, CrossCountry and ScotRail. The cost of this service is ‘negotiated on a case-by-case basis’. Given that the TOCs are all directly in public ownership or publicly funded, this is another example of Trainline draining money out of the public purse.
RMT has surveyed its members across the UK working in ticket offices, stations and ontrains about their experiences of dealing with tickets purchased via Trainline. Our survey shows that Trainline’s model of operation is at odds with Labour’s objectives of simplified
1 https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/trainline-profiteering-from-passengers-and-ticket-office/
2 https://ir.design-portfolio.co.uk/viewer/84/66618
3 https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/39718/pdf/
and integrated ticketing.
In contrast to the specialist and high-quality advice available from ticket office, station and on-train staff, there were numerous examples in our survey of the information provided to passengers by Trainline being misleading, inaccurate and conflicting. This can also create conflict situations between passengers and staff. Many members reported that Trainline sells tickets for trains that do not exist, including trains cancelled due to planned engineering works or industrial action.
Because Trainline is not integrated with the railway system as a whole, where services such as automatic delay and repay are available, these do not apply to Trainline passengers, meaning these passengers are less likely to receive the compensation they are entitled to. Ticket Office staff cannot issue refunds for tickets purchased via Trainline and instead have to redirect passengers to Trainline to request refunds or exchanges. Our members report that the platform information on Trainline’s app is often incorrect and doesn’t always display platform changes, meaning passengers relying on this information can miss their trains.
Is Trainline compatible with GBR?
It is clear that, as a result of the UK’s fragmented private railway, the ticketing system is far too complex with an overwhelming range of fares, tickets and operators and thirdparty retailers like Trainline have taken advantage of this complexity.
The Labour Government’s plans to bring passenger rail services into public ownership in a nationally integrated company, Great British Railways (GBR), will assist in addressing the complexity of the ticketing system.
The Government’s plan for rail commits to ‘simplify the ticketing system…replacing the current multitude of platforms and myriad array of fares, discounts and ticket types and maximising passenger growth’, roll out ticketing innovations like automatic compensation across the whole network and has an ambition to introduce a best-price ticket guarantee. RMT welcomes Labour’s plans for GBR which will deliver significant benefits for passengers.
RMT believes that passengers would be best served by Great British Railways developing a publicly owned and integrated ticketing system which maximises GBR’s capacity to directly provide the best value fares, as well as protecting and enhancing the vital role of ticket offices and on-train staff.
RMT Survey
Our survey, of around 2600 members working for the train operating companies in roles in ticket offices and on-trains involving selling and checking tickets found that:
• 90% of RMT members said that they had come across passengers who had purchased tickets via Trainline that were not valid for their journey.
• Over 80% of members said they were aware of passengers having to repurchase tickets after inadvertently buying the incorrect ticket via
• 60% of RMT members said they had come across passengers who had paid more for their ticket from Trainline then they needed to.
• Over 90% of RMT members do not think that Trainline offers passengers the most appropriate ticket for their journey.
• Over 90% of RMT members think that ticket offices provide a more comprehensive range of fares and services compared to online ticket retailers.
• 85% of RMT members do not think that Trainline offers passengers the best value fare for their journey.
Value for money
Trainline argues that its platform ensures that passengers get the ‘best value’ fares, but dig into this claim a little closer, and it becomes clear that it is not all it seems. One of the main reasons that Trainline claims it offers the best value fares is because its settings default to something it calls ‘Splitsave’ meaning that it may split a journey into a number of separate tickets.
However, as RMT members report, Splitsave tickets often include a range of fares, which have different rules and eligibility and are often made up of a range of flexible ‘anytime’ or ‘off-peak’ fares and fixed ‘advance’ fares. Where a passenger has an advance fare, they must travel on the service specified or their ticket is invalid. In the survey, our members reported that it is commonplace for Trainline passengers to be unaware that their tickets include a fixed advance fare, resulting in them travelling on services for which they do not have a valid ticket. This means the passenger will likely have to purchase a new ticket or could make them liable for a penalty fare, significantly increasing the costs on top of their initial purchase.
Trainline even admits that its search criteria does not prioritise the cheapest overall ticket for a journey, nor does it automatically show all fares available for a journey:
“Oursearchrankingcriteriaisbaseduponthedeparturetimeandthefastestavailable journeyswiththesmallestnumberofchanges(whichincludesalldirectservicesof comparableduration). Wehighlightthecheapestwithintheseresults.
Nootherrankingcriteria,remunerationorotherconditionsareconsidered.
Ourresultsareorganizedtohighlighttheonesweconsidertobethemost relevantbasedonthecriteriahighlightedaboveandshowthecheapestprice withinthoseresults.”
This means that if a journey is cheaper but departs later, is longer, or requires more changes, it will not be selected to be shown. Passengers are clearly being denied the opportunity to make an informed decision about how they make their journey and how much they spend.
Contrary to Trainline’s claims that it always offers passengers the best value fares, our members report that passengers often pay more with Trainline then they needed to and that Trainline does not offer them the best value or most appropriate fare for their journey.
Crucially, Trainline charges a booking fee on nearly all transactions, meaning that its tickets will be more expensive than the equivalent fare purchased directly from a train operator. Consumer financial advice website Money Saving Expert (MSE) advises the public not to use Trainline as a result of these booking fees4 .
Our members report that other discounts such as GroupSave or Kids for a Quid are not promoted or automatically applied when purchasing via Trainline. Other discount fares such as ranger and rover tickets are also not routinely offered by Trainline.
“Usuallygroupsofpeopleonlineswheregroupsaveticketswereavailable,customers payingfullpriceforunder-16’swhenwehavekidsforaquidtickets”
“Hadagroupboardmytrain,6individualtickets,cametoapprox£96,Icould'vesolda combinationofgroupsavesforabout£62”
“TheCambrianCoastlinehasaRangerticketavailableforalltravelafter0930.Onan almostdailybasisIwillseepeoplewhohaveboughtticketsforaround£20whichcould havebeencoveredbya£14.60Roverticket.AlsopeoplebuychildticketsontheTrainline whentheyareeligibleforfreeaccompaniedchildontheTFWscheme.”
“Onweekendsmanypassengersarebuyingmoreexpensiveticketsbecausethey'renot awareofdiscountticketsthatareavailableonweekendsandbankholidays.Whenwe checktheirticketsandinformthemtheycouldhaveboughtcheapertickets,they'renot pleasedandfeelcheated.”
“Thereisascandalousbeliefthattrainlineischeaperthanticketoffices.Thisisnottrue andthepublichavebeenmisleadwiththeseclaimssignificantly.Trainlineisonlycheaper ifthecustomerpurchasesasplitsavesplitticket.Whichoftenarehighlyrestrictedasto timesandroutestheyarevalidfor.OrtheotheroptionisanAdvancesinglewhichis bookedforaspecifictrainataspecifictime.”
“Thepublicdon'trealisethattheygetabaddeal.Someweeksagonowaschoolteacher foundthathehadpaid£120morethanifhehadgonetotheticketofficetobuyforhis pupils.Hewasshockedandangry.”
“IntheManchesterareaGMaccompaniedchildfaresareavailablefromtheticketoffice andon-boardatunstaffedstationswhichgivea£0.80flatratesingleor£1.60return whentravellingwithanadultoffpeak,trainlinedoesn'tofferthese.”
“Trainlinedoesn’tofferthemostappropriatefareatall.Theyshowcustomersaprice whichtomostpeopleseemstoogoodtobetrue.Peopleseeaticketforabargain basementpriceandassumetheycanuseitonanytrain,anyrouteandanytimeofthe day.Thisisnottrueanditisnotadvertisedclearlyenoughaboutwhatticketoptionsare
4 https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets/
availableandtherestrictionsappliedtoeachtickettype.Whichmeanspeopleoftenbuy thewrongticketsastheyhavebeensuckedinbythepriceandhavenotbeenmade awareofwhattheyareabouttopurchase.Whichoftenmeanstheyhavetobuyanother ticketfortheirjourney.”
Missold tickets
Another commonly reported issue with Trainline was how it markets tickets as ‘open returns’ when in fact the fare is a day return. A true ‘open return’ is a ticket for which the return element is valid for 30 days. Our members report Trainline mis-selling day returns as open returns, meaning that passengers returning home on a later date unwittingly do not have a valid ticket for the return leg of their journey. Again, meaning they are liable for purchasing a new ticket or a penalty fare.
“Advanceticketsonthewrongtraineveryday.Ticketswithrailcarddiscountoninvalid trains.Splitticketsnotvalidonthetrain.”
“Excessivenumbersofadvancesinglesbeingsoldtocustomerswhobelievetheyare beingsoldoff-peak/superoff-peaktickets.Alsosellingsplitticketswithdayreturn elementsforcustomerswhowantperiodreturntickets.”
“Customersselectthecheapestfare,notunderstandingtherestrictionswithAdvanceand SplitTickets.”
“Hadacustomerwiththreeadvancesinglesforherjourney(thatcrossedseveraltrain operators).Trainlinehadsplitherticketbutshewasunawarethatifshemissedher1st connection(her1sttrainwaslate)thenherotheradvancesingleswouldbeinvalid.She shouldhaveanadvancesingleforthewholejourneytocoveranydisruptions.”
“Customersassumetheyarepurchasinganopenreturn,butduetosplittingthejourney partoftheticketisnowadayreturn.Theitineraryontheirappdisplaystheticketasan openreturnbutwhentheygotoshowtheQRcode,theyfinditisnolongerintheapp. Uponcheckingtheemail, theyrealisetheyhaveadayreturnduetothesplit,resultingin themhavingtopayforanew,singleticket.”
“Theyaresellingsplitticketsandthengivingthemtraintimesforfastservicesthatdon't stopatthesplitstations,whichmakestheticketsinvalid.”
The vast majority of our members were aware of passengers having to buy a new ticket as their Trainline ticket was not valid. This undoubtedly means that passengers are having to pay more in total for their journey then if they had bought the correct ticket directly from the train operator.
“Whenourrevenueteamsareon-boardweregularlygetpassengershavingtobuyanew ticketbecausetrainlinehassoldthemanoperatorspecificoneandnotmadeitclear”
“YesterdayIhadacustomerwhohadboughtan'openreturn'withTrainline.Everyonein ourcompanyknowsthatTrainlines'OpenReturn'isnotanopenreturnforacalendar month,ratheritisopenoverthecourseofthatday.Thisisaflagrantdisregardforthe termsusedontherailwayandisdeliberatelymisleadingtothecustomer.Inthiscasethe customerhadboughtanopenreturn,thinkingitwasvalidforacalendarmonth,whenit
wasnot.Thereforethecustomerhadtopurchaseafullsinglefaretogethome.This happenseverysingleday.”
“Ire-sellmoreticketsonboardtopassengerswithcompletelywrongTrainlinetickets (wrongTOC,time,class)thananyotherticketissue.”
In contrast to the specialist and high-quality advice available from ticket office, station and on-train staff, there were numerous examples of the information provided to passengers by Trainline being misleading, inaccurate and conflicting. This can also create conflict situations between passengers and staff. Many members reported that Trainline sells tickets for trains that do not exist, including trains cancelled due to planned engineering works or industrial action.
Because Trainline is not integrated with the railway system as a whole, where services such as automatic delay and repay are available, these do not apply to Trainline passengers, meaning these passengers are less likely to receive the compensation they are entitled to. Ticket Office staff cannot issue refunds for tickets purchased via Trainline and instead have to redirect passengers to Trainline to request refunds or exchanges. Our members report that the platform information on Trainline’s app is often incorrect and doesn’t always display platform changes, meaning passengers relying on this information can miss their trains.
“Trainlinewillfrequentlyemailpassengerssayingtheirtrainhasbeencancelledwhenthe serviceisonlypart-cancelled(startingorfinishingshort)andtheirjourneyisnotaffected.”
“Whensoldtheincorrectticket.Passengersdemandarefundstraightaway.Andwhen toldtheyhavetogoviatrainlinewheretheyoriginallypurchasedtheirticketsfromand thatcouldtake14workingdays.Manypassengersbecomeangryandupset.This frustrationistakenoutontrainstaff…..eventhoughthepassengershaven’tpurchased theirticketsviatheStationorViaTOCswebsite/app.Staffontrainsandstationstakethe bruntofabuseandsometimesphysicalabuse”
“Thereareofteninstancesoftrainlinegivingtheincorrectplatforminformationfor journeys.I'veseencountlessinstancesofpassengersaskingstaffwheretheirtrainwillbe, thestaffprovidethecorrectinformation,howeverthepassengerwillthenstatethat trainlinestatessomethingelsesotheyfollowwhattrainlinetellsthem,whichisincorrect andeitherinconveniencesthemorcausesthemtomisstheirtrain.”
“Theyhavepurchasedticketsforjourneysthatdonotexist”
“AtleasteveryweekthereispassengerwhohasboughtaticketfromTrainlineforatrain thatdoesnotexist.Evenonstrikedays.”
Quality of service
As was abundantly clear from the backlash to the previous Government’s ticket office closure proposals, a key reason why passengers value ticket offices is because of the highquality advice and journey planning information provided by ticket office staff. An online transaction is one-sided, whereas ticket office staff will ask passengers questions about their requirements in order to ensure the passenger gets the most appropriate ticket for
their journey. For instance, if ticket offices sell passengers advance tickets, or split tickets, they will clearly explain to the passenger the conditions of the tickets and how they need to make their journey and will check they are happy with those conditions before selling them the ticket.
If ticket office staff see a group of people travelling together, they’ll offer a GroupSave when available, likewise if they see people travelling with children, they will offer any discounts such as Kids for a Quid.
“Whenwesellaticket,itsreadbacktothepassengersotheyunderstandwhatthey've bought,whentheybuyonline, theyoftenlookforthecheapestticketwithout understandingwheretheyhavetochangeandontothecorrectoperator.”
“Wecanexplaintocustomersthetermsandconditionsoftickets,explainthebenefitsof gettingarailcard,advisethatanopenticketisonlyacoupleofpoundscheapersothey wouldhaveflexibility.”
Contact: Sophie Ward, National Policy Officer S.ward@rmt.org.uk