‘I’ve lost £660 on unused train tickets because of lockdown’

QFor more than 40 years, my family and I have regularly taken the overnight train from Inverness to London. The service is currently run by Caledonian Sleeper, which introduced a useful Flexipass carnet a few years ago. This costs £1,650 for 10 tickets, which must be used within a year.

During lockdown, my current Flexipass expired with four tickets unused. I had planned to use these over Easter to visit my parents in Sutherland, but Scotland had shut down by that point.

In July, once it was announced that travel to Scotland was to be allowed again, I contacted Caledonian Sleeper to make a reservation, under the assumption that – given the exceptional circumstances – it would extend the expiry date of my Flexipass.

However, the company has refused to honour the tickets, which puts us £660 out of pocket. Can you help?

– Ed Howden

AThe sales blurb for Caledonian Sleeper’s Flexipass says of the tickets: “If you don’t use them all in the 12 months, with the purchase of a new Flexipass, the expiry date of up to five unused tickets will be extended to the expiry date of the new tickets.”

Mr Howden had told Caledonian he would buy a new pass to fulfil this requirement. But the company said that customers could carry over unused tickets only if another Flexipass was bought before the old one expired.

In response to his formal complaint, Caledonian’s guest services manager said that, as the sleeper service was still running during the height of the pandemic (one wonders who was using it) the decision had been taken not to extend the validity of Flexipasses because of lockdown. It would merely “look kindly” on any request made within 28 days of the pass’s expiry date.

The manager argued that, as Mr Howden had only got in touch “85 days after the product expired”, it was definitely too late to consider a refund.

But Mr Howden wasn’t asking for a refund, only for the ticket validity to be extended. Surely Caledonian Sleeper wouldn’t be so mean-spirited as to deny such a request in the light of the pandemic? After all, he is a loyal customer whom it had emailed about schedule changes during the pandemic. Why couldn’t it also have warned customers with Flexipasses about the expiry date issue?

I asked Caledonian to review its rigid stance. It has now accepted that, as a loyal customer, Mr Howden should not be penalised for his failure to inform the company as required – and rightly so. It has offered him four complimentary journeys to be taken before Jan 31.

Judging from our inbox, customer loyalty is something many travel companies and insurers have forgotten about during the pandemic. But those that have behaved honourably, by keeping in touch with customers and allowing more latitude in the interpretation of contract terms and conditions, will be the ones we bring our custom back to when the world opens up again.