Most people HATE travel delays.

But in this story, one person embraced them as a way to get free travel.

Let’s see if this one goes off the rails…

You refuse to improve trains and just offer refunds instead? Fine, I’ll only ride the ones running late!

I found a way to get 100% off my long-distance train travel.

Sounds too good to be true. What’s the catch?

A lot of train companies will repay you if your train is delayed.

So I started targeting tickets I predicted would be delayed to ride for free.

Some pretty brutal ‘all-dayers’ – but I’d use them as an opportunity to get a load of work done.

Woof. Talk about delayed gratification. He waited for hours on purpose. 

How to predict when a train will be delayed:

– Strike action

Strike action = staff shortages. RMT has to notify the public two weeks before they plan to strike.

There is usually a knock-on effect lasting several days, before and after.

– Engineering works

You can monitor planned works online in real time.

OK, so this *is* a pretty clever system.

– Weather

Snow, generally.

I started monitoring these risks, chose specific days when I knew there would be ‘trouble on the lines’.

The journeys were delayed every time.

I doubt this person was actually batting a thousand, but… sounds fairly foolproof nonetheless.

All I had to do after was take a photo of my ticket, fill out an online form, and send it to Avanti for full refund.

Honestly I can understand why people would just want to pay and get there quicker, but depending on how expensive your long-distance tickets are, it might be useful.

Definitely not a strategy to use if you’re in a hurry.

What do the comments think?

This person says, right idea, wrong thread.

Someone else says, planes, trains, and automobiles, baby!

One poster thinks he is gaming the system right.

Here’s someone who says, same, bro, same.

Another poster thinks this is MC at its best.

Come on ride the train, and ride it… with major delays?

I guess whatever works!

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.