Why do they bury the booking ref description?

Earlier Benedict Evans tweeted this.

And I replied.

Here's what I mean. When you book a train ticket online this is what happens. This example is with Virgin Trains but it's the same with others including the Trainline.

Finish booking and you get a screen with a nice big booking ref. The number you have to input to collect your tickets. So far so good.

You are offered the option of adding to your calendar. This is useful.

Adds to calendar, looks like this.

The vital booking ref is now buried in the description. Which is obscured when you look at the calendar. This is especially annoying when you're trying to collect your tickets at 7am and you have your phone in one hand and your credit card, needed for verification, in the other.

So I always replace the word train with the booking ref. Instead of saying "Train to Manchester Piccadilly" I put "4CK7JLL2 to Manchester Piccadilly".

Looks like this in my calendar.

Why can't the booking site do that for me?

Comments

[botogol]

you are asking the wrong question! the real question is WHY do station ticket machines make you type in your booking reference, given that you have already shown you have possession of the payment card. In other contexts - eg cinema/theatre, you insert the card and get the tickets, no need for a booking reference at all.

[Phil]

Except sometimes you don't want the booking reference at all, because that's not the number you need to collect your ticket: http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2014/08/12/booking-reference.php

Abellio Greater Anglia's emails haven't changed since then. It's as if they don't even read my blog!