Help please: Birmingham -> Salisbury/Ringwood/Bournemouth?

IlonaRN

Hello all,

My mum and her husband (both 65+) would like to come to visit me in March for my graduation ceremony. The flight is very cheap at the moment, and they can arrive in either Birmingham International or Stansted airports.

They have come via Stansted before, and taken the bus to Ringwood, from where I've fetched them in the car (I live in Salisbury), but it's a long journey which includes at least one change of bus.

I know the train goes straight from Bournemouth to BHI airport and only takes 3hrs, it seems that the Salisbury to BHI route would be about the same. However, a full price return ticket is about £80 by train!! (more than 4 times the price of the flight!).

I can't seem to find any coaches that do BHI -> Salisbury, but Mum said she found a route that took 7 hrs.

Does anyone know of any cheaper means of transport, or a way of getting the train tickets cheaper? They don't come more than once or twice a year, so it seems silly to pay £24 each for a 1-year railcard when they usually borrow my car for outings while here.

Trains in the UK are SO expensive! :eek:

dzug1

You can get cheaper train fares by booking in advance - but not as far ahead as March at the moment. They get released in theory 12 weeks before the travel date - in practice usually rather less.

Cross Country Trains, who run BHX - Bournemouth, have released up to roughly the end of February for weekdays and the end of January for weekends.

There are coaches from central Birmingham (not the airport) to Ringwood and Bournemouth - about 5 hours. One a day goes through Salisbury but is slower.

matthew74

Where are they flying from - could they fly to Southampton or Bournemouth?

IlonaRN

matthew74 wrote: »

Where are they flying from - could they fly to Southampton or Bournemouth?

Billund in Denmark. Soton/Bmth is not an option, unfortunately!

matthew74

Sounds stupid but why can't you collect them?

bagand96

As others have said Cross Country Trains release advance fares, although they will not be out for March yet. It shouldn't be anywhere near £80 return, I've used Bournemouth - Coventry (one stop before BHX) a few times and had return tickets around £20-24.

Check the Cross Country Trains website over the next few weeks.

IlonaRN

Unfortunately, I can't collect them as it's a 3 1/2 hr drive each way for me to get to Birmingham airport, and that would mean taking a full day off work for both the inbound and outbound flights. With petrol and parking costs, it just doesn't make sense when the coach from Stansted costs £43 return for the both of them. Unfortunately, the Stansted bus takes 5 1/2hrs+ to Ringwood, which then means another 1/2 hr drive to my house.

bagand96 wrote: »

As others have said Cross Country Trains release advance fares, although they will not be out for March yet. It shouldn't be anywhere near £80 return, I've used Bournemouth - Coventry (one stop before BHX) a few times and had return tickets around £20-24.

Check the Cross Country Trains website over the next few weeks.

Thanks! Though when I try looking for a couple of weeks before (i.e. 12 weeks from now), it still seems to be £70+ per person? Is the main difference going to be because they need to be at the airport by noon-ish for check-in? I.e. need to get a train before 10am on the day of departure.