Family and Friends Railcard Query

cl12

I have been looking at booking tickets to Gatwick Aiport from Lincoln and it's looking to be about £100 for two of us, even with advanced super saver tickets.

I worked out that it is cheaper to buy a family railcard and pay for two adults and one child.

We dont have a child, but could book a childs ticket and then say that we left him at home with the grandparents instead.

Has anyone tried this? Would the conductor know what we were up to and kick us off?

Thanks.

omelette451

cl12 wrote: »

Has anyone tried this? Would the conductor know what we were up to and kick us off?

He/she wouldn't kick you off but you would have to buy new full-fare tickets, and may also have the railcard confiscated for misuse. You can't buy railcard-discounted tickets and not travel with a child, it's against the rules (and yes, it will be pretty obvious you're not travelling with a child!). There's absolutely no point trying it.

If you post your dates here, perhaps we can help find you cheaper tickets?

Livingthedream

If you let us know your dates of travel, I'm sure that we'll find you some cheap tickets.

dzug1

cl12 wrote: »

I have been looking at booking tickets to Gatwick Aiport from Lincoln and it's looking to be about £100 for two of us, even with advanced super saver tickets.

I worked out that it is cheaper to buy a family railcard and pay for two adults and one child.

We dont have a child, but could book a childs ticket and then say that we left him at home with the grandparents instead.

Has anyone tried this? Would the conductor know what we were up to and kick us off?

Thanks.

You could try splitting the journey in London. Victoria - Gatwick tickets on Southern start (booked in advance) at £3 each way.

Looking at a date later this month you could do it for around £70 total if the trains fit

Try to get your Lincoln - London tickets for 'zone 1' to include the underground at reduced cost.

The absent child ruse won't work.

Oh and supersaver tickets have been abolished - I think you mean advance singles.

cl12

Ok I will scrap that idea then!

We are traveling on 31st August (bank holiday) and need to get to gatwick at 4.30pm our return journey needs to be after 12.00pm on 3rd September.

The tickets are too early to book so I did a check on the same days of the week in May. I have used 25th May because it's also a bank holiday and returning on 4th June.

We are wanting to know what it will cost now to decide whether or not we should book parking in advance and drive down instead. That's likely to cost over £100 in fuel and parking.

I have also tried the Mega bus from S!!!!horpe, Doncaster and Nottingham but they dont travel on those dates.

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks!

omelette451

cl12 wrote: »

We are wanting to know what it will cost now to decide whether or not we should book parking in advance and drive down instead. That's likely to cost over £100 in fuel and parking.

I think it's almost certain that the train would cost less than that, and given that your times are perfect for it, I would definitely take the train. The most you'll have to pay is £69 return each (a super off peak return), though I'll eat my hand if we can't find you a better deal than that once advance tickets are released. From Lincoln there are many opportunities for splitting, including Newark/Retford, Nottingham and dzug's London option (as above), though it's likely you'll also get a decent advance fare covering the whole journey - connection fares are provided on that route. You may even manage to avoid the tube by using EMT to Bedford and the Thameslink connection straight through to Gatwick.

I'd also hazard a guess that megabus/train/trainplus fares haven't yet been uploaded for your dates, so there's no reason to write them off just yet.

surreysaver

There's no point trying to think of these fiddles - they've all already been thought up years ago by British Rail, and the staff are trained on them to spot them...

gner_ex

cl12 wrote: »

I have been looking at booking tickets to Gatwick Aiport from Lincoln and it's looking to be about £100 for two of us, even with advanced super saver tickets.

I worked out that it is cheaper to buy a family railcard and pay for two adults and one child.

We dont have a child, but could book a childs ticket and then say that we left him at home with the grandparents instead.

Has anyone tried this? Would the conductor know what we were up to and kick us off?

Thanks.

As others have said, there must be a child.

If you are flying somewhere, I would advise against getting advance tickets. The simple reason is that planes are often delayed (and we're talking hours rather than 10 minutes), and if you miss your booked connection you will have to buy a fresh ticket which will be more than you would have paid for a return ticket. Far better to buy flexible tickets. Off-peak period return (SSR) at £69.00 each.

If you were to rebook, I would recommend that one of you buy a Network Railcard (£20), and get Lincoln-Huntingdon (£32.50 period return per person) and then Huntingdon-Gatwick (normally £40 period return, but with railcard £26.40 period return per person). Note you need to be on a train that stops at Huntingdon. Then again, if this is the only journey you would make in the year, better to ignore this option and just pay for the Lincoln-Gatwick ticket there is only a pound in it.

A useful tip is to go to St. Pancras and get the Thameslink service straight to Gatwick - alternative is the crowded Victoria line to Victoria, then the train from there.

You mention S!!!!horpe - what is your nearest local station please?

gner_ex

lol the board won't let me type scun thorpe properly! Apparently the council there implemented a new email filter system - and not a single one of them was able to send an email for three days until they figured out what the problem was.

omelette451

gner_ex wrote: »

If you are flying somewhere, I would advise against getting advance tickets. The simple reason is that planes are often delayed (and we're talking hours rather than 10 minutes), and if you miss your booked connection you will have to buy a fresh ticket which will be more than you would have paid for a return ticket. Far better to buy flexible tickets. Off-peak period return (SSR) at £69.00 each.

But the OP said that unless it's less than £100 for the two of them it'll be cheaper to drive... Telling them they'll have to spend £138 is not the best way to get them to travel by train!

Given the potential price differential, I think it would be silly to discount advance tickets on the off-chance the plane is delayed. If sensible precautions are taken, there is no problem buying an advance ticket. For example, I always leave a couple of hours between the scheduled arrival time of the flight and the departure of the train (and if possible do the same thing for the outbound journey too). Most travel insurance policies cover such delays anyway, provided you leave a reasonable amoung of time between connections, so if the £15 single tickets Lincoln-Gatwick do become available for a suitable journey, I think the OP would be foolish not to get them. Just my opinion, of course, but it's what I would do, and indeed have done on many occasions.

gner_ex

omelette451 wrote: »

For example, I always leave a couple of hours between the scheduled arrival time of the flight and the departure of the train (and if possible do the same thing for the outbound journey too). Most travel insurance policies cover such delays anyway, provided you leave a reasonable amoung of time between connections

On balance I think you're probably right. Thinking about it, there is so much padding into cross-London journeys that a plane could be an hour late, you could get on the first Thameslink service and be at Kings Cross in time for your originally-intended train (noting that 'reservations' on FCC are 'suggested service' only.