Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

the_mackem

sounds like to hang fire for a while dzug,tell me though which site do you go off to look for dates/price/times ect

dzug1

The 'Booking Horizons' link on this site: http://www.atoctravelagents.org/ is useful - but be aware it's only updated about once a week so can be a little out of date

the_mackem

dzug can anybody register.

dzug1

Register?? You don't need to to access the horizons link.

But you do have to be a travel agent to register fully and quote registration and licence numbers and the like.

louise3965

York London 9 - 11 Jan 2009

This seems so complicated but I am determined to get cheap tickets, and hope that your fabulous advice can point me in the right direction.

Just booked a family room in a Travelodge for 2 nights for the bargain price of £18 (on grabbit board) for dh's birthday, and a Christmas treat for our 2 kids. I want to find some of these elusive cheap tickets on the train - when should I start looking, and is it just via trainline and can I use a family railcard on these?

I know noone will know exactly, but I thought they were released 90 days in advance but have looked 90 days in advance of now and they are hubdreds of pounds.

I need this to be the cheapest London weekend ever, and hopefully I will succeed. Thanks in advance

dzug1

louise3965 wrote: »

York London 9 - 11 Jan 2009

This seems so complicated but I am determined to get cheap tickets, and hope that your fabulous advice can point me in the right direction.

Just booked a family room in a Travelodge for 2 nights for the bargain price of £18 (on grabbit board) for dh's birthday, and a Christmas treat for our 2 kids. I want to find some of these elusive cheap tickets on the train - when should I start looking, and is it just via trainline and can I use a family railcard on these?

I know noone will know exactly, but I thought they were released 90 days in advance but have looked 90 days in advance of now and they are hubdreds of pounds.

I need this to be the cheapest London weekend ever, and hopefully I will succeed. Thanks in advance

Don't use the trainline - they charge extra
Use http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com/ - you will pay no extra and may get a discount depending on the type of ticket
The 90 days is the absolute maximum that cheap tickets are released - it rarely actually happens. 8 weeks is common - less for weekend travel. So start looking at the 90 day mark but don't expect anything for a month after that.

And cheap tickets are not really elusive - as long as you book soon after they come out (and I mean days or even a week or so, not hours) they will be there.

and yes you can use a family railcard

AirlieBird

If you go to the link that dzug1 has posted, you can enter your details and they'll email you when the tickets are released (on the right hand side where it says sign up for alerts).

james_yorks

Can anyone recommend away to get train tickets from Preston(lancs) to london any dates in october, tuesday-thursday journeys only. Departing preston around 7 am and returing after 5 pm.
Thanks

citrinequeen

Hi, my first post. Tried reading all of the previous posts with regards to splitting tickets. So sorry if this has been posted before. One thing you do need to be aware of are peak trains and split tickets. The tickets for these trains are peak for the whole of the journey. You can still split them but each leg would still be a peak ticket. There was a court case, which the train company won, a few years ago when someone did this. It's the time you board the service that determines the ticket prices. Sadly I don't have the details to hand but I did read the outcome of this case. I believe a hefty fine for fraud.

Gio_2

Could anyone tell me a cheaper way to get to Leamington Spa from Bristol, It cost me £44.00 2 months ago on the train, any ideas? Thanks