Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

cjp_2

Hi

i' trying to find the cheapest price/route from Bristol either parkway or Temple meads to london waterloo (retunr) on saturday 13th Sept - 2 adults and 3 children with a railcard.
cheapest i can find is £921

thanks

dzug1

EagerLearner wrote: »

Hi Robt, it was just a return ticket from Brighton to London for the day, I ticked 'network railcard'.

Have received the tickets just wondering if it matters whether I get that exact train. No one ever seems to look that closely at the ticket anyway as long as you have for the date and destination but just wanted to check. All the e-mail said was:
Ticket types

Outward: Advance
Return: Advance

How much did you pay? If it was £13 odd return then you have an off peak cheap day return and can use any off peak train. You could have saved the raileasy fee by buying at the station on the day

If it was £3 or £5 each way then you have advance singles which are only valid on the specified trains. It's highly likely they will be checked and you are in trouble if you are on the wrong train

dzug1

cjp wrote: »

Hi

i' trying to find the cheapest price/route from Bristol either parkway or Temple meads to london waterloo (retunr) on saturday 13th Sept - 2 adults and 3 children with a railcard.
cheapest i can find is £921

thanks

Please say that's a typo, please.......

£53 odd saver/cheap day return via Salisbury

£70 odd (plus underground) advance singles each way to Paddington

EagerLearner

dzug1 wrote: »

How much did you pay? If it was £13 odd return then you have an off peak cheap day return and can use any off peak train. You could have saved the raileasy fee by buying at the station on the day

If it was £3 or £5 each way then you have advance singles which are only valid on the specified trains. It's highly likely they will be checked and you are in trouble if you are on the wrong train

Thanks :beer: they were £3 each way, per person so we better ensure the train back is the right time... although have used these tickets twice now and no-one did look at the time, I know though best to be safe.

Optimisticpair

I looked on journey planner - it says advance tickets are available single cost £18.50 and £18.00 for my journey out Monday coming back Thursday but when I went to purchase through Raileasy just now the cheapest is over £100 return - so I don't understand how to buy the tickets at the cheap rate. Who is wrong here?

dzug1

Optimisticpair wrote: »

I looked on journey planner - it says advance tickets are available single cost £18.50 and £18.00 for my journey out Monday coming back Thursday but when I went to purchase through Raileasy just now the cheapest is over £100 return - so I don't understand how to buy the tickets at the cheap rate. Who is wrong here?

Maybe they sold out between you looking and trying to buy. As you don't say where it's difficult to replicate your situation

Anyway - don't use raileasy - use a train company site to avoid raileasy's fees. Doesn't normally matter which one though using the company that runs your trains occasionally attracts a discount.

p1an0player

Emergency? Have you heard about the boy who cried wolf?

Optimisticpair

p1an0player wrote: »

Emergency? Have you heard about the boy who cried wolf?

Wow, that's cynical.

Roland

Today saw the introduction of simpler rail fares, but don't be fooled into thinking that you will now always get the best deal. There were many loopholes in the old system and many of them still remain.

For example, I earlier checked on a peak time day return from Leeds to Birmingham. The "Anytime" return fare is £76.00. Using "Anytime" Day Returns the fare can be reduced to £39.10 with the splits at Sheffield and Derby. These tickets can be used on any train on this route.

It still pays to do your research for the cheapest fares.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7602559.stm

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/simple_fares.html

ha07329_2

I'm traveling to Liverpool from london every weekend, friday evening and back sun afternoon, i have a young persons rail card but the tickets are still £45 return! As a broke student can anyone help? Has anyone found anyway of doing the journey for less?

Thanks