Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Livingthedream

SirSpike wrote: »

Hi All was wondering if anyone can help, me and a mate need to do a triangular route in december as follows:-

leaving bristol (either parkway or temple meads) on friday 12th dec, to bournemouth (need to be there by 1pm)
on sat 13th dec, leave bournemouth (about lunchtime but flexible) heading to London (any station)
on sun 14th dec, leaving London (guessing Paddington) to head back to Bristol (parkway or temple meads depending on where we start)

On speaking to national rail they say best option is singles between all locations but i'm sure there must be a better way, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Try this; First Part involves a change of train and two tickets;

12th Bristol TM to Southampton central 09:02 Advance Single £5
Southampton central to Bournemouth 11:42 Advance Single £4.50

13th Bournemouth to London Waterloo 12:21 Advance Single £9
14th London Paddington to Bristol TM 09:03 Advance Single £10

all these Tickets are Advance Tickets so you need to book them quick before they sell out. :j

Livingthedream

GoldenJill wrote: »

Hi, excluding Megabus, what is the cheapest way to travel from Edinburgh to London end of November?

Thanks
GJ x

You didn't give date so assumed these all by train;
Friday 28th £39 Advance Ticket
Sat 29th £15.70 Advance Ticket
Sun 30th £39 Advance Ticket

Could try Split Tickets but as these two stations on east coast main line don't think you will have much luck

view

Livingthedream wrote: »

You didn't give date so assumed these all by train;
Friday 28th £39 Advance Ticket
Sat 29th £15.70 Advance Ticket
Sun 30th £39 Advance Ticket

Could try Split Tickets but as these two stations on east coast main line don't think you will have much luck

Thanks, was looking to travel out Friday 28th and back Sunday 30th.

Which website do I use to find these advance tickets? I can only find tickets well over £100

Livingthedream

[quote=Which_website_do_I_use_to_find_these_advance_tickets?_[/quote]

https://www.buytickets.virgintrains.co.uk/JourneyRequest.aspx

is the one I use but any train operating company ie NXEC or Scotrail

Don't use trainline as they charge you extra for you ticket

SirSpike

Livingthedream wrote: »

Try this; First Part involves a change of train and two tickets;

12th Bristol TM to Southampton central 09:02 Advance Single £5
Southampton central to Bournemouth 11:42 Advance Single £4.50

13th Bournemouth to London Waterloo 12:21 Advance Single £9
14th London Paddington to Bristol TM 09:03 Advance Single £10

all these Tickets are Advance Tickets so you need to book them quick before they sell out. :j

:T Thanx, so much for pointing all those out, very much appreciated. :T

shaunbean

looking to go to london from leeds on 29 december and come back on january 3rd by train but me and my partner must travel on these dates and carnt find cheaper than £160 can any1 help

dzug1

shaunbean wrote: »

looking to go to london from leeds on 29 december and come back on january 3rd by train but me and my partner must travel on these dates and carnt find cheaper than £160 can any1 help

Your problem is that cheap tickets for your return date have not yet been released. (The National Express website says up to 9 January EXCEPT 3/4 January.)

Waiting sounds the best option - the £160 will be available on the day so no point in buying it in advance.

Alternatively buy the outward journey now and wait for the return to become available. There is a risk that it could be more expensive though.

IM

I'm looking to book Manchester to Euston 1st class* for February - down Thursday morning, back late afternoon on the Sunday - and I'm confused from scanning (but not reading all 1,300+ posts…:eek: ) this thread, as to when is the best time to book.

First off, is it 12 weeks, 3 months or 90 days before? And does this relate to the return leg?

Secondly, if it's actually some random point later than 12 weeks, that the cheapest tickets are uploaded to the websites, how do I know when to 'blink' (i.e. how to spot the lowest they are going to get).

Cheers

IM

*It's a big birthday, and we're Eurostar-ing to Brugges on Nectar points.

Livingthedream

IM wrote: »

I'm looking to book Manchester to Euston 1st class* for February - down Thursday morning, back late afternoon on the Sunday - and I'm confused from scanning (but not reading all 1,300+ posts…:eek: ) this thread, as to when is the best time to book.

First off, is it 12 weeks, 3 months or 90 days before? And does this relate to the return leg?

Secondly, if it's actually some random point later than 12 weeks, that the cheapest tickets are uploaded to the websites, how do I know when to 'blink' (i.e. how to spot the lowest they are going to get).

Cheers

IM

*It's a big birthday, and we're Eurostar-ing to Brugges on Nectar points.

Your a bit early at the moment the advance cheap tickets are only upto around the 13th of January.

As you will most probably travel by Virgin Trains, use this web page when the dates you want to travel turn green, then search for cheap tickets. You also only want cheap ADVANCE singles there and back. £8 is the cheapest ticket one way you can get unless you do the 'print @ home' or 'send direct to mobile' ticket

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/buy_tickets/seat_reservations/default.aspx

dzug1

IM wrote: »

I'm looking to book Manchester to Euston 1st class* for February - down Thursday morning, back late afternoon on the Sunday - and I'm confused from scanning (but not reading all 1,300+ posts…:eek: ) this thread, as to when is the best time to book.

First off, is it 12 weeks, 3 months or 90 days before? And does this relate to the return leg?

Secondly, if it's actually some random point later than 12 weeks, that the cheapest tickets are uploaded to the websites, how do I know when to 'blink' (i.e. how to spot the lowest they are going to get).

Cheers

It's a maximum of 12 weeks, but almost invariably a random point somewhat later. I've known it as late as the Monday before for the next weekend but it's more usually about 8 weeks. It does vary between different train companies - they don't all stick to the same dates, and it's often later for weekends and other periods of engineering work.

Once there are cheap tickets (ie advance tickets are shown as well as anytime and off peak ones) that's it. They don't go up in price once released - but they do sell out, which amounts to much the same thing.

SOME of the train companies have the release dates on their website, but there is a central record to be found at http://www.atoctravelagents.org/ - look for the booking horizons link. It can be a bit out of date as it's only updated once a week, but it's a good guide.