Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

northstar23

Just a quick question... are these discount advance fares only open to certain railway companies?

I'd like to travel from Canterbury to Southampton (via Southeastern & South West Trains) in mid December... despite attempting split routes and trying to purchase this early there are no discounts whatsoever, and the cheapest ticket I could get would be a standard £39 3 day cheap return.

This compared to a return of £27 when travelling from Canterbury to Birmingham New Street in two weeks time using southeastern & Virgin. Something doesn't seem quite right when there is such a huge discrepancy in fare prices.

AirlieBird

Advance fares are generally only available on long distance train operating companies. You don't usually find them on commuter routes. South West Trains do offer Advance fares, but not between London and Southampton. The first station you can get an advance to is Brockenhurst according to this map

northstar23

Top advice thankyou.

I wanted to travel down on December 19th, returning pn the 21st and having looked for a ticket from Waterloo to Brockenhurst its £5.30 each way. Add on £18 for the Canterbury - London return and I've saved £10.

I still intend to get off at Southampton... in the website guide it says that "travelling short" is banned, but in reality are you likely to get kicked off if you say that your travel plans have changed and you're now being picked up at a city centre station rather than 10 miles away?

mr_maniac

Livingthedream - I tried that yesterday, but it seems that no savings are applied on my route, as the cheapest fare was still £36.45 using their booking engine (off-peak day return)... entering my journey details took me to the Single fares page, but the single fares were £26.85 each way, (no saving on the original fare), which works out far worse value does it not!!

I will keep that code though, in case I end up needing to travel on the FGW network within the next few weeks (although currently this seems unlikely, you never know!)

mr_m

mr_maniac

Oh, and northstar - as a daily user of the SWT line (between Eastleigh and Brockenhurst, passing through Southampton), I'd suggest you'll be absolutely fine getting off the train before the final destination on your ticket - maybe if you're not too sure, just inform the guard of your 'change of travel plan' when he passes through your carriage and he'll OK it.... there are ticket gates at Southampton Central but the gates won't reject the ticket I wouldn't think!!

mr_m

dzug1

mr_maniac wrote: »

I will keep that code though, in case I end up needing to travel on the FGW network within the next few weeks (although currently this seems unlikely, you never know!)

mr_m

You can use the code for tickets for ANY train company - just as long as you buy them on the FGW site.

I used mine to buy Cross Country tickets

So you can still get a £5 discount on an Eastleigh - Cambridge ticket

Edit - can't remember - but I think the discount only shows up on the payment page, not with the initial quote

dzug1

northstar23 wrote: »

Top advice thankyou.

I wanted to travel down on December 19th, returning pn the 21st and having looked for a ticket from Waterloo to Brockenhurst its £5.30 each way. Add on £18 for the Canterbury - London return and I've saved £10.

I still intend to get off at Southampton... in the website guide it says that "travelling short" is banned, but in reality are you likely to get kicked off if you say that your travel plans have changed and you're now being picked up at a city centre station rather than 10 miles away?

No you won't get kicked off but if they enforce the rules (and yes, it's a bit of an if) you can be charged the full fare for the journey you actually do, possibly a penalty fare if it's that sort of area.

northstar23

Yeah its a big if... how much of a risk is one willing to take? If I'm that worried I'll just buy a single from Southampton Parkway to Central (£1.80) beforehand and voila... I'm then fully justified when I walk through the barriers at the main station. Still saving money but with piece of mind ensued.

mr_maniac

dzug1 wrote: »

You can use the code for tickets for ANY train company - just as long as you buy them on the FGW site.

I used mine to buy Cross Country tickets

So you can still get a £5 discount on an Eastleigh - Cambridge ticket

Edit - can't remember - but I think the discount only shows up on the payment page, not with the initial quote

Right you are!!! Thanks very much for that one

£31.45 it shall be then - unless there's a cheaper fare available besides the Off-Peak day return? It doesn't help that neither SWT nor FCC do advance fares, to be honest!

mr_m

CostCutter

Hi, I don't get a train very often at all and I'm trying to find the cheapest return for 3 Adults to go from Northampton to London on 22/11. Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap tickets?

Thanks very much . CC