Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Lois_and_CK

Hi, I was hoping someone can help me.

I want to travel from Manchester to London Euston on Tuesday 10 February. I need to arrive before 12noon. I want to return the same day and travel after 6pm.

I found it for £66 on Virgin Trains website. Does anyone know of any cheaper ways of doing this on trains?

Thank you.

Livingthedream

Lois_and_CK wrote: »

Hi, I was hoping someone can help me.

I want to travel from Manchester to London Euston on Tuesday 10 February. I need to arrive before 12noon. I want to return the same day and travel after 6pm.

I found it for £66 on Virgin Trains website. Does anyone know of any cheaper ways of doing this on trains?

Thank you.

go back to the Virgin Ticket website and input your details again;
https://www.buytickets.virgintrains.co.uk/JourneyRequest.aspx

about half way down is a box 'go via or avoid' select 'go via' and in the other box type 'crewe' then Check availabilty

Manchester Pic to London Euston 09:30 Advance Single £16 (arrives 12:00)
London Euston to Manchester Pic 20:40 Advance Single £8

Total £24

Advance Tickets so you have to travel on the booked train and these tickets can sell out quick

Lois_and_CK

Livingthedream wrote: »

go back to the Virgin Ticket website and input your details again;
https://www.buytickets.virgintrains.co.uk/JourneyRequest.aspx

about half way down is a box 'go via or avoid' select 'go via' and in the other box type 'crewe' then Check availabilty

Manchester Pic to London Euston 09:30 Advance Single £16 (arrives 12:00)
London Euston to Manchester Pic 20:40 Advance Single £8

Total £24

Advance Tickets so you have to travel on the booked train and these tickets can sell out quick

That's brilliant, thank you so much :j

How did you know to choose via Crewe?? I'd never have thought of that.

Livingthedream

Lois_and_CK wrote: »

That's brilliant, thank you so much :j

How did you know to choose via Crewe?? I'd never have thought of that.

I travel via Crewe or Warrington BQ alot and therefore use these stations to get the cheapest tickets. :beer:

MrsMop

Hiya
Im looking to travel from Newcastle to London on 15th April returning on the 17th. The price is coming up at £208 return. Does anyone know any cheaper ways, ticket splits or should I wait till near the time?
Thanks for any replys!

miller

MrsMop wrote: »

Hiya
Im looking to travel from Newcastle to London on 15th April returning on the 17th. The price is coming up at £208 return. Does anyone know any cheaper ways, ticket splits or should I wait till near the time?
Thanks for any replys!

I've worked out whats happened here. Thats 2 singles @ £104.00. Some rail websites bring up the 2 singles option first, if you click on "view flexible return tickets" (or similar) it will bring up "proper" return tickets.

You should look at the Super Off Peak return which gives the most you should pay at £105.00 if travelling off-peak. Then try splitting at York, Doncaster, Peterborough etc. I think half the problem is that week contains Easter Monday.

I have also looked on www.flybe.com for those dates and it is possible to get flights for £74.98 return all in then you would need to add a train ticket from Gatwick to London (if you don't know Gatwick Airport the train station is underneath the South Terminal so there is minimal walking involved). Easyjet looks like £44.00 return to Stanstead.

dzug1

MrsMop wrote: »

Hiya
Im looking to travel from Newcastle to London on 15th April returning on the 17th. The price is coming up at £208 return. Does anyone know any cheaper ways, ticket splits or should I wait till near the time?
Thanks for any replys!

If you are getting £208 return you are doing something wrong - the walk up fare is £105, £163.80 or £266 (all return) depending on the degree of peak hour travel you need. You can buy any of these on the day of travel.

Ah - see what you've done. Two super off peak singles at £104 each rather than a super off peak return at £105. Two singles are not always cheaper than a return.

But if you wait for the advance singles to become available (12 weeks is an utter myth) you should be able to get it much cheaper - the cheapest possible fare is £14 each way. Even if you can't, you've lost nothing.

My guess is it will be another 2 or 3 weeks before you can book cheaply

pazza2000

GOING MAD!!!!!!

Really want to get a £1 fares with the mirror national express promo:

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/offers/mirror.cfm?nosession=yes&CFID=40665878&CFTOKEN=76108054

Looking for Glasgow>London rtn, the 'mirror' link shows me the dates of the £1 fares available on there site however when i select them at stage 2, any of them for that matter(as im flexible)-when im brought through to the next page 'stage 3' -the fares have dissappeared and im left with there regular fares. What am i doing wrong -i have tried countless times, different dates and im having no luck. Im going through the mirror link and have registered -i seriously believe its a site error.

Is there anyone that could shed any light, or offer any help. It would be ever so appreciated -its essential i go to London at some point over the next few weeks however sadly funds are very low

Thanks

dzug1

pazza2000 wrote: »

GOING MAD!!!!!!

Really want to get a £1 fares with the mirror national express promo:

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/offers/mirror.cfm?nosession=yes&CFID=40665878&CFTOKEN=76108054

Looking for Glasgow>London rtn, the 'mirror' link shows me the dates of the £1 fares available on there site however when i select them at stage 2, any of them for that matter(as im flexible)-when im brought through to the next page 'stage 3' -the fares have dissappeared and im left with there regular fares. What am i doing wrong -i have tried countless times, different dates and im having no luck. Im going through the mirror link and have registered -i seriously believe its a site error.

Is there anyone that could shed any light, or offer any help. It would be ever so appreciated -its essential i go to London at some point over the next few weeks however sadly funds are very low

Thanks

Try megabus instead? Can't help with main question, sorry.

fairydust

Livingthedream wrote: »

Answers to your Q's
1. No the Off Peak Day Return is outward and return within the same day for £12.20 if you are staying longer then get an Off peak Return for £14.50 (again only valid after 09:30)
2.Raileasy, charges a £1 booking fee on every purchase over £10 (£2 if it's under a tenner), plus a 50p debit card fee and 2.5% for credit cards.
3. Long distance rail travel (London to Manchester) has another ticket type called 'Advance' these are a lot cheaper but have heavy restrictions but can sell out very quick and can only be bought up to 1800 the day before. Once there sold out you can only get expensive walk on fares :eek:

Ahh I see - you're saying I can get a walk on (I'll be travelling out around 2pm and returning the following day around midday) off peak return for £14.50? So no need to pre book? Thats brilliant! Thanks ever so!