Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

ruthiejane

shb wrote: »

Can I buy an advance ticket at a very cheap price e.g Loughborough to London £11 but get on the specified train at Leicester?

No! You must make the journey specified on the ticket. If there are ticket barriers at Leicester you would not be allowed through with a ticket valid from Loughborough.

superstan

Having trouble with the National Express site, (fatal error) Trying to get cheapest tickets to and from Hull, preferably missing London altogether, Must be at Stansted by 14.00 on 14.02.09 and can return after 11.00 on 21.02.09. My seemingly pathetic attempts have only resulted in coming up with the advance return as cheapest! Can anyone help please?
(sorry I have posted this in a wrong topic previously, useless at this!)

dzug1

shb wrote: »

Can I buy an advance ticket at a very cheap price e.g Loughborough to London £11 but get on the specified train at Leicester?

It's likely you could get the same cheap ticket from Leicester itself though, maybe £1 cheaper

dzug1

superstan wrote: »

Having trouble with the National Express site, (fatal error) Trying to get cheapest tickets to and from Hull, preferably missing London altogether, Must be at Stansted by 14.00 on 14.02.09 and can return after 11.00 on 21.02.09. My seemingly pathetic attempts have only resulted in coming up with the advance return as cheapest! Can anyone help please?
(sorry I have posted this in a wrong topic previously, useless at this!)

There's no such thing as an advance return so if what you are referring to is an advance single in each direction then it's likely to be the cheapest fare you can get.

What fare have you found?

superstan

dzug1 wrote: »

There's no such thing as an advance return so if what you are referring to is an advance single in each direction then it's likely to be the cheapest fare you can get.

What fare have you found?

Thanks for replying. It's actually called a super off peak return on TheTrainLine.com. £75.00 return. I guess the East Coast Line doesn't offer so many deals.

I usually use National Express site but it constantly comes up with fatal error these days. (using Firefox)

btw Advance singles are £60.00 each way!

dzug1

You can buy a super off peak return at the same price on the day (and avoid thetrainline's booking fee in the process) - or use another train company's website if you really want it in advance with no fee. Doesn't matter which - they will all sell it. You are not tied to a specific train - any super off peak train is fine

You could try split ticketing at Peterborough - it works for some journeys.

AdamBrunt

Not sure if this is the best thread to ask in but .... does anyone know of any deals on family railcards at the moment ?

Also, would any deals be specific to local 'carrier' (SWT) or can be a family railcard be purchased from any carrier and used anywhere ?

Livingthedream

AdamBrunt wrote: »

Not sure if this is the best thread to ask in but .... does anyone know of any deals on family railcards at the moment ?

Also, would any deals be specific to local 'carrier' (SWT) or can be a family railcard be purchased from any carrier and used anywhere ?

use this discount code Expert25

More info can be found here Link

Only restriction I know of is that the Railcard can't be used on weekday morning peak services entirely within the London and South East area.

To purchase a railcard go here Link

TheMiner

Just wondering why I can't see any cheap Advance tickets on the Cross Country site? I normally book trains for the missus once or twice a month from York to Birmingham and return, and can get two singles for generally about £20 (best was £17, worst £25.50) - and do this about 2-3 weeks in advance.

Now trying for 26th Feb after 4pm and there's only one train at £18.50; the return on 2nd March after 10am is the same price

This makes the journey a whopping £37 and more importantly (if anyone from a train site is reading) - A DAMN SITE MORE THAN USING HER CAR when you add in time and cost of getting to and from the stations.

I've checked March and April and these fares just aren't there anymore (there's the odd £11.50 but that's about it) - have they just stopped issuing them?? I can see a lot of empty trains...

EDIT - I can get an £18.50 fare tomorrow!!! All this book early stuff seems to be BS now

banana1975

Hi

I am new to all this but need to book to get to Edinburgh for the 15th April. Prices are coming up at 103.00 for a single!!! Last year I must have booked at the right time as it only cost me 45 quid!

Can anyone give me tips as to when I should be booking or spliting the journey?

Thanks in advance.

Jo