Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Bogof_Babe

Thank you, that was diligent of you to go to all that trouble.

It is the 11.24 departure that I eventually booked on Qjump, and yes it does take over 4 hours, but I'm not too bothered about that. However I am now worrying because I haven't had a confirmation email from Qjump, although I have made a note of the booking ref. and ticket collection ref. Oh well, the sooner I get the ticket collected from the station and put my mind at rest, the better.

I did try several variations on the journey, including going via Liverpool South Parkway, splitting at Crewe, even going via Birmingham New Street, but the component parts always came to more than the £19.50 fare. On Qjump the 11.24 was the only departure showing an £11 ticket, all the rest were £19.50.

I hope they are not cutting back on the really cheap fares as a way of balancing the books, rail travel having been in the news a fair bit recently. I do appreciate that £11 is a bargain and probably doesn't even cover what it actually costs them, but obviously the less I have to pay for this regular trip the better. Unfortunately I am not in any category that would entitle me to buy a rail card, so rely on finding the best deals.

Something else that puzzles me - if all these different websites are available to sell the same journeys, there must be a central point somewhere that co-ordinates it all so that the same seat doesn't get sold twice. It only needs one blip in the link-ups to result in double bookings.

dzug1

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Something else that puzzles me - if all these different websites are available to sell the same journeys, there must be a central point somewhere that co-ordinates it all so that the same seat doesn't get sold twice. It only needs one blip in the link-ups to result in double bookings.

They all actually interrogate the same central database so it shouldn't be possible to sell the same seat twice. However I'm not sure of the details of how it works. For example if you and someone else have the same £11 seat - the last at that price - on offer to you, I don't really know what happens when one of you confirms the purchase and the other a few minutes later tries to. Does the second person get told it's no longer available or is he sold another seat (not the same reservation surely though) at the same price that wouldn't otherwise have been on offer?

Slicker777

Got a ticket (Conventry - Gatwick) that says under "Route" - Kensington Olympia, but when I look the route up on Nationalrail it also comes up with the train times from Cov to Euston and then using the London Overground via Clapham Junction to Gatwick.

My question is using the ticket can I use this route instead of going getting off at Watford and taking the Southern to Clapham Junction?

Thanks

dzug1

Slicker777 wrote: »

Got a ticket (Conventry - Gatwick) that says under "Route" - Kensington Olympia, but when I look the route up on Nationalrail it also comes up with the train times from Cov to Euston and then using the London Overground via Clapham Junction to Gatwick.

My question is using the ticket can I use this route instead of going getting off at Watford and taking the Southern to Clapham Junction?

Thanks

No - it is a cheaper fare because it avoids London terminals

Slicker777

So even if the London Overground trip from Euston goes via Kensington Olympia to Clapham Junction, with this ticket is it still a no then?

On a side issue, if the ticket says London Terminals and you bought a return ticket from Victoria to Canterbury but for some reason the return train on the day (another day) only is available for Waterloo instead of Victoria, does that mean from Waterloo to Victoria you've got to fork out?

Thanks

dzug1

Slicker777 wrote: »

So even if the London Overground trip from Euston goes via Kensington Olympia to Clapham Junction, with this ticket is it still a no then?

On a side issue, if the ticket says London Terminals and you bought a return ticket from Victoria to Canterbury but for some reason the return train on the day (another day) only is available for Waterloo instead of Victoria, does that mean from Waterloo to Victoria you've got to fork out?

Thanks

You can't get from Euston to Kensington Olympia on the overground without doubling back to Willesden Junction so the journey via Euston cannot be done.

Yes (probably) to the second issue. I'd think there'd be some way (with a change) of getting to Victoria without going to Waterloo though.

adamtrainman

A ticket via Kensington mean change at Watford Jcn.

The example is the
08:31 Coventry - Watford Jcn arr 09:15
09:51 Watford Jcn - Clapham Jcn 10:33
10:38 Clapham Jcn to Gatwick Air arr 11:08

And that the same all day times wise.

I see the tight connection at Clapham but theres plenty of trains to gatwick from clapham every 15 mins during day taking about 30 mins

And your only train from Coventry is the 31 arriving 15 past the next hour (44 mins) and thats Virgin Trains, only other one is the 21 past arriving at 57 past the next hour (1hr 36mins) and that London Midland

Distant_Cousin

Hi All

I was very surprised to find no advance fares to go from Brighton to Clitheroe on a weekend at the end of March - on thetrainline.com there were no advance at all, very strange. Can't justify £90 walk-on fare with still a month to go.

Can't believe there are no advance fares left?!?

Slicker777

adamtrainman wrote: »

A ticket via Kensington mean change at Watford Jcn.

So in this case is it sort of implied that I should change at Watford Junction?

dzug1 wrote: »

You can't get from Euston to Kensington Olympia on the overground without doubling back to Willesden Junction so the journey via Euston cannot be done.

But nationalrail.co.uk gives the the times for it (to Euston and by Overground via Kensington Olympia to Clapham Junction) and that route tends to be quicker given the Southern service from Watford is only every hour.

I did try giving nationalrail a call to clarify but the chap on the other end just gave me the ticket prices but not an answer!

Bogof_Babe

Distant_Cousin wrote: »

Hi All

I was very surprised to find no advance fares to go from Brighton to Clitheroe on a weekend at the end of March - on thetrainline.com there were no advance at all, very strange. Can't justify £90 walk-on fare with still a month to go.

Can't believe there are no advance fares left?!?

Hi and welcome to the site.

Have a look on qjump - I've found a single ticket leaving Brighton at 10.49 on Sat March 28th for £34.50. Qjump charge a 50p fee for paying by debit card, and another 50p for collecting your ticket from a station (or £1 for first class post). Don't know if this is any good for you. Did you want a return?