Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

mr_maniac

Right - a quickfire money-saving request here!

Eastleigh (or Southampton Airport) to Coventry, Wednesday 4th March arriving before 12:00, departing any time after 17:00 until around 19:30, with a 16-25 Railcard. Save me some money please!!

Am I too late for Advance fares? The best I've found so far is £38.75 on the CrossCountry website, for an Off-Peak Day Return going from Eastleigh....

Obviously booking with the TrainLine would take £4 off the fee (including booking fee) but I'd have to pick up the ticket from another station as they don't appear to serve Eastleigh - but any money-saving alternatives except for that one would be handy!!

Cheers everyone

mr_m

Bogof_Babe

I wish, when people post requests on here ,they would mention what websites they have already searched on, as otherwise those trying to help are just repeating the same process.

I know there can also be savings by splitting journeys, but that requires knowledge of the relevant route, so is not something the general reader would necessarily know. Perhaps you (i.e. those wanting help) could also include a note of the main stations on the route they want to travel, and also any alternative routes that are available for their journey, even if longer and/or with more changes.

Maybe we could request a sticky on this board, listing all the online rail ticket providers, so that in the first instance people could do their own research.

mr_maniac

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

I wish, when people post requests on here ,they would mention what websites they have already searched on, as otherwise those trying to help are just repeating the same process.

I know there can also be savings by splitting journeys, but that requires knowledge of the relevant route, so is not something the general reader would necessarily know. Perhaps you (i.e. those wanting help) could also include a note of the main stations on the route they want to travel, and also any alternative routes that are available for their journey, even if longer and/or with more changes.

Maybe we could request a sticky on this board, listing all the online rail ticket providers, so that in the first instance people could do their own research.

Is this post referring, for example, to my request above? I thought I'd given at least two sites I'd already trialled (CrossCountry and theTrainLine)?

As I say, besides CrossCountry (whose train I would be travelling on to get to Coventry from here) I've also tried theTrainLine (where there's the £4 saving at the moment, but I can't pick up the tickets from Eastleigh station, and would have to take my dad's credit card to get it from the machine anyway, so it's not really viable!), and Qjump - but as yet, no saving...

Stations along the route include Basingstoke, Reading, Oxford and Banbury - I don't travel along the route at all, so I couldn't give you any more than a few of the ones I've heard from train announcements at train stations!

mr_m

Bogof_Babe

Sorry, I wasn't being funny, and want to help although I am an amateur at this myself.

I'm looking on raileasy and finding nothing helpful, even starting from S'ampton Airport. I guess it's a question of having the time to try all possible combinations on all possible sites, which seems ridiculous doesn't it?

Why can't they make it simple and straightforward? :mad:

Livingthedream

mr_maniac wrote: »

Right - a quickfire money-saving request here!

Eastleigh (or Southampton Airport) to Coventry, Wednesday 4th March arriving before 12:00, departing any time after 17:00 until around 19:30, with a 16-25 Railcard. Save me some money please!!

Am I too late for Advance fares? The best I've found so far is £38.75 on the CrossCountry website, for an Off-Peak Day Return going from Eastleigh....

Obviously booking with the TrainLine would take £4 off the fee (including booking fee) but I'd have to pick up the ticket from another station as they don't appear to serve Eastleigh - but any money-saving alternatives except for that one would be handy!!

Cheers everyone

mr_m

Hi, try this found using the Virgin trains website, you need to enter 'go via' box as London for this;
Eastleigh to Coventry Via London 4th March 07:43 Advance Single £15.50
Coventry to Eastleigh Via London 4th March 19:11 Advance Single £15.50
or
Coventry to Eastleigh Via London 4th March 20:31 Advance Single £10.25

Hope it helps

mr_maniac

Cheers for that Livingthedream - of course, going via London adds an hour or so onto the journey each way (what with Underground changes and so forth), but you're right, it is cheaper with the Advance single! What a strange system that charges you less to go the long way round!

I did some split-ticketing research - as Bogof_Babe suggests, it's a case of trying all the alternatives - I haven't really had much success in the past with this, but it seems to have worked this time!

There are a number of options for the split-ticket that are cheaper than the straight fare from Eastleigh to Coventry, but the cheapest split is at Banbury:

Outbound:
Depart Eastleigh 09:11, Arrive Banbury 10:52 (with change at Winchester)
Depart Banbury 10:54, Arrive Coventry 11:22
Return:
Depart Coventry 18:25, Arrive Banbury 18:54
Depart Banbury 18:55, Arrive Eastleigh 20:49 (with change at Southampton Airport, although I'd change at Winchester myself!)

Cost of Off Peak Day Return from Eastleigh to Coventry: £38.75
Split Ticket cost of going from Eastleigh to Coventry, splitting at Banbury:
Eastleigh <-> Banbury £21.00 Off Peak Day Return
Banbury <-> Coventry £8.85 Off Peak Day Return

Total Cost of Split Ticket Return from Eastleigh to Coventry (same trains as used on regular ticket!): £29.85

Saving: £8.90 or just under 23% of the original fare

Additional splits can be made at a reduced price at:
Reading (£31.25 based on an Off Peak Return from Eastleigh to Reading, then 2 Advance singles for the trip from Reading to Coventry and back)
Oxford (£31.70 based on Off Peak returns)
Leamington Spa (£35.75)

I have little doubt that Winchester and Basingstoke would also offer some sort of saving - but what a stupid system!!

So the new target's £29.85 to beat!

mr_m

John89001

mr_maniac wrote: »

Cost of Off Peak Day Return from Eastleigh to Coventry: £38.75
Split Ticket cost of going from Eastleigh to Coventry, splitting at Banbury:
Eastleigh <-> Banbury £21.00 Off Peak Day Return
Banbury <-> Coventry £8.85 Off Peak Day Return

Total Cost of Split Ticket Return from Eastleigh to Coventry (same trains as used on regular ticket!): £29.85

Where did you find the £8.85 Off Peak Day Return from Banbury to Coventry? It does not appear on the National Fares Manual 02 CD, nor on the journey planner on the NXEC site. Both give a £10.10 Standard Anytime Day Return as the cheapest fare for this journey.

John

KeithP

mr_maniac wrote: »

<snip>
So the new target's £29.85 to beat!
mr_m

Errr...
Doesn't Livingthedream's price via London beat this already?

Livingthedream wrote:

Eastleigh to Coventry Via London 4th March 07:43 Advance Single £15.50
Coventry to Eastleigh Via London 4th March 20:31 Advance Single £10.25

mr_maniac

John - Hi - did you include a 16-25 Railcard in your search? It's actually £6.65 for the Anytime Day Return on the NXEC site with the railcard, and £8.85 for the Off-Peak day return (which is yet again very odd - why is it cheaper to buy a ticket that's valid at peak times?!)

Keith - yes it does, but as I already mentioned in an earlier reply to Livingthedream, that route adds an hour or so onto the journey each way!

In the end I think I'm just going to get the through ticket at the station on Wednesday morning or Tuesday evening - with the date being so close, and Eastleigh not being a station where you can pick up the tickets from (using the self-service ticket machines), I'd have to pay at least £6 for the delivery charge (none of the sites will send it free via first class post at this range, I've tried!), making any saving negligible

mr_m :beer:

Browntoa

found out that booking via

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=2

I can get a "Standard Advance Single" from London Victoria to Gatwick Airport for £3 , opposed to £11 , or £16.90 on the Gatwick express , which I can collect from my local station for free

for some obscure reason it's £5 the other way round