Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

KeithP

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Does anyone know all the details of the Arriva Over 55's go anywhere return for £15 deal? I've read the info page but am not clear on a couple of things...

I'm assuming you don't have to make the return trip on the same day, given they use a hotel advert as one of the suggestions, but would like to be certain.

Also do you get a seat reservation?

Finally can you go and buy the tickets in advance (I know they are not available online, but I mean at the station office), or are they only available on the day of travel?

Thanks to anyone who knows. Seems like a great deal - £15 return plus an extra £1 for Merseyrail, to get me all the way from Hereford to Southport and back. Almost too good to be true!

The answers to all of your questions can be found here.

It doesn't appear to explicitly state that you can buy tickets in advance, but it does imply this by stating...

Date of outward travel may be changed providing this is done before the date of outward travel.

p.s. don't forget to take your id, confirming you're over 55, with you when you travel.

Kiev_Kid

Hi Everybody,

Well I'm new to this, so bear with me! I've been trying to buy a 1st class ticket for the duration of 1 week which will allow my step father to travel the length and breadth of the UK (so if his wanderlust takes him from Lancaster to Birmingham to Aberdeen to London - for example) without any form of mileage limitation. However my attempts at visiting my local railway station were met with complete indifference - they couldn't even be arsed to suggest who I might speak to.

I suppose my question is twofold, firstly does this 'First Class Roaming' ticket for a week still exist (a friend is convinced that her parents bought one a couple of years ago)?

Secondly, if this ticket does exist how do I go about obtaining one?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Brian

Livingthedream

Kiev_Kid wrote: »

Hi Everybody,

Well I'm new to this, so bear with me! I've been trying to buy a 1st class ticket for the duration of 1 week which will allow my step father to travel the length and breadth of the UK (so if his wanderlust takes him from Lancaster to Birmingham to Aberdeen to London - for example) without any form of mileage limitation. However my attempts at visiting my local railway station were met with complete indifference - they couldn't even be arsed to suggest who I might speak to.

I suppose my question is twofold, firstly does this 'First Class Roaming' ticket for a week still exist (a friend is convinced that her parents bought one a couple of years ago)?

Secondly, if this ticket does exist how do I go about obtaining one?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Brian

What you need is an 'All Line Rover 7 day' which cost £630 1st class, you can get one from any manned Railway station.

A link to its details is here

If your step father is eligible for a Senior's Railcard then the price drops to £429 for a £26 one off payment for the railcard

shopndrop

I checked online last night for ticket prices from Liverpool Lime Street to Birmingham International for 3 adults and it came up as £12 each. Needed to speak to my friends this morning to check timings were OK and have just gone to book and now the cheapest I can find is £39 each. We are travelling on 25 November and need to arrive about 10am.

Has anyone any suggestions how we can do it any cheaper please?

Bogof_Babe

shopndrop wrote: »

I checked online last night for ticket prices from Liverpool Lime Street to Birmingham International for 3 adults and it came up as £12 each. Needed to speak to my friends this morning to check timings were OK and have just gone to book and now the cheapest I can find is £39 each. We are travelling on 25 November and need to arrive about 10am.

Has anyone any suggestions how we can do it any cheaper please?

Just checked on Qjump having found nothing on National Express, and picked up this message...

Unfortunately we are currently unable to check the availability of Advance fares due to a problem accessing the national reservations system. You can continue to purchase any of the fares below or try your search again. If the problem persists you may wish to try again later.

.

Might explain the problem. I'd keep trying!

jamesbrownontheroad

This just in: big savings on advance fares to be made on all National Express East Coast (NXEC) routes between now and mid-December. That's most long distance services from London King's Cross up the east coast mainline to Peterborough, Grantham, Doncaster, Leeds, Hull, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and stations in between. 20% OFF ADVANCE (SINGLE) FARES AND 10% OFF RAILCARD PURCHASES... FOLLOW THE LINK AND BUY BEFORE THE END OF THE WEEK. 20% DISCOUNT CAN BE COMBINED WITH YOUR RAILCARD DISCOUNT.
:beer:

Book online at http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com/Miscellaneous-Pages/Reader-Offer-Pages/20-off/ and see blurb below for T&Cs...

PLUS: unlike Qjump, thetrainline.com, RailEasy etc, the National Express East Coast website makes no additional charge for debit card / credit card transactions, ticket delivery by post or ticket collection from the station. I have no idea why anyone since uses thetrainline.com when NXEC and other operators sell the same tickets at the same prices without these extra charges!

It only takes a small effort to save big, but time’s short – so to get 20% off our lowest Advance fares, book your tickets online from 28 September until midnight on 2 October.

One big thing to remember

To enjoy 20% off your tickets you’ll need to travel on our East Coast route between 5 October and 20 December.

Even bigger savings with your Railcard

If you have any of these Railcards you could be in for an even more enormous saving. You can combine the 20% off with your usual Railcard discount!

* Senior Railcard
* Family & Friends Railcard
* 16–25 Railcard

Book now before it’s too late

Enjoy 10% off Railcards

One for families, one for the over 60s and one for 16–25 year olds – buy the Railcard of your choice before 26 October and you'll save 10%.

When can I book?

Bookings are open from 28 September 2009 and will close at midnight on 2 October 2009.

When can I travel?

• Between 5 October and 20 December 2009 inclusive.
• Limited availability between 23 October to 1 November 2009 inclusive.

Please note that engineering work taking place on weekends during this promotion may affect your journey times. View more information about disruption as a result of engineering work.

How do I book?

• All bookings using this offer must be made online using the booking links on this page. Discount includes our 10% online discount.
• All major credit, debit and charge cards are accepted as payment.
• If you require space for a wheelchair or have access requirements, please call our dedicated Assisted Travel Team on 08457 225 225 before you book.
• If you are booking with a Railcard you can combine the 20% off with your usual Railcard discount.

How do I know I have booked correctly?

After completing your booking you will receive a booking confirmation number on the final screen during the booking process – please make a note of this. Following this, we send you an email confirmation. If you do not receive either confirmation, your booking has not been completed. Please try again and ensure you follow each step of the booking process as detailed on screen. If you have any questions relating to the booking process, please call 08457 225 111.

Terms and Conditions

Discount includes our 10% online discount and applies to our lowest Advance fares only, subject to availability (with limited availability between 23 October to 1 November inclusive). Offer is exclusive to bookings at nationalexpresseastcoast.com for travel on National Express East Coast trains only. Bookings must be made by 2 October 2009 inclusive. Advance ticket Terms and Conditions also apply.

kerry88

Hi, could anyone help me....wanting to go from Glasgow central to Liverpool on the 28th of Dec back on the 30th, there are 3 of us, cheapest i can get for the 3 of us at the moment is £190.80. Is there anyway of bringing this price down?

KeithP

kerry88 wrote: »

Hi, could anyone help me....wanting to go from Glasgow central to Liverpool on the 28th of Dec back on the 30th, there are 3 of us, cheapest i can get for the 3 of us at the moment is £190.80. Is there anyway of bringing this price down?

Kerry, welcome to the forums.

You are a little early for those dates.

See the National Rail Enquiries website for booking horizons.

jamesbrownontheroad

kerry88 wrote: »

Hi, could anyone help me....wanting to go from Glasgow central to Liverpool on the 28th of Dec back on the 30th, there are 3 of us, cheapest i can get for the 3 of us at the moment is £190.80. Is there anyway of bringing this price down?

The cheapest 'Advance' fares for this route are not yet on sale, so you may be able to nab some cheaper tickets in a few weeks time. The cheapest Advance fare for that route would be with Virgin Trains, with one way Advance fares from £9.50. However that is a difficult time of year to predict - there could be engineering works disrupting travel and potentially fewer Advance fares than normal due to the holiday season. Virgin are (in my experience) slightly slower at loading their Advance fares into the systems. However, you can check with operators have loaded their Advance fares into the system and up to what dates at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/booking_horizons.html Advance fares open roughly 12 weeks in advance and normally (but not always) get updated on a Friday.

kerry88

KeithP wrote: »

Kerry, welcome to the forums.

You are a little early for those dates.

See the National Rail Website for booking horizons.

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

The cheapest 'Advance' fares for this route are not yet on sale, so you may be able to nab some cheaper tickets in a few weeks time. The cheapest Advance fare for that route would be with Virgin Trains, with one way Advance fares from £9.50. However that is a difficult time of year to predict - there could be engineering works disrupting travel and potentially fewer Advance fares than normal due to the holiday season. Virgin are (in my experience) slightly slower at loading their Advance fares into the systems. However, you can check with operators have loaded their Advance fares into the system and up to what dates at
Advance fares open roughly 12 weeks in advance and normally (but not always) get updated on a Friday.

Thanks, I will look again in the next couple of weeks.