Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

aleksander

Just thought I'd post that the excellent National Express ticket booking facility appears to have stopped as it is the last day of National Express East Coast. Even the National Express East Anglia website is now redirecting to the c2c system, which still uses the annoying 'Trainline' based system. Not to fear though, as Southern, Southeastern and London Midland are still using the far superior system, so I expect I'll be booking train tickets will Southeastern (as IMO it has the nicest colours(!)) from now on.

Livingthedream

aleksander wrote: »

Just thought I'd post that the excellent National Express ticket booking facility appears to have stopped as it is the last day of National Express East Coast. Even the National Express East Anglia website is now redirecting to the c2c system, which still uses the annoying 'Trainline' based system. Not to fear though, as Southern, Southeastern and London Midland are still using the far superior system, so I expect I'll be booking train tickets will Southeastern (as IMO it has the nicest colours(!)) from now on.

Eh! No! just been on the NXEC and the NXEA website and both are working?

Also had no problem in doing train time/ticket search's and NXEC website let me log on to my account.

jamesbrownontheroad

Livingthedream wrote: »

Eh! No! just been on the NXEC and the NXEA website and both are working?

Also had no problem in doing train time/ticket search's and NXEC website let me log on to my account.

The NXEC website has indeed been passed over to the new government owned operator East Coast. You can continue to use their excellenet WebTIS booking engine, enjoy an additional 10% discount on Advance fares on the East Coast routes, and pay no ticket delivery, ticket collection, credit card or debit card fees.

You do have to tolerate a rather awful purple logo though

Livingthedream

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

The NXEC website has indeed been passed over to the new government owned operator East Coast. You can continue to use their excellenet WebTIS booking engine, enjoy an additional 10% discount on Advance fares on the East Coast routes, and pay no ticket delivery, ticket collection, credit card or debit card fees.

You do have to tolerate a rather awful purple logo though

And if you had an account with NXEC it will still work with Dor/East Coast. :j

aleksander

Sorry, I didn't realise that East Coast were using the exact same website as NXEC until it launched today, including the same ticketing system!

Bogof_Babe

Hi guys, thought I'd post this on the thread where all the experts hang out .

When collecting some Advance tickets yesterday, the guy on the desk clipped them into a little folder and wrote on the ticket "conditions advised". As there was a queue behind me and a train was due, I said to him that I didn't need this, but he said it is compulsory! He told me that one of their staff had a disciplinary letter recently for not doing this.

Nine times out of ten, or probably more like 24 out of 25, I just get handed the tickets without the little folder contraption, so I was surprised to hear it is apparently the rules that they have to be in one of these. Also if I was to collect my Advance tickets from a machine, I presumably wouldn't get a little folder with them!

Was he spinning me a line?

sumeet

Hi could someone suggest any cheap fares for direct travel from Manchester to Norwich, leaving 16th December and returning either 20/21st Dec dependant on price. Its for parents so looking for something without any changes so I think train is their only option, they do not have a senior travel card.

Killa

Hi,

Can anybody help me, I am tring to find the best deal travelling from Ely to Glasgow travelling out on either Thu 10th Dec or Fri 11th Dec and returning either Sunday the 13th or Monday 14th. Can split journey if needed. Cheapest I can find so far is £84.60.

Thanks

Livingthedream

sumeet wrote: »

Hi could someone suggest any cheap fares for direct travel from Manchester to Norwich, leaving 16th December and returning either 20/21st Dec dependant on price. Its for parents so looking for something without any changes so I think train is their only option, they do not have a senior travel card.

Had a quick look and you can do the journey direct no changes for £88 2x adults Advance Singles;
Manchester Pic to Norwich 16th 10:43 or 11:43
Norwich to Manchester Pic 21st 10:57

you can reduce these costs down to £58 if you use some senior railcards but at around £26 (unless theres a discount code) each, unless you use it again throughout the year the savings don't add up.

Prices from East Coast Trains

Bogof_Babe

I can't get the Eastcoast site to give me Advance fares atm, was it okay when you looked ltd?

Also, can you tell me whether a Family and Friends railcard would take 33% off the total fare for a party of three adults and two children? If so, presumably any trip giving a price of over £80 for this group would be worth buying a F&F card?