Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Livingthedream

Killa wrote: »

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

Try spliting at Leeds and look for advance singles but make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to make your connections (30-45min)

And buy your tickets from East Coast trains as you could get a 10% discount on the Ely to Leeds/Leeds to Ely Advance tickets

Total for a quick look was £55.80

Livingthedream

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

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?

East Coast Site working ok now, just got prices 4 killa's request

I think it does, best way is to search with and then without railcard and see if the difference makes it worth while getting a F&F railcard but also bring into account 'would I use the train again over the next year with the kids'

Bogof_Babe

I'm looking for a friend so not sure whether she would use the card again, but it's worth it for just the once if it works out cheaper than full fares.

Even clicking on your link I'm getting the same problem. The fares boxes come up briefly but before I can select one a black box appears over half the screen saying "Sorry we can't connect to the National Reservation SystemCurrently, we can only sell flexible tickets and not Advance tickets. We are also unable to make any seat reservations".

Very odd, if it is working fine for you.

Livingthedream

East coast is still working for me, you could try Southern trains they use the same excellent search engine as East Coast or try to delete your internet Browser's 'cookies' to reset it, I use Firefox and its Tools/clear recent History. Not sure of IE options 'google it' if required.

Bogof_Babe

Thanks, will try that. I'm on Firefox too on my netbook, so if I can find Tools I'll be okay... .

Edit: Southern Rail site worked without me needing to fiddle around, so thanks .

miller

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Edit: Southern Rail site worked without me needing to fiddle around, so thanks .

Southern are also offering 50% off some of their tickets booked via their website until 15 December.

John89001

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

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! ...

Was he spinning me a line?

The Fares Manual CD (available from TSO) contains the following words at the end of the conditions for each Off-Peak fare but, oddly, not a corresponding set of words for Advance fares.

SELLING AN OFF-PEAK TICKET
Customers should be told of any restriction which may affect any part of their journey.

Where available, an information card giving ticket validity details should be given out with each Off-Peak ticket.

John89001

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

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?

The discount is rather greater than that. For eligible fares, each adult pays 66% of the non-discounted adult fare, and each child pays 38% of the non-discounted child fare (or 19% the non-discounted adult fare).

The cheapest F&F railcard I'm aware of at the moment is via an East Coast promotion. A 12-month railcard is reduced by 20% from £26 to £20.80 until 18 December 2009 by using promotion code East20 here.

By my calculations, the point at which a £20.80 railcard pays for itself on one journey for 3 adults and 2 children is just below £50.75.

geordieracer

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

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?

Its a strange one if they dont normally do it but I make sure my staff do because the amount of times people want to buy a ticket for the much cheaper off peak journey then try and get through the barriers for a peak train with the 'He gave me this ticket and didnt tell me the restrictions' line is amazing.

We have resorted to just stamping them now though rather then the booklet attached. But NXEC used to always give you a little booklet when bought at counter. If youo bought at a machine or picked them up after buying online you would already have been advised of the restrictions by things on the screen.

Bogof_Babe

Thanks for that explanation geordieracer, I was thinking no-one was going to answer me!

I'm shocked that people try to abuse the Advance ticket system, as the ticket clearly states that it is only to be used in conjunction with the numbered seat ticket, which is for a specific timed train.

Although I've been using these for about 18 months now, until last week I never realised you could buy them at the counter as well as online . When I thought about it I realised it wouldn't be fair if they were only available to people with internet access. I suppose that explains why some people will try it on.

Perhaps if the ticket has been pre-booked online it is not necessary to put it in the folder - as you say, the buyer has already been given the t&c's when booking, but my guy probably does it for everyone as a matter of routine. There are about four ticketing staff at the station and he is the only one who does.