Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

hethmar

Can any expert help please. I was told that advance fares were very good and I could even get first class for a few quid extra, but Im blowed if I can work it out.

2 adults Norwich to London 6 March 2010 returning 7 March 2010 (weekend). Leaving 10 a.m. returning after 5 p.m.

The cheapest I can see it is £82 for both of us return? and thats just standard class. Am I getting best available deal. What I cant make out is from Cambridge to London you can get a day return for about £14? Why not from Norwich. Thing is OH wont want to keep changing trains either.

Many thanks guys.

Stompa

hethmar wrote: »

The cheapest I can see it is £82?

Perhaps all of the advance tickets that far in the future haven't been released yet? If I enter the same journey for this weekend I can get it down to £33 per person.

hethmar wrote: »

What I cant make out is from Cambridge to London you can get a day return for about £14?

Yes, but you're not after a day return. Making outward and return journeys on the same day has always been significantly cheaper than on different days.

hethmar

Really? Well I had an email sent to me saying the advances had been released up to the 15th March - thats why I whipped over there to check.

What I was toying with - may be not correctly - was 2 day returns for consecutive days on London away days. One to be used going down and then discarded, the other to be used for the return.

Livingthedream

hethmar wrote: »

Really? Well I had an email sent to me saying the advances had been released up to the 15th March - thats why I whipped over there to check.

Strange just looked at the National Rail Booking Horizons website and it says that Advance tickets on the NEXA trains (which runs the direct Norwich to London trains) is only up to 26th Feb and on the NXEA website is says the 5th Mar. So either way your just a little bit early for those cheap advance singles.


Then you'll get fares from £8 one way

Stompa

hethmar wrote: »

Really? Well I had an email sent to me saying the advances had been released up to the 15th March - thats why I whipped over there to check.

Oddly the tickets offered in March are decribed as 'Off-Peak', the (cheaper) ones for this weekend are described as 'Advance', which was why I thought they might not yet be available for the dates you were after.

hethmar wrote: »

What I was toying with - may be not correctly - was 2 day returns for consecutive days on London away days. One to be used going down and then discarded, the other to be used for the return.

It wouldn't surprise me if you weren't permitted to use the return portion of a day return unless you have made the outward journey on that ticket - whether they can tell is another matter!

dzug1

hethmar wrote: »

Really? Well I had an email sent to me saying the advances had been released up to the 15th March - thats why I whipped over there to check.

Who from? Different companies release their cheap tickets on different dates. And if for example East Coast have released tickets to 15 March, that's only their own - they won't sell for example FGW tickets before FGW release them

hethmar wrote: »

What I was toying with - may be not correctly - was 2 day returns for consecutive days on London away days. One to be used going down and then discarded, the other to be used for the return.

Day returns are (as a very broad generalisation for which there are doubtless exceptions) only available for shorter journeys. Where they exist day singles MAY also exist, trivially cheaper.

Bogof_Babe

Something I've always wondered...

If you select a First Class fare on a ticket booking website, but there is no First Class service on that journey, do they still let you pay the extra even though you will only be able to travel Standard Class? I have just done a dummy enquiry on my usual Hereford to Southport route, and it still offers the First Class option even though I know there is no such thing.

dzug1

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Something I've always wondered...

If you select a First Class fare on a ticket booking website, but there is no First Class service on that journey, do they still let you pay the extra even though you will only be able to travel Standard Class? I have just done a dummy enquiry on my usual Hereford to Southport route, and it still offers the First Class option even though I know there is no such thing.

I think you will find that where they offer a first class option, at least part of the journey will be on a train with first class seats - maybe from Crewe to Wigan on an example I've just looked at. The ticket may or may not be priced to reflect that - I suspect not. That first class ticket (and indeed the flexible standard ticket) is available via Brum where there will be first class most of the way.

hethmar

Ive just rung and you are right people, apparently - this is so confusing for me - there are now two different companies running the line. National express (which I thought had thrown in the towel) apparently havent released the advance tickets for March 6th yet.

The thing is - help me please - I did a dummy run on their site for tickets for a weekend in February. I know you have to do them as singles. The saturday single was great £32 for both first class going but when I tried to do the return - that is, a single from London to Norwich the price was enormous again?

Poolie

hethmar wrote: »

Can any expert help please. I was told that advance fares were very good and I could even get first class for a few quid extra, but Im blowed if I can work it out.

2 adults Norwich to London 6 March 2010 returning 7 March 2010 (weekend). Leaving 10 a.m. returning after 5 p.m.

The cheapest I can see it is £82 for both of us return? and thats just standard class. Am I getting best available deal. What I cant make out is from Cambridge to London you can get a day return for about £14? Why not from Norwich. Thing is OH wont want to keep changing trains either.

Many thanks guys.

You may be too soon for the dates you require. Best to start looking about 10 weeks before dates.