Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Livingthedream

Travelling to London or Birmingham between 13 - 21 February 2010 Then take advantage of the London Midland 'The Great Escape' Unlimited Travel on our Network for £10

If travelling from a station not on the London Midland Network then Split ticket to the nearest London Midland Served Station ie;
Chester to Crewe £12.20 Off Peak Return / Crewe to London Euston £10 The Great Escape ticket. Total £22.20 Return

You need to get a voucher from here

transatlanticrachael

can anyone help me? I need to travel from Shrewsbury to Cardiff central, leaving either evening 26th March(preferable) or early on the 27th. I need to return late on the 28th. I have a student railcard. Thank you in advance!!

KeithP

transatlanticrachael wrote: »

can anyone help me? I need to travel from Shrewsbury to Cardiff central, leaving either evening 26th March(preferable) or early on the 27th. I need to return late on the 28th. I have a student railcard. Thank you in advance!!

Your best bet is just to get a Off Peak Return at £27.35 with railcard.

Tried going via Birmingham and splitting there or Wolverhampton and using Advance Singles, but its more expensive.

Info from East Coast trains website.

MylesBetter

The Virgin Trains WEB site has a new look.

The old site had a link to a 10% off advance fares when booking using a Virgin Credit Card special offer.

The new site does not have a link and the main Virgin Credit Card site does not mention the offer either.

But go to the link below and the offer on Advance Fares using a Virgin Credit card has gone up from 10% to just over 20%. £34 1st Advance fare for £27.45.

virgintrains.co.uk/vmoney

Kerching!! even cheaper 1st class travel. Just make sure if you will be travelling on a Virgin Super Voyager train you are booked in the proper 1st class carriage not the converted standard carriage to 1st class. Clearly demand for 1st class travel is on the up. Usually 1st class carriages are downgraded to standard class to cope with demand, not the other way round.

Steve_xx

MylesBetter wrote: »

The Virgin Trains WEB site has a new look.

The old site had a link to a 10% off advance fares when booking using a Virgin Credit Card special offer.

The new site does not have a link and the main Virgin Credit Card site does not mention the offer either.

But go to the link below and the offer on Advance Fares using a Virgin Credit card has gone up from 10% to just over 20%. £34 1st Advance fare for £27.45.

virgintrains.co.uk/vmoney

Kerching!! even cheaper 1st class travel. Just make sure if you will be travelling on a Virgin Super Voyager train you are booked in the proper 1st class carriage not the converted standard carriage to 1st class. Clearly demand for 1st class travel is on the up. Usually 1st class carriages are downgraded to standard class to cope with demand, not the other way round.

I went to the link that you provided but when the page loads it says "10%" off, not 20%?

MylesBetter

Hi Steve_XX

I agree it does but when you do the maths it is 20%.

The cheapest normally advertisied 1st class Advance Fare single from London to Liverpool or Manchester is £34. The Virgin Credit Card price is advertised on the right of the page shows the single fare from London to Liverpool being £27:45. This is a 20% discount (or near as damn it).

Steve_xx

MylesBetter wrote: »

Hi Steve_XX

I agree it does but when you do the maths it is 20%.

The cheapest normally advertisied 1st class Advance Fare single from London to Liverpool or Manchester is £34. The Virgin Credit Card price is advertised on the right of the page shows the single fare from London to Liverpool being £27:45. This is a 20% discount (or near as damn it).

Ah I see. I wasn't able to complete since it asks for a PIN from a credit card that I don't have. Would it reduce it by around 20% for a second class journey from say London to Liverpool, do you think?

MylesBetter

Hi Steve_XX

Yes it does the fares on the right of the Credit Card page shows both Standard Class fares also. What the %tage reduction on Standard Tickets is I do not know.

I travel to London alone. Since 2003 these cheap 1st advance fares have been available. I have therefore always travelled 1st class.

Otherwise you need to leave your belongings to visit the shop or wait for the trolley service. If you price these additional purchase items for your journey then the cost of the 1st class ticket reduces.

Friends and I estimate if you price the cost of all the complimentary food and drink served to you (at on board shop/trolley prices) then this alone can add up to about £15 to £17. All most people do is look at the basic ticket price. Add on all the extras you buy (which are complimentary in 1st class on Virgin Trains including Wi-Fi which costs £5 per hour in Standard class) and pick the £27:45 off peak trains then Liverpool or Manchester return to London for £54:90 is good value.

Worth getting a Virgin Credit Card just to buy your train tickets on and pay off every month in full. Also on top of the 20% discount then add on any rail card discounts and the price of a 1st class return to London gets really affordable and is a little luxury treat as we move along this mortal coil.

Steve_xx

MylesBetter wrote: »

Hi Steve_XX

Yes it does the fares on the right of the Credit Card page shows both Standard Class fares also. What the %tage reduction on Standard Tickets is I do not know.

I travel to London alone. Since 2003 these cheap 1st advance fares have been available. I have therefore always travelled 1st class.

Otherwise you need to leave your belongings to visit the shop or wait for the trolley service. If you price these additional purchase items for your journey then the cost of the 1st class ticket reduces.

Friends and I estimate if you price the cost of all the complimentary food and drink served to you (at on board shop/trolley prices) then this alone can add up to about £15 to £17. All most people do is look at the basic ticket price. Add on all the extras you buy (which are complimentary in 1st class on Virgin Trains including Wi-Fi which costs £5 per hour in Standard class) and pick the £27:45 off peak trains then Liverpool or Manchester return to London for £54:90 is good value.

Worth getting a Virgin Credit Card just to buy your train tickets on and pay off every month in full. Also on top of the 20% discount then add on any rail card discounts and the price of a 1st class return to London gets really affordable and is a little luxury treat as we move along this mortal coil.

Excellent points and thanks for the tips.

I would just mention about your comment on the £27.45 fare from London to Liverpool. I usually manage to get the Advance tickets for this journey and the second class cost is normally £11. Until recently you could get cashback of £4 per booking with Virgin Trains via Cashbackkings (and probably a few other cashback sites), but I note that Virgin have now been suspended from Cashbackkings. This meant that by booking both outbound and return legs from London to Liverpool separately, I could get £4 cashback off of each leg of the journey. Therefore London to Liverpool for just £7! With the Virgin Credit Card I could perhaps have saved a further £1.10 on each journey I guess.

aprimay

Would like help with some train fares.I wish to travel from Morpeth or Newcastle on 20th Feb.Arriving in London prior to1pm and leaving London after 5.30pm.2 travelling plus two railcards .Senior and young persons.Best fare found was £140.00 return for both of us .Should I be happy with this or is there a better rate please?