Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

tashmatthews

Thanks Keith

I didnt make my post clear my mistake, I meant the one where you input your details and where you want to travel from and to and you get an email alert when tickets are released!?

Katie-Kat-Kins

Any tips for getting a discount/cashback on the price of a super off peak return ticket from Derby to London???

The cost of buying two singles is only £2.30 less and this allows me to get a more conveniently timed train. It is coming in at £54.30.

Any ideas?

When I get to London I will need to get a tube to Victoria to meet friends so any ideas that include the tube ticket would also be appreciated.

Thanks!

Steve_xx

I was wondering.......

If you booked a return train ticket, or two singles, as I sometimes do from Brighton to Hoylake in Wirral, and on the return leg there was a delay on Merseyrail that caused me to miss the Liverpool to London train that my tickets states I should be on, then who would take responsibility for that and if I had to get a later train from Liverpool to London would I then have to pay the full fare etc?

It hasn't happened to me, but I wondered what the situation would be if it did?

rolo-polo1965

Hi

Seven friends and i are going to London for a show and night in a hotel.

Travelling Saturday 19th June and coming home on 20th June. Two of us are looking to trave as cheep as possible. The other 6 want to travel by train as one of them gets free train travel!

Cheepest train tickets i can get is £54 each. Can go by coach for £7 each way but would prefer to travel by train, quicker and less likely to be travel sick.

Leaving from Long Eaton or Derby or Nottingham or East Midlands Parkway traveling to London!

Can any one help with cheeper tickets?

Katie-Kat-Kins

would the mega train times suit you? check out their website.

Livingthedream

Steve_xx wrote: »

I was wondering.......

If you booked a return train ticket, or two singles, as I sometimes do from Brighton to Hoylake in Wirral, and on the return leg there was a delay on Merseyrail that caused me to miss the Liverpool to London train that my tickets states I should be on, then who would take responsibility for that and if I had to get a later train from Liverpool to London would I then have to pay the full fare etc?

It hasn't happened to me, but I wondered what the situation would be if it did?

Two ways to solve this problem
1. If you Merseyrail train is late and you miss your London train then see the train manager and get him to endorse the ticket, if you can find him then once at Liverpool go straight to the Virgin Help desk/Office and get them to sort out your ticket
2. As you won't have a reservation for the Merseyrail train (your ticket will be +conns) go on an earlier Merseyrail train to Liverpool

Either way its not your fault that you missed your connection and both Train Companies are obliged to get you to your end destination and don't forget to claim some compo if your later than 1 hour

dzug1

rolo-polo1965 wrote: »

Hi

Seven friends and i are going to London for a show and night in a hotel.

Travelling Saturday 19th June and coming home on 20th June. Two of us are looking to trave as cheep as possible. The other 6 want to travel by train as one of them gets free train travel!

Cheepest train tickets i can get is £54 each. Can go by coach for £7 each way but would prefer to travel by train, quicker and less likely to be travel sick.

Leaving from Long Eaton or Derby or Nottingham or East Midlands Parkway traveling to London!

Can any one help with cheeper tickets?

You are trying to book TOO EARLY - it will probably be another 3 weeks to a month month before cheap tickets are released for your dates. What you are being offered are full price tickets you could buy on the day.

Megatrain may also help - but they don't get released until (I think - it may have changed) 6 weeks before travel, and I'm not sure if they run at weekends - on many routes they don't

Steve_xx

Livingthedream wrote: »

Two ways to solve this problem
1. If you Merseyrail train is late and you miss your London train then see the train manager and get him to endorse the ticket, if you can find him then once at Liverpool go straight to the Virgin Help desk/Office and get them to sort out your ticket
2. As you won't have a reservation for the Merseyrail train (your ticket will be +conns) go on an earlier Merseyrail train to Liverpool

Either way its not your fault that you missed your connection and both Train Companies are obliged to get you to your end destination and don't forget to claim some compo if your later than 1 hour

Excellent, thanks for that. When you say I should get the train manager to endorse the ticket, what does endorsing it mean/involve? If it was the Merseyrail train that was delayed I assume that I would approach either the train guard or someone at the ticket barrier?

The reason I'm asking this is because a few weeks ago I was travelling from Wirral to London and there was a replacement bus service on part of the Merseyrail route. I was worried that the replacement buses wouldnt be able to do the journey as fast as the train and that I would then miss the train from Liverpool Lime St. So to avoid that I took a cab to Liverpool Lime Street. I would have set out earlier on the Merseyrail part of the journey, but in fact I was on the first Merseyrail train of the day anyway, so I couldn't go earlier even had I wanted to. It was a Sunday.

dzug1

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

Any tips for getting a discount/cashback on the price of a super off peak return ticket from Derby to London???

The cost of buying two singles is only £2.30 less and this allows me to get a more conveniently timed train. It is coming in at £54.30.

Any ideas?

When I get to London I will need to get a tube to Victoria to meet friends so any ideas that include the tube ticket would also be appreciated.

Thanks!

You should be able to buy a superoffpeak return to a destination of London zone 1 - it will cost you £6 extra.

Buying a travelcard on arrival is usually cheaper though if you are making any other journeys the same day. Oyster is cheaper still but fiddly for a one time visitor

miller

rolo-polo1965 wrote: »

Leaving from Long Eaton or Derby or Nottingham or East Midlands Parkway traveling to London!

Having looked at this one recently, I'd be tempted to put in East Midlands Parkway first before checking the others. Nearly all trains stop there from the other destinations so you get a better coverage. You can always add on a single to the other destinations fairly cheaply.