Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

scurr

Hi - I know this is waaay too early but I wanted an idea of how much it's likely to cost...

I need to get from Glasgow to Manchester on Sat 20th Nov, leaving around 10am and return Sun 21st, leaving mid afternoon.

I put in dates late May so I could get an idea of frequency of trains & routes as well as price so now know I'll have to come home via Leeds or York, but the fare I was getting was £121 return, which seems quite a lot!

Am I missing something obvious or are train journeys just ridiculously expensive? I'm travelling alone and have no railcards. I'm happy to book much closer to the time but would appreciate any advice on when I should be trying to book & what to look for.

Steve_xx

scurr wrote: »

Hi - I know this is waaay too early but I wanted an idea of how much it's likely to cost...

I need to get from Glasgow to Manchester on Sat 20th Nov, leaving around 10am and return Sun 21st, leaving mid afternoon.

I put in dates late May so I could get an idea of frequency of trains & routes as well as price so now know I'll have to come home via Leeds or York, but the fare I was getting was £121 return, which seems quite a lot!

Am I missing something obvious or are train journeys just ridiculously expensive? I'm travelling alone and have no railcards. I'm happy to book much closer to the time but would appreciate any advice on when I should be trying to book & what to look for.

I just looked and found this on First Great Western's site:

Gla - Man 22 May leave 12.54 - £12.00
Man - Gla 24 May leave 19.16 - £14.00

Note: these are two singles, not return tickets. It seems that it is often cheaper to buy two singles.

dzug1

scurr wrote: »

Hi - I know this is waaay too early but I wanted an idea of how much it's likely to cost...

I need to get from Glasgow to Manchester on Sat 20th Nov, leaving around 10am and return Sun 21st, leaving mid afternoon.

I put in dates late May so I could get an idea of frequency of trains & routes as well as price so now know I'll have to come home via Leeds or York, but the fare I was getting was £121 return, which seems quite a lot!

Am I missing something obvious or are train journeys just ridiculously expensive? I'm travelling alone and have no railcards. I'm happy to book much closer to the time but would appreciate any advice on when I should be trying to book & what to look for.

Even late May could be too early - for weekend tickets in particular.

And I doubt you'd have to travel back via Leeds or York - that is likely to be engineering work in late May that won't (with luck anyway) be repeated in November

chappy

Hi all,

I have been looking for train travel for the weekend of 4th June - 6th June

Nottingham - London

So far I have found £12 single to London on the Friday, which I think is a good price, but coming back on the Sunday is £46.70, is this an ok price to be paying or is it possible to get it cheaper?

Thanks very much
Jayne

Bogof_Babe

chappy wrote: »

Hi all,

I have been looking for train travel for the weekend of 4th June - 6th June

Nottingham - London

So far I have found £12 single to London on the Friday, which I think is a good price, but coming back on the Sunday is £46.70, is this an ok price to be paying or is it possible to get it cheaper?

Thanks very much
Jayne

Sounds like they haven't released the Advance Singles for the Sunday yet. Hold on for a week or so and you will most probably get another £12 one.

Bogof_Babe

Quick question... I have an open ticket (return half of an Over 55s offer) and plan to travel later today. However I don't have a seat reservation from Chester to Hereford, and the train I am planning to catch is quite a busy service.

If I go to my local station (not Chester) about four hours before I will be catching the Chester train, will they be able to allocate me a seat? They don't do collection of Advance tickets but presumably have all the computer links to the central system.

chappy

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Sounds like they haven't released the Advance Singles for the Sunday yet. Hold on for a week or so and you will most probably get another £12 one.

Ok, thanks for that will keep checking then,

Thanks again
Jayne

Bogof_Babe

update to post #2478, I did manage to get a seat res for this afternoon . He said they usually close it off 24 hours ahead but tried it anyway & it worked.

Might be of interest to others with Anytime type return tickets.

Steve_xx

chappy wrote: »

Ok, thanks for that will keep checking then,

Thanks again
Jayne

Also, look at Megatrain.com but too early yet for your dates.

catflea

Does anyone know if theres any oppertunity for split ticketing between Fareham (hampshire) and Brighton?