Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Mids_Costcutter

patricia1066 wrote: »

Hi everyone
we decided on the spur of the moment to try to take a train and ferry to from London Euston to Portlaoise in ROI 27/4 to 1/5.
SailRail came up with a combined train/ferry crossing via Holyhead of £77 each. This is described as standard rail ticket and is not a "from £77" price as I understand.
However no option to book online. I rang them and they cant sell it as the software to sell these tickets crashed, likely to be online again by Wed next week. He said even rail co cant sell these tickets as they all use the same software.
I am worried about waiting til Wed. I think there may be difficulties in getting even foot passengers on ferries due to flying restrictions at the moment, and wonder if there is another way to get as good a deal.

Has anyone found a cheaper deal booking ferry and train separately? Is it possible to use railcards with SailRail?

KeithP

alisont wrote: »

Does anyone know about peak and off peak times? Ive always travelled off peak on longer journeys but need to travel on a Friday evening from Stourbridge Junction to Birmingham - on London Midland then from Birmingham to Bristol on Virgin trains. Not sure what time Il finish work so cant book advance tickets but was going to get an off peak return about £27 with my student railcard, anytime return shoots up to £52!

I would be roughly starting my journey between 4.30 - 5pm depending on when I leave work. Think London Midland charge more between 3.30 -6 but dont know if Virgin charge more during certain times to Bristol from Birmingham?

Maybe Id need to book Brum to Bristol and pay the 'anytime' ticket from Stourbridge to Brum as that would be about £5?

Really hope I can find a better deal than £52!

An Off Peak ticket can be used on that route on any train leaving Stourbridge Junc after 09:30am.

Do you need to go to Birmingham?
Travel via Worcester and the Off Peak Return fare with railcard drops from £27.70 to £21.30.

KeithP

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

Has anyone found a cheaper deal booking ferry and train separately?

Unlikely to find anything cheaper.
Train London to Holyhead seems to be about £30 each way with railcard.
Can be as cheap as £6.60 each way in theory but you try finding that fare!
Ferry appears to be £26 each way.
Plus about two hours train ride in Ireland... no idea of that cost.

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

Is it possible to use railcards with SailRail?

No.

alisont

KeithP wrote: »

An Off Peak ticket can be used on that route on any train leaving Stourbridge Junc after 09:30am.

Do you need to go to Birmingham?
Travel via Worcester and the Off Peak Return fare with railcard drops from £27.70 to £21.30.

Thanks that's good to know, I work at Stourbridge which is slightly nearer to Birmingham by train but could go via Worcester - tend to go via Brum as there are more regular trains and usually find there can be delays on that Worcester route and can be quieter at night there if waiting for a connecting train. Think il get an off peak return - as need a flexi ticket - just glad I can travel in the peak slot:)

jamesbrownontheroad

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

Has anyone found a cheaper deal booking ferry and train separately? Is it possible to use railcards with SailRail?

KeithP wrote: »

No.

Not enitrely true. 16-25 and Senior Railcards get 34% off any single or return fare via Stena Line between Stranraer and Belfast. Railcard discounts are not valid on routes to the Republic of Ireland via other ports (so admittedly not entirely good news for the original question). I'm holding in my hand right now a single Belfast NI -> Glasgow ticket that I bought with my 16-25 Railcard. Regular price £25, railcard price £16.50.

See this page for lots of clear info: http://seat61.com/NorthernIreland.htm

KeithP

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

Is it possible to use railcards with SailRail?

KeithP wrote: »

No.

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

Not enitrely true. 16-25 and Senior Railcards get 34% off any single or return fare via Stena Line between Stranraer and Belfast. Railcard discounts are not valid on routes to the Republic of Ireland via other ports (so admittedly not entirely good news for the original question). I'm holding in my hand right now a single Belfast NI -> Glasgow ticket that I bought with my 16-25 Railcard. Regular price £25, railcard price £16.50.

See this page for lots of clear info: http://seat61.com/NorthernIreland.htm

Oops... sorry... my mistake.

Thanks for that James.:beer:

Mids_Costcutter

jamesbrownontheroad wrote: »

Not enitrely true. 16-25 and Senior Railcards get 34% off any single or return fare via Stena Line between Stranraer and Belfast. Railcard discounts are not valid on routes to the Republic of Ireland via other ports (so admittedly not entirely good news for the original question). I'm holding in my hand right now a single Belfast NI -> Glasgow ticket that I bought with my 16-25 Railcard. Regular price £25, railcard price £16.50.

See this page for lots of clear info: http://seat61.com/NorthernIreland.htm

Thanks James, are you referring to booking via the Stena Line site? I wonder why other railcards e.g. Family & Friends aren't accepted too?

hardpressed

Just about to book a train ticket, can anyone tell me if MyTrainTicket.co.uk charge a booking fee or extra for using a credit card? I can't see the info on their site.

Stompa

hardpressed wrote: »

Just about to book a train ticket, can anyone tell me if MyTrainTicket.co.uk charge a booking fee or extra for using a credit card? I can't see the info on their site.

See post #1:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/32107927#Comment_32107927

marky1982_2

Hello all:)

I've bought two megatrain tickets from Warrington Bank Quay to Glasgow (£2 each return!!) but there is a slight problem - we cannot get a train back to St Helens from Bank Quay in the evening, so I thought of going from Wigan North Western instead (which is the next stop along from Warrington) and where we can get a train from in the evening. However, i've been on the megatrain site and it warns against boarding at a different station to the one on the ticket. It mentions East Midlands Trains and SWT as issuing penalty fares for doing this but not Virgin (who we're travelling with). Part of me thinks we should take the risk as it is only one stop but I don't want to get hit with a penality fare! Any advice?