Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

wealdroam

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

Hi
I'm looking to go from Brighton to Manchester Picadilly or Victoria 31/07/10 returning 01/08/10.
I have looked here and found tickets for £35, is that realistic? I was expecting it to be alot more expensive than that, the trainline want £83.70 for the same tickets????
http://www.directrail.com/

Can be as low as £15 each way on those dates using Advance Singles.
With these tickets you have to travel on the booked train.

Never heard of directrail before. No idea whether they charge fees, but note that their telephone helpline costs £1.00 per minute. :eek:

Buy your tickets from a train operating company and avoid paying extra.

Info from Southern Railway website.

Dontknowanymore

wealdroam wrote: »

Can be as low as £15 each way on those dates using Advance Singles.
With these tickets you have to travel on the booked train.

Never heard of directrail before. No idea whether they charge fees, but note that their telephone helpline costs £1.00 per minute. :eek:

Buy your tickets from a train operating company and avoid paying extra.

Info from Southern Railway website.

Thank you very much.

dzug1

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

Hi
I'm looking to go from Brighton to Manchester Picadilly or Victoria 31/07/10 returning 01/08/10.
I have looked here and found tickets for £35, is that realistic? I was expecting it to be alot more expensive than that, the trainline want £83.70 for the same tickets????
http://www.directrail.com/

It will NOT be the same tickets.

£83.70 is the walk on off peak return fare

£35 will be two advance singles.

There's a world of difference

Dontknowanymore

dzug1 wrote: »

It will NOT be the same tickets.

£83.70 is the walk on off peak return fare

£35 will be two advance singles.

There's a world of difference

Ok.
I literally drive everywhere so have no idea about all this, hence me posting on here lol

Dontknowanymore

wealdroam wrote: »

Can be as low as £15 each way on those dates using Advance Singles.
With these tickets you have to travel on the booked train.

Never heard of directrail before. No idea whether they charge fees, but note that their telephone helpline costs £1.00 per minute. :eek:

Buy your tickets from a train operating company and avoid paying extra.

Info from Southern Railway website.

I looked on here, but cant find them that cheap????

Bogof_Babe

http://tickets.eastcoast.co.uk/ec/en/JourneyPlanning/MixingDeck

Not sure if link will take you to the actual train times/tickets page but anyway there are two £15 outbound on 31/7, departing very early 06.04 and 06.49, and some £15 ones returning on 1/8 departing 18.35, 18.55 (a couple more later still but I'd imagine getting you back a bit late). (Edit: Click on the £11.50 to £38.50 box on both sides to see which journeys you can get for those prices).

That's the trouble with Advance singles, the ones for sociable travel times disappear very quickly.

(I used Eastcoast because I am familiar with it. You'll probably find the same on Southern Railways that dzug1 suggested).

KeithP

Dontknowanymore wrote: »

I looked on here, but cant find them that cheap????

This situation is a bit better than Bogof_Babe says.

For the outward leg, £15 Advance Singles are available on fifteen Brighton departures, including eleven between 10:49 and 15:49.

For the return leg, £15 Advance Singles are available on five Manchester Pic. departures at 08:27, 18:35, 18:55, 19:15 and 19:35.

The tip that Bogof_Babe gives for East Coast Trains work equally well with Southern Railways website.

Ask again if you need more help.

Bogof_Babe

That's interesting Keith. I wonder if I only found a couple because I selected "Manchester stations" rather than being specific.

Good news for the OP anyway . Incidentally I think I'd be right in advising that they book soon, as all these cheap tickets are on limited availability.

BBB

Okay, I know it's short notice but here goes!

Got an interview in Leicester tomorrow, have to travel around 5.30am from Manchester, coming back around 4pm, cheapest I've found is £58.50 return, can anyone beat that?

All help appreciated

wealdroam

BBB wrote: »

Okay, I know it's short notice but here goes!

Got an interview in Leicester tomorrow, have to travel around 5.30am from Manchester, coming back around 4pm, cheapest I've found is £58.50 return, can anyone beat that?

All help appreciated

Yes, try this...
Dep Man. Pic. 05:05, arr Nuneaton 06:17. Advance Single = £14.00.
Dep Nuneaton 06:22(06:52), arr Leicester 06:50(07:15). Anytime Day Return = £11.30.
Dep Leicester 16:15, arr Nuneaton 16:42 using return part of Anytime Day Return.
Stay on train to arr Birmingham New Street 17:15. Advance Single Nuneaton to Man. Pic. = £10.50. Dep Birmingham NS 17:31, arr Man.Pic. 18:59.

Total = £35.80.
Info from East Coast Trains.
Must buy the Advance Singles before 6pm today.
Must travel on booked trains with Advance Singles.