Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Buttonmoons

Im thinking about a quick trip down to Leeds this weekend from Aberdeen.

I have 1 - 16-25 railcard. I'm looking at Fri - Sun, but could possibly do the Thurs - Sun. I see I can get home for £25 on the Sunday at 3pm (or thereabouts) but going down seems expensive! Is the £70 odd return my cheapest option?

Even when I try and book 2 months in advance I still seem to end up paying in the region of £56 with a railcard.

Trains are expensive!! Must make a fortune.....

dzug1

Saint_Nick wrote: »

Trying to find the best fares for 2 adults from Carlisle to London on the 10th Oct early morning and returning the next day (11th Oct) at lunchtime. Can get around £72 going but coming back is more expensive unless I break up the journey. What is best to do?

Be more flexible in your timing
Break up the journey
Pay the extra

Your choice

catflea

Hi Guys. I'm travelling from Fareham to Worcester on Sat 28th, returning either on Sun 29th or Mon 30th

There is a direct service from Fareham to Worcester Shrub hill and I'm wondering if theres any mileage in trying to split ticket. With a young persons railcard the standard fare is approx £40 (dont have the exact figure to hand) and I'm hoping that I can knock a few quid off.

Also, its a First Great Western Service - am I likely to find a plug socket where I can charge the laptop?

dzug1

catflea wrote: »

Hi Guys. I'm travelling from Fareham to Worcester on Sat 28th, returning either on Sun 29th or Mon 30th

There is a direct service from Fareham to Worcester Shrub hill and I'm wondering if theres any mileage in trying to split ticket. With a young persons railcard the standard fare is approx £40 (dont have the exact figure to hand) and I'm hoping that I can knock a few quid off.

Also, its a First Great Western Service - am I likely to find a plug socket where I can charge the laptop?

Well the way to find out about split tickets is to try. Try Southampton Salisbury Bristol and any combination.

I doubt if there will be a plug socket - FGW have them on HSTs but yours is most certainly not that - it might even be just a single coach affair

catflea

What on earth is an HST when its at home!?

Max battery saving it is then! (Theoretically 8 hrs :cool:)

dzug1

catflea wrote: »

What on earth is an HST when its at home!?

Max battery saving it is then! (Theoretically 8 hrs :cool:)

High Speed Train (long distance express). Yours is a stopping train - several short distance routes cobbled together.

aleksander

catflea wrote: »

Hi Guys. I'm travelling from Fareham to Worcester on Sat 28th, returning either on Sun 29th or Mon 30th

There is a direct service from Fareham to Worcester Shrub hill and I'm wondering if theres any mileage in trying to split ticket. With a young persons railcard the standard fare is approx £40 (dont have the exact figure to hand) and I'm hoping that I can knock a few quid off.

Also, its a First Great Western Service - am I likely to find a plug socket where I can charge the laptop?

The cheapest return Off Peak Return via Salisbury is £40.70, but this is a normal adult fare, with a railcard it's £26.85.

catflea

Indeed, I've just run through all of the possible permutations and found that to be the cheapest.

Amazingly, its actually cheaper to get to Worcester Shrub hill than the 4 stations that preceed it on the line - for which a return is £28.25

I tabulated it and went through every station that the non-change train stopped at

zawtowers

One thing I found out recently, might be well worth passing on.

If you are travelling between Manchester and Birmingham and don't mind changing trains once, then Virgin seem to release cheap fares which are only available for their credit card holders.

CrossCountry's cheapest single each way is now normally £10.50, but if you do at least part of the journey on Virgin (normally Manchester to Stoke-on-Trent or Manchester to Crewe for example) you can then save money.

For example for one Saturday in a few weeks time (together with the 10% discount for cardholders) you could change at Stoke-on-Trent and get £4.95 each way.

Bogof_Babe

A question on behalf of a friend, for a change.

Any suggestions for the best way to save on a four night break from Newcastle-on-Tyne to London, departing 8th October? There are two adults, both over 60 but neither of them have a senior rail card as this is a one-off trip, although obviously if they could save more by getting one than the cards would cost they would do that.

My friend says they want to avoid changes, and I know East Coast do a straight through trip, but again if there was just one change and the saving was good I think they would consider it.