Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

epm-84

Bogof_Babe are you sure the ticket via Wigan is an Advance? I just tried Southport-Hereford in November on East Coast's website and it came up with Advances for Southport-Moorfields-Chester-Hereford but only standard tickets for Southport-Wigan-Hereford.

I also would find an Advance a bit strange for via Wigan as you have to walk between two stations in Wigan so it would let you not make the exact journey shown on the ticket.

Bogof_Babe

epm-84 wrote: »

Bogof_Babe are you sure the ticket via Wigan is an Advance? I just tried Southport-Hereford in November on East Coast's website and it came up with Advances for Southport-Moorfields-Chester-Hereford but only standard tickets for Southport-Wigan-Hereford.

I also would find an Advance a bit strange for via Wigan as you have to walk between two stations in Wigan so it would let you not make the exact journey shown on the ticket.

I'm looking at the ticket now and it says Class STD; Ticket type ADVANCE. It was only £9.50, which I assume is due to the walk between the two Wigan stations. I've done this route before, wish I could remember whether I had a seat res. for Crewe-Hfd on that occasion. I suppose I must have done or I'd have been asking the question then.

On the seat res. for Wigan North West to Crewe it says at the bottom "Mandatory Reservation Coupon 1 of 1". As the covering journey ticket reads Southport to Hereford, and the seat res. for Wigan to Crewe ties in time-wise with the relevant Crewe-Hfd train, I'm hoping that will be enough to prove it is a bona fide arrangement. I will hang on to my seat res. ticket when I get to Crewe as it might help to confirm why I'm on that next train.

I've also taken a photo with my phone of the journey booking details. It's a bit small but I always carry a tiny magnifying glass!

Bogof_Babe

As regards November, Advance tickets seem to be rather less available than I am used to. I'm having to take what I can get, route and time-wise, rather than having my pick, even though I check most days and book as soon as they are released.

I've got another one for the same journey on 9th October, although later in the day, and there IS a Crewe/Hfd seat res. with that one. I think the one for this coming Saturday must have been a glitch in the system.

I might go to the station in Southport (they are very helpful there) and ask for a seat reservation for the 4/9 journey. I know it won't tie in with my pre-booked ticket but at least it would save me having to stand up.

hjd

I am travelling with my son (aged 17) to a couple of university open days and the ticket booking process seems very longwinded when you are trying to travel from A to B to C and back to A on different days. I have tried raileasy, which is fine to start from our first station, Woking, but won't allow any trains that return to Woking. Apparently it doesn't exist. Are there any other websites which allow multiple journeys, not just straight returns?

We want to leave Woking after 6pm Wed 8/9/10 to travel to Leeds. We would then travel from Leeds to Liverpool in late afternoon/evening on Thurs 9/9/10 (can be quite flexible on time, but I suspect this is the easiest/cheapest bit of the trip). We then return from Liverpool to Woking on Friday 10/9/10. We're not sure what time we will be ready to leave, but unlikely to be before about 4pm.

Any suggestions on the easiest way to book and the cheapest fares? Ideally we would be able to catch any train back on the Friday but I expect that would be prohibitively expensive. Would prefer not too many changes.

We don't currently have any railcards, but it could be worth getting the 16-25 one.

Thanks in advance.

dzug1

hjd wrote: »

I am travelling with my son (aged 17) to a couple of university open days and the ticket booking process seems very longwinded when you are trying to travel from A to B to C and back to A on different days. I have tried raileasy, which is fine to start from our first station, Woking, but won't allow any trains that return to Woking. Apparently it doesn't exist. Are there any other websites which allow multiple journeys, not just straight returns?

We want to leave Woking after 6pm Wed 8/9/10 to travel to Leeds. We would then travel from Leeds to Liverpool in late afternoon/evening on Thurs 9/9/10 (can be quite flexible on time, but I suspect this is the easiest/cheapest bit of the trip). We then return from Liverpool to Woking on Friday 10/9/10. We're not sure what time we will be ready to leave, but unlikely to be before about 4pm.

Any suggestions on the easiest way to book and the cheapest fares? Ideally we would be able to catch any train back on the Friday but I expect that would be prohibitively expensive. Would prefer not too many changes.

We don't currently have any railcards, but it could be worth getting the 16-25 one.

Thanks in advance.

You'll need to book each leg of the trip separately - though you won't need to finally commit yourself until they are all in your shopping basket and are ready to pay.

Don't use raileasy - they charge you fees which most of the train companies don't.


Coming back, look at London Midland tickets from Liverpool to London - you might need to hunt them out on the London Midland site as they are on slower trains that don't show up in the standard searches.

Bogof_Babe

Update to post #2951. Just spoke to the counter staff at Southport station, showed them my two sets of tickets (one with seat res. Crewe to Hereford, the other without) and they say because the Wigan to Crewe leg is by Virgin Trains on that one they cannot issue a seat res. ???

He even went into his booking system and said that the relevant train journey indicated that it is not valid for seat reservations. I showed him the seat res. ticket for that very same train which applies to the other booking I made and he said that was because it wasn't booked via Virgin. I told him I'd booked both journeys, albeit separately, on the eastcoast site, but it didn't seem to get me anywhere.

He assured me it wouldn't cause a problem with the ticket inspector so I can only trust that he's right.

This has got me wondering now, if you don't specify any preferences on the seat booking page, does it still issue a seat res. ticket? I suppose it must as that is the only way they can verify that you are on the booked train, or so I thought.

lucyd23

I am about to start a new job working in london and am currently trying to find out what would be my cheapest option when it comes to travel.

I will be traveling from Reading train station to London Paddington (network rail) and then Paddington to oxford circus (underground, both zone1).

I will be traveling mon-fri before 9am and then after 5pm.

Any help would be great thank you

wealdroam

lucyd23 wrote: »

I am about to start a new job working in london and am currently trying to find out what would be my cheapest option when it comes to travel.

I will be traveling from Reading train station to London Paddington (network rail) and then Paddington to oxford circus (underground, both zone1).

I will be traveling mon-fri before 9am and then after 5pm.

Any help would be great thank you

A Season Ticket would appear to be most appropriate.

Reading to London Waterloo or Paddington costs...
£84.70 weekly
£325.30 monthly
£3388.00 yearly.

With a zone 1-6 travelcard included, those prices become £100.70, £386.70 and £4028.00 respectively.

dzug1

wealdroam wrote: »

A Season Ticket would appear to be most appropriate.

Reading to London Waterloo or Paddington costs...
£84.70 weekly
£325.30 monthly
£3388.00 yearly.

With a zone 1-6 travelcard included, those prices become £100.70, £386.70 and £4028.00 respectively.

At the cost of a tediously long journey you could use the bus betweeen Paddington and Oxford Circus. With a PAYG Oyster card it's £1.20 a journey or £12 a week so there's a small saving there.

baabaachi

I want to take the children to see my brother and family.

They live in Pinner.

We live in Leicester

We have a family/friends railcard.

Ideally I would like to travel on a Friday evening (around 6pm - 7pm) and come home on a Sunday afternoon time.

I'd be happy to avoid London if it's cheaper - the prices I seem to come up with are HUGE! There are 3 adults and 1 child in the group.

Thanks so much for any help, I seem to be going round in circles finding a decent price for the journey.