Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

dzug1

stikiuk wrote: »

Hey all do hope you can help......my hubby just surprised me with a weekend in London this month so i'm desperately trying to find cheap train tickets. Best I can find for the outgoing trip is using the mobitix at £11.00 each but that is only from Manchester. So will cost another £18 on top to get from L'pool to Man. But as we are coming home on the sun 30th have to buy a normal advanced ticket. Best i can find is £23.50 each....

fri 28th Jan £44 + £18 = £62
Sun 30th Jan £23.50 x 4 £94.00

Not the cheapest ive paid !

Do hope 1 of you clever peeps can help x

Are the extra 2 people kids? If so a F&F railcard will be worth investigating

Also look at London Midland only fares - a slower journey but often a lot cheaper

stikiuk

dzug1 wrote: »

Are the extra 2 people kids? If so a F&F railcard will be worth investigating

Also look at London Midland only fares - a slower journey but often a lot cheaper

Yes they are kids, was thinking about a railcard. Thanks will go have a look now

pmm1981

stikiuk wrote: »

Hey all do hope you can help......my hubby just surprised me with a weekend in London this month so i'm desperately trying to find cheap train tickets. Best I can find for the outgoing trip is using the mobitix at £11.00 each but that is only from Manchester. So will cost another £18 on top to get from L'pool to Man. But as we are coming home on the sun 30th have to buy a normal advanced ticket. Best i can find is £23.50 each....

fri 28th Jan £44 + £18 = £62
Sun 30th Jan £23.50 x 4 £94.00

Not the cheapest ive paid !

Do hope 1 of you clever peeps can help x

As stated buy a Family and Friends railcard for £26 (or £23.40 from www . familyandfriends-railcard . co . uk/online (remove the spaces).

The cheapest tickets i can find are

with Virgin West Coast

Fri 28 Jan
depart Liverpool 1048
arrive London 1256
Advance singles 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £51.90

Sun 30 Jan
depart London 1402
arrive Liverpool 1624
Advance singles 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £51.90

Total £103.80 or £128.20 in total with the 12 month railcard.

With London Midland

Fri 28 Jan
depart Liverpool 1004
change at Stafford
arrive London 1349
Advance singles 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £18.70

Sun 30 Jan
depart London 1250, 1450, 1650
change at Crewe
arrive Liverpool 1714, 1914, 2114
Super Off Peak single, 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £41.50

Total £60.20 or £84.60 with the 12 month railcard.

All available from eastcoast . co . uk (remove spaces)

stikiuk

pmm1981 wrote: »

As stated buy a Family and Friends railcard for £26 (or £23.40 from www . familyandfriends-railcard . co . uk/online (remove the spaces).

The cheapest tickets i can find are

with Virgin West Coast

Fri 28 Jan
depart Liverpool 1048
arrive London 1256
Advance singles 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £51.90

Sun 30 Jan
depart London 1402
arrive Liverpool 1624
Advance singles 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £51.90

Total £103.80 or £128.20 in total with the 12 month railcard.

With London Midland

Fri 28 Jan
depart Liverpool 1004
change at Stafford
arrive London 1349
Advance singles 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £18.70

Sun 30 Jan
depart London 1250, 1450, 1650
change at Crewe
arrive Liverpool 1714, 1914, 2114
Super Off Peak single, 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £41.50

Total £60.20 or £84.60 with the 12 month railcard.

All available from eastcoast . co . uk (remove spaces)

Thank you so much xx

yorkie2

pmm1981 wrote: »

With London Midland

Fri 28 Jan
depart Liverpool 1004
change at Stafford
arrive London 1349
Advance singles 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £18.70

Sun 30 Jan
depart London 1250, 1450, 1650
change at Crewe
arrive Liverpool 1714, 1914, 2114
Super Off Peak single, 2 adults, 2 kids with railcard £41.50

Total £60.20 or £84.60 with the 12 month railcard.

All available from eastcoast . co . uk (remove spaces)

Why?

A Super Off Peak Single is indeed £41.50 for a group of that size, but anyone buying a single would be bonkers. A return is 10p more!

All that is required is a Super Off Peak Return at £41.60, this is valid for arrivals into London at or after 1300.

Why suggest two singles when one of the singles is a walk-on single that is only 10p less than a return?

stikiuk wrote: »

Thank you so much xx

Hmm, see my post above before you buy!

Also the Super Off Peak Return is a walk-on product; you do not need to buy in advance. This is available on the day from the ticket office. Return travel is within one month, you do not need to specify the day.

It's a great value ticket

There is a screenshot proving that this Super Off Peak Return is available here:

yorkie2

This was a few posts ago and unrelated to the latest query, but...

pmm1981 wrote: »

... also to remember is that trains must call at the stations where your tickets change...

...unless the tickets are zonal, which these are (or if one is a season and the other(s) is/are not). I agree that it's not valid in this case because there is a 'gap' in the middle, but if it wasn't for the 'gap' it would be valid. ie. West Yorks plus South Yorks tickets can be combined at Darton for non-stop travel on the Barnsley fasts.

pmm1981

Quite right you are with the super off peak return, i totally forgot about that ticket.

ceebeeby

Hi,

thanks to your advice I managed to get very cheap f&f tickets to London for about 4 weeks time, and was advised at the time to wait till closer to buy the actual railcard. Would be grateful if anyone has any links to any discount available on the railcard.

Thanks

pmm1981

ceebeeby wrote: »

Hi,

thanks to your advice I managed to get very cheap f&f tickets to London for about 4 weeks time, and was advised at the time to wait till closer to buy the actual railcard. Would be grateful if anyone has any links to any discount available on the railcard.

Thanks

10% off railcards so £23.40 from www .familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/online (remove the 1st space next to www as i can't post links).

All railcards can be purchased online with a discount, or a 3 year railcard for £60.

patricia1066

This is a one off trip, but so many different routes I thought I would ask if I have found the cheapest one. The journeyplanner site warns of planned engineering works on the bus route, but there is always something on this route so that isnt a surprise. No railcards apply.

Bromley to East Croydon by bus 119 (Oystercard 1.20 x2)
East Croydon to Brighton £13 return offpeak

I need to get a return at 5pm approx and cant fix a timed ticket with any certainty so the Advance Southern single deal wont help.

Hope someone can help.