Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

luckwudaveit

yorkie2 wrote: »

it's a case of trial and error (or add them one at a time into your basket, and then complete the transaction when you have 8 tickets in your basket)

If OP adds them one a time to the basket, presumably this improves the chances of reserving seats adjacent to each other? By booking separately this is less likely. Unless VT allow you to pick seats?

rebeccak

I live in Manchester but am going on holiday from Gatwick Airport and want to travel down there and back by train.

My outbound flight is the morning of 15th February. I am going to get the train down the previous day (14th Feb) and stay in a hotel overnight. Therefore, for this train journey, I can commit myself to travelling on a specific train and could buy an advance single.

However:

On my return to the UK (on 23rd Feb), I will be flying into Gatwick at 9.40am and travelling back to Manchester the same day. Because the flight might be delayed and I don't know how long it will take to get through immigration etc I can't commit myself to a specific train - and buying an off-peak single is almost the same price as a return ticket.

I thought I would just have to buy a return ticket as there didn't seem to be a cheaper option but I've just found on thetrainline.com website another ticket called "off-peak single (online only)" which is about half the price of a return ticket.

I'm not really clear from the information on the website so wondered if anyone else was familiar with this kind of ticket and, if so:

- Can I use it for the return part of this journey?

- I'd have to book it for a particular train but it says that this can be amended. Would I have to actually contact them to change it or could I just get on any off-peak train the same day? (I probably wouldn't know until the last minute that I'd need to get a different train and would probably be in a different country, or on a plane or in the middle of the night UK time when I found out so wouldn't get chance to get the ticket amended).

- Are there any other cheap ticket options I could consider?

- I have found this ticket on thetrainline.com but normally book my tickets through eastcoast.co.uk to save on booking and credit card fees. However, I haven't been able to find this particular ticket type through eastcoast - Is it only offered through thetrainline.com?

dzug1

It's offered (I think) on trainline based sites - eg FGW - and also on Virgin. You can save on trainline fees by buying it elsewhere. FGW certainly don't charge them and AFAIK Virgin don't.

It's only purchasable if you buy another single ticket (of any sort) for the other leg - for which the advance is fine

And yes - you can use it on any off peak return service. You don't need to do anything in advance to do this - just get on and travel. You'll have lost the seat reservation on your booked serice, but that's all

yorkie2

Your best bet is to book on the Virgin Trains website, specify a return journey, but purchase an Advance single MAN - GTW, and an Off Peak Single (at half the Off Peak Return price) GTW - MAN.

The Off Peak Return is valid on ANY train between Gatwick and London, a cross-London transfer, and off peak trains between Manchester & London.

My recommendation is to take the fast non-stop service operated by Southern called 'Gatwick Express'; this runs non-stop every 15 minutes and for most of the day you can get an entire coach to yourself (rear of the train toward London; front of the train heading away from London)!

There are no peak restrictions whatsoever on the Gatwick-London part of the journey on an Off Peak ticket to Manchester (or any other destination outside the former Network SouthEast area).

miller

rebeccak wrote: »

Because the flight might be delayed and I don't know how long it will take to get through immigration etc I can't commit myself to a specific train

As you are travelling from Gatwick this wont help, but ironically TransPennine Express have thought of this scenario for passengers returning to Manchester Airport with their print at home advance tickets.

http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/train-tickets/print-at-home/
(last condition)

Albeit the delay has to be sub 3-hours in most cases.

miller

Topcashback are offering £4.12 for purchases over £7 through the Virgin Trains website and South West Trains are offering 2.67%.

I managed to get the South West Trains website to show the online single by expanding "View All Single Tickets" for a random Manchester -> London journey - so dzug1 is correct, trainline based sites (at least SWT and probably the others) offer this.

davesdaughter

Hi

I'm looking to book 2 adult tickets from Ashford International to Edinburgh. Leaving 3rd February in the morning returning on 5th February sometime in the morning. The cheapest I can find is £137.00 each through Trainline.

Does anyone know if I| can get it cheaper anywhere?

many thanks

dzug1

davesdaughter wrote: »

Hi

I'm looking to book 2 adult tickets from Ashford International to Edinburgh. Leaving 3rd February in the morning returning on 5th February sometime in the morning. The cheapest I can find is £137.00 each through Trainline.

Does anyone know if I| can get it cheaper anywhere?

many thanks

You can get it cheaper almost anywhere else - the same price, but no booking fees eg on East Coast or First Great Western. And with some tickets East Coast will give you 10% off - including some at your times

So East Coast is the site to go for - £269.40 total return

However for about a tenner extra you can get a superoffpeak return which doesn't tie you to specific trains

Stompa

davesdaughter wrote: »

I'm looking to book 2 adult tickets from Ashford International to Edinburgh. Leaving 3rd February in the morning returning on 5th February sometime in the morning. The cheapest I can find is £137.00 each through Trainline.

Does anyone know if I| can get it cheaper anywhere?

I spotted this offer a while ago:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/east-coast-train-offer-10-each-way-jan-march-1110418

Might be worth a look.

jermaindefoe

I am going to be needing a season ticket from ashford to london zones 1-6 (for the year)

This has been said to be

Ashford-Z1-6 Annual is £5212 (not HS1) or £6128 (+HS1)

I need HS1. How is best to book this type of ticket, I am not sure it can be used online so i cant save money through topcashback or whatnot

Thanks