Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

miller

From the South West Trainswebsite:

We're offering a Day Return, any Saturday or any Sunday from 3 August to 1 September, including Bank Holiday Monday for just £15 (£7.50 for kids)! Go away with the family, or with as many friends as you like for £15 each and £7.50 for the kids – to 195 destinations across the South West Trains network*

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/fever.aspx#124261

miller

There is 10% discount available via the First Great Western website on their Advances for travel dates between 08 September 2013 and 03 May 2014.

More details here:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Train-times-and-tickets/Ticket-types/Leisure-tickets

DieselDragon

Bit of a looooong shot here, but I'm searching for the Holy Grail nonetheless...

...Does anyone happen to know any way of getting Reasonably priced off-peak day and saver returns out of South West Trains between Farnborough Stations and London Terminals, please? (I hold a Network Failcard)

With the Saver Return being just under twice the price of the super off-peak day and no cheaper options that I can see (Splitting at Reading, Wokingham and Guildford doesn't give any savings) I'm currently stuck for affordable options when going out to social events in London.
It wouldn't be such a problem if I could excess a day return so that it's valid for return the following morning on payment of a small overnight supplement (Say 25p-£1.00), but ATOC who set the fare structure - Despite receiving this suggestion from myself and others numerous times - Still havn't bought this in yet.

Many thanks in advance for any help that is offered.

P.S: Because it's presently only 5p more than the SWT route "Not Reading" fare, I've recently been taking to buying the route "Any Permitted" ticket. Granted it is 5p more than I have to pay...But as it forces a profit split between FGW and SWT (Which means less profit for SWT) I'm happy to pay that 5p for that purpose and to get some HST running in to the bargain.

miller

Off-Peak Return, Blackwater to London Terminals £18.95 with Network Railcard.

Valid to start short "via Farnborough Main" (into Waterloo), saves you 40p and the fare is set by FGW.

AFAIK you can excess a Day Return whilst it is still valid, but not the following morning, as you say.

DieselDragon

miller wrote: »

Off-Peak Return, Blackwater to London Terminals £18.95 with Network Railcard. Valid to start short "via Farnborough Main" (into Waterloo), saves you 40p and the fare is set by FGW.

Ahh, of course! FNB and BAW are both part of the same interchange group aren't they, so an ex BAW ticket *would* be valid on SWT services out of FNB...And also FGW HST services through Reading too! Didn't think of that one!

As I always travel off-peak (Normally toward London around 17:00, return following morning before 10:00) what I'd really like to get is an overnight valid ticket with similar conditions to the Super O/Peak day return for not much more than the equivalent day return fare. It's a real kick in the nuts that we don't still have the Network AwayBreak...

miller wrote: »

AFAIK you can excess a Day Return whilst it is still valid, but not the following morning, as you say.

I've run into that problem before when I've just missed the last train back from London, despite trying to do this immediately after finding that I've missed it. Applying for an excess and a partial refund of the new ticket purchased after the fact has never worked either, despite the circumstances clearly validating my entitlement to the same.

That's why I always take care to buy train tickets on a credit card nowadays. In fact, it was my primary reason for getting a hold of one!

techno12

I'm looking for a return from Leamington Spa to Kidderminster, going out tomorrow and returning the next day.

As it's classed as a reasonably short journey (though it's still 1.5 hrs with a change of train), there are no return tickets available at all, only day returns. So, I thought that the only option was to buy two off-peak singles at £10.60 each.

However, I know that returns magically appear when the distances involved are longer, so I tried a return to Worcester instead (couple of stations down from Kidderminster). Lo and behold, an off-peak return at £16.10 pops up.

So that'll be the one I'll buy at the station tomorrow. As breaks of journey are allowed on these it's a no-brainer (I think, the T+Cs mention a 'validity code' on the ticket that may restrict this for the outward journey, but the consensus on google is it's rare)

Not sure if this is common knowledge on this thread, but there are 225 pages to plough through!

yorkie2

There is a website which provides the validity code and restrictions of any ticket, though I am not permitted to link to it (as it's a breach of forum rules) until I have permission from MSE (I've sent an email last Monday but not got a reply yet).

Anyway that website states that the ticket is valid "by any train except those timed to depart Mondays-Fridays before 0900" and there is no restriction on break of journey (as you say, such a restriction is rare, and could only apply to the outward portion, the return portion always allows it)

techno12

That would be useful.

When my tickets were printed today the code was finally revealed (CS AS ADVERTISED).

How the end punter is meant to know what CS means is beyond me. We all know the system is far too complex!

I had a 4 hr break at Brum today - the gate dude I asked just put it through the gate, so the automated system accepts breaks of journey in that case.. I've heard tales of them being swallowed and surly staff not retrieving them (ie Bristol Temple Meads is the usual suspect according to Google).

Upshot of all this is I'm chuffed that I no longer need to be ripped off getting 2 singles.I can search until I find a longer journey that offers a return, and hop on/off.

Kite2010

DieselDragon wrote: »

Bit of a looooong shot here, but I'm searching for the Holy Grail nonetheless...

...Does anyone happen to know any way of getting Reasonably priced off-peak day and saver returns out of South West Trains between Farnborough Stations and London Terminals, please? (I hold a Network Failcard)

With the Saver Return being just under twice the price of the super off-peak day and no cheaper options that I can see (Splitting at Reading, Wokingham and Guildford doesn't give any savings) I'm currently stuck for affordable options when going out to social events in London.
It wouldn't be such a problem if I could excess a day return so that it's valid for return the following morning on payment of a small overnight supplement (Say 25p-£1.00), but ATOC who set the fare structure - Despite receiving this suggestion from myself and others numerous times - Still havn't bought this in yet.

Many thanks in advance for any help that is offered.

P.S: Because it's presently only 5p more than the SWT route "Not Reading" fare, I've recently been taking to buying the route "Any Permitted" ticket. Granted it is 5p more than I have to pay...But as it forces a profit split between FGW and SWT (Which means less profit for SWT) I'm happy to pay that 5p for that purpose and to get some HST running in to the bargain.

Starting from Farnborough Main or Farnborough North?

Farnborough Main - Waterloo £13.65 off-peak return with Network Railcard leaving Farnborough at 10:00 on the dot, drops to £13 for super-off peak day return after 11am, that's directly into Waterloo with no changes

Last train from Waterloo is 1:05 am (the basingstoke slow train).

yorkie2

techno12 wrote: »

That would be useful.

I will send you a PM with the link, as I can't publicly link to 5 useful websites I know of, because I am friends with people involved in all of them.

techno12 wrote: »

When my tickets were printed today the code was finally revealed (CS AS ADVERTISED).

How the end punter is meant to know what CS means is beyond me. We all know the system is far too complex!

Indeed.

There are two problems:

1) Finding the restriction code for a ticket. This is now printed on the ticket, on some ticket issuing systems (TIS). But not all TIS do this!
2) Even if you know the restriction code, in this case CS, you then have to look up what it actually means! Fortunately, I am allowed to link to this document: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/pdfs/OffPeak.pdf

Note that when restrictions are updated, they may either only update the online version, or the version that ticket inspectors / sellers have on their machines. Where they differ, my opinion is the restriction most favourable to the customer should prevail (but not everyone agrees).

techno12 wrote: »

I had a 4 hr break at Brum today - the gate dude I asked just put it through the gate, so the automated system accepts breaks of journey in that case.. I've heard tales of them being swallowed and surly staff not retrieving them (ie Bristol Temple Meads is the usual suspect according to Google).

Tickets should not be swallowed at intermediate stations. I have had problems with Bristol Temple Meads, the staff there can vary from very polite and helpful to very rude.

techno12 wrote: »

Upshot of all this is I'm chuffed that I no longer need to be ripped off getting 2 singles.I can search until I find a longer journey that offers a return, and hop on/off.

Yes, many rail fares are inded a rip-off, but there are numerous websites that can help to reduce the cost, so that it's a bit more reasonable.