Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

dzug1

If you travel via Cheltenham/Birmingham rather than London you can save a tenner at the cost of a longer journey time.


There may be some split ticketing possible but at this time of night I'll leave that to others

vigman

It seems unnecessarily difficult to book normal or cheap train tickets if multiple travelers have multiple types of railcard.

My daughter has a 16-25 and my wife a senior railcard. In most booking systems you can choose the number of railcards but only choose one type. As all seem to offer 30% off why not just ask for number of railcards or alternatively give the option of selecting multiple types.

On one site (raileasy) it says that if different railcards are held, then book two separate tickets.

However, this does not guarantee that that journey or price is available for the second passenger and also that the seats will be together!?

I may be missing something here, but would be pleased to hear MSE user advice.

TIA

Vigman

miller

I have just tried on Southern's website (WebTIS booking engine, also used by First Great Western, for example) and South West Trains' (Trainline booking engine, also used by East Midlands Trains for example) and it is possible.

On South West Trains' you just pick another railcard type from the drop down and it adds it to the list. On Southern's pick one from the homepage then click amend when the journey details come up and there is an add button. It should be possible to do the booking in one hit then. Raileasy seems not to, as you say.

Generally, you can book any train journey from any operator's (TOC) website. Some TOC's offer discounts specific to their routes via their own website so it's worth checking there first, then see if you can get cashback through say Topcashback or Quidco (e.g. South West Trains are currently offering 3% back on their journeys through Topcashback).

dzug1

One reason for needing two bookings - at least until the booking system gets changed - is that while railcards offer the same discount they may well have different times at which they are valid

vigman

Many thanks for the quick reply dzug1 !

By adding ticket 1 to the shopping basket, does it mean that ticket 2 saved in the same basket should have adjoining seat numbers when buying, please?

TIA

Vigman

Nick_C

miller wrote: »

Some TOC's offer discounts specific to their routes via their own website so it's worth checking there first, then see if you can get cashback through say Topcashback or Quidco (e.g. South West Trains are currently offering 3% back on their journeys through Topcashback).

I travel on Southern a lot. They were offering cash back through TCB a while ago but not any longer. I only realised recently that I can book my Southern tickets through FCC and get 1% back in Nectar points (+ 3% cash back on my Santander 123 mastercard).

dzug1

vigman wrote: »

Many thanks for the quick reply dzug1 !

By adding ticket 1 to the shopping basket, does it mean that ticket 2 saved in the same basket should have adjoining seat numbers when buying, please?

TIA

Vigman

They might.


Even if they don't try adding a third or even fourth ticket which might be nearer if not adjacent then delete the ones you don't want


Asking for specific types of seat - eg forward facing in quiet coach - can sometimes help

miller

Nick_C wrote: »

I travel on Southern a lot. They were offering cash back through TCB a while ago but not any longer. I only realised recently that I can book my Southern tickets through FCC and get 1% back in Nectar points (+ 3% cash back on my Santander 123 mastercard).

First TranspennineExpress is on TCB at 1% for other journeys (also offering Nectar points on top in line with the other First branded sites). That effectively becomes 2% if paying out to Tesco Clubcard/Redspottedhanky.

...so potentially 6% off any train ticket for yourself. Not bad!

vigman

Thanks, again.

It does seem a bit silly that if the discount and time slots are the same that two train tickets with different railcards can't be booked guaranteed seated together!?

Vigman

miller

vigman wrote: »

Many thanks for the quick reply dzug1 !

By adding ticket 1 to the shopping basket, does it mean that ticket 2 saved in the same basket should have adjoining seat numbers when buying, please?

TIA

Vigman

Maybe you missed my post about being able to do it all in one go!

I've just randomly looked at a journey for 1 x adult 1 x 16-25 railcard 1 x senior railcard and it offered seats C 03,04 & 05 via the Southern website.